Thread: How does your skin differ between a great razor and a good one?

Well, today I gave a lecture in bright lemon shorts and a t-shirt with a superman torso on it. And a pair of sandshoes. I mainly wear t-shirts to lectures unless I have a particularly formal meeting that day, in which case I'll usually wear a suit and tie t-shirt

Edit: The t-shirt is for the informal conference occasions - the bits that occur after we've all been sitting around trying not to fall asleep listening to someone drone on about lattice methods or Markov random fields and the like. Us mathematicians and statisticians really like to let (what's left of our) hair down at these things. I'm usually the coolest one there of course, what with having pi tattooed on my wrist. Hard to compete with that level of coolness.

James.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

No tee shirts have sleeves, whereas singlets are sort of like the vests you wear under a shirt, that have no sleeves.

You are right of course. That should be under shirt not T shirt, sorry my bad.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

You are right of course. That should be under shirt not T shirt, sorry my bad.

Bob

No worries mate

Singlets are like "onesies" without sleeves.

I use three markers for testing my edges the first time they come out of the stones, alum burn, smoothness and sharpness.

Alum burn is how much burn I get from the alum after the shave. I put a number out of 5. Five being like when you cut and you put a steptic pencil on it, and 0, no alum burn at all. 1 is a little tingle, 2 is a more pronounce tingle with some spotty burn, 3 is over all burn, 4 overall burn with some spotty strong burn, and 5 is full hard burn (never had a 5).

Smoothness is how the edge feels gliding down my face. This is where it gets like wine testing. Buttery smooth, smooth with a presence, edgy, and so on, terms that mean something to me. The scale is 1-5, 5 being the smoothes.

Then I rate the sharpness, 3 passes (no touchups) and then I feel my face with my wet soapy hand, if no stubbles at all, it is a 100% BBS. If I find stubbles (most of the times), I add the area up and compare it to the total area of the shaving face, and assign an overall percentage of the added patches, in relation to the face. 85-90% BBS is acceptable for an 8k shave. Once I go to the finishers, 94-98% is more the norm. I still finish my shave with touchups to get 100% BBS on the days I feel like getting one. Also, there is a correlation the higher the BBS # the longer the stubbles take to come back the next day. I have razor edges that get me 94-96% BBS in two passes but you know on the first pass if they are two pass razors or not. Still I evaluate them on three pass. Not a perfect system, but is what I use.

So, to answer your question, a great razor would be one that gives me 0/5 alum burn, smoothness of 5, hardly feel the edge on the face, and 100% BBS in three passes. But, it doesn't stop there. How easy is the blade to maneuver on the face, how well it balance on face and stropping, spanish point is better for me than a round, barber notch? and esthetics, good looking scales, clean blade (the least important for me), are some other factors to make a WOW shave razor.

For example, a top tier razor on my rotation, is a George Wostenholm near wedge. It rates on alum burn .5/5, smoothness 4.5/5 and sharpness 95% BBS, but it gives me a memorable shave every time. Like a good thing I keep it on a rotation so I don't spoil myself too much, and some times it comes out of rotation when I feel like it. Then I have a very good ERN razor, that gives me as smooth and even closer shave than the Wostenholm, 97% BBS, but it keeps on rotation or goes to travel with me sometimes. Is not that I don't enjoy the ERN, is that it doesn't have some of the other factors that make a WOW razor for me. The ERN is round point, plastic scales and feel light on the hand. The Wosty, have barber notch with Spanish point and black horn scales that scream classic! Strops like a dream and feels balance on the hand.

We keep searching the dragon for that ultimate experience, and they come and go sometimes (retouch a razor and it never comes back to what it once was or it does). This is what makes the hobby a life time learning fun and intriguing pursue for the perfect memorable shave. Also like wine, add the moment factor. A wine tasted at the winery usually taste better than when you bring it home. A razor that is a good shaver, could give you more satisfaction than another greater shaver if it is a heirloom or have some other important significance for you! It never ends!!!! Double O

Excellent reply, Double0757! (note - the 57 in your name isn't by chance your birth year, is it?).
Only thing I'll note is that for me, the wine always tastes worse at the winery, for some bizarre reason. Never understood that one. But at least it means if I like it well enough there, I'll REALLY like it in the confines of my little housie.
Crowden

Originally Posted by Double0757

I use three markers for testing my edges the first time they come out of the stones, alum burn, smoothness and sharpness.

Alum burn is how much burn I get from the alum after the shave. I put a number out of 5. Five being like when you cut and you put a steptic pencil on it, and 0, no alum burn at all. 1 is a little tingle, 2 is a more pronounce tingle with some spotty burn, 3 is over all burn, 4 overall burn with some spotty strong burn, and 5 is full hard burn (never had a 5).

Smoothness is how the edge feels gliding down my face. This is where it gets like wine testing. Buttery smooth, smooth with a presence, edgy, and so on, terms that mean something to me. The scale is 1-5, 5 being the smoothes.

Then I rate the sharpness, 3 passes (no touchups) and then I feel my face with my wet soapy hand, if no stubbles at all, it is a 100% BBS. If I find stubbles (most of the times), I add the area up and compare it to the total area of the shaving face, and assign an overall percentage of the added patches, in relation to the face. 85-90% BBS is acceptable for an 8k shave. Once I go to the finishers, 94-98% is more the norm. I still finish my shave with touchups to get 100% BBS on the days I feel like getting one. Also, there is a correlation the higher the BBS # the longer the stubbles take to come back the next day. I have razor edges that get me 94-96% BBS in two passes but you know on the first pass if they are two pass razors or not. Still I evaluate them on three pass. Not a perfect system, but is what I use.

So, to answer your question, a great razor would be one that gives me 0/5 alum burn, smoothness of 5, hardly feel the edge on the face, and 100% BBS in three passes. But, it doesn't stop there. How easy is the blade to maneuver on the face, how well it balance on face and stropping, spanish point is better for me than a round, barber notch? and esthetics, good looking scales, clean blade (the least important for me), are some other factors to make a WOW shave razor.

For example, a top tier razor on my rotation, is a George Wostenholm near wedge. It rates on alum burn .5/5, smoothness 4.5/5 and sharpness 95% BBS, but it gives me a memorable shave every time. Like a good thing I keep it on a rotation so I don't spoil myself too much, and some times it comes out of rotation when I feel like it. Then I have a very good ERN razor, that gives me as smooth and even closer shave than the Wostenholm, 97% BBS, but it keeps on rotation or goes to travel with me sometimes. Is not that I don't enjoy the ERN, is that it doesn't have some of the other factors that make a WOW razor for me. The ERN is round point, plastic scales and feel light on the hand. The Wosty, have barber notch with Spanish point and black horn scales that scream classic! Strops like a dream and feels balance on the hand.

We keep searching the dragon for that ultimate experience, and they come and go sometimes (retouch a razor and it never comes back to what it once was or it does). This is what makes the hobby a life time learning fun and intriguing pursue for the perfect memorable shave. Also like wine, add the moment factor. A wine tasted at the winery usually taste better than when you bring it home. A razor that is a good shaver, could give you more satisfaction than another greater shaver if it is a heirloom or have some other important significance for you! It never ends!!!! Double O

I think I understand what you're saying here.

I used my TI 5/8th Eagle the other day for the first time. Had it quite awhile, had the place to myself and figured I had to finally break this roadblock of using it. Fear of chipping it, expensive blade, etc.

I had never used a TI before, this one was honed by Phil, purchased from Classic Edge, and I was completely blown away. Two mixed passes, I barely felt the blade but got great feedback, finished the shave and didn't even need or use the alum block, great cold shave, total BBS.

I guess it would come down to two factors for me, 1) a brand new blade freshly honed, and 2) a really finely crafted blade on top of that. It was a joy!

What I took away from this, is the lesson that the long-time members say over and over again - that your blade must be honed properly to shave ready condition. If your blade isn't at that point, it doesn't matter what blade you use, your shave will suffer.

So, a shave ready blade IMO, only enhances using a very nice blade, as I found with my TI Eagle!!

For me, it's the amount if irritation I feel once my shave is done. That and smoothness. I'd say that comfort trumps smoothness though...no point is having a smooth face if it burns all day and you can't touch it!

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Well, today I gave a lecture in bright lemon shorts and a t-shirt with a superman torso on it. And a pair of sandshoes. I mainly wear t-shirts to lectures unless I have a particularly formal meeting that day, in which case I'll usually wear a suit and tie t-shirt

Edit: The t-shirt is for the informal conference occasions - the bits that occur after we've all been sitting around trying not to fall asleep listening to someone drone on about lattice methods or Markov random fields and the like. Us mathematicians and statisticians really like to let (what's left of our) hair down at these things. I'm usually the coolest one there of course, what with having pi tattooed on my wrist. Hard to compete with that level of coolness.

James.

Mathematicians are surely a breed of their own, not to name the crypto analysts, everyone talking with those guys walk away with their mouth open and wide open 1000 mile stare eyes.

Originally Posted by Headcrowny

Excellent reply, Double0757! (note - the 57 in your name isn't by chance your birth year, is it?).
Crowden

Thanks, no, I was born in 1959, the Double O was a nick name adopted in pilot training in 1982, Lubbock TX. No body could pronounce well my real name, Osvaldo, and instead of responding to Oozo, Ozzy, one guy said, "your initials are O.O. I'm calling you Double O" and that was better than nicknames of the past (collage and high school), slobber, guineo (banana in Spanish), so I adopted it without complaints. From then on, every time I went to a new base and they started butchering my name I would give them an easy out (and avoiding a less than desirable nickname), telling them that they called me "Double O" on my last base. 31 years later, I'm still call Double O outside my family. The 757 is the Boing 757/767 I flown for the last 15 years! And that's...... the rest of the story! Paul Harvey good day! Double O