Beard Prep and Edge Retention Experiment

Following on from this thread, I am going to do an experiment to determine whether, for me, increased beard prep influences the practical life of Bengall razors between honing.

The experiment will be conducted as follows:

1. Equipment

(a) Four Bengall razors of similar era of manufacture, grind, size, and hone wear;
(b) TSD Vanilla Burbon shave soap;
(c) Mason Pearson Badger Brush;
(d) Kangaroo Leather strop;
(e) Towel (for hot towel treatment on non-normative prep treatment)
(f) Electronic Metronome

2. Method

All Bengall razors will be initially honed to have as similar shaving edge as possible. This will be done in an ad-hoc fashion as I do not have microscopes etc.

Two Bengall razors will be chosen at random (using a suitable randomisation technique) for the control group (normal, minimal prep). The remaining two will be added to the treatment group (non-normal, increased prep). Pairs of razors will be labelled as either control or treatment on the scales using identically sized labels. Additionally, each razor in each group shall be labelled as either head or face.

I have been unable to think up a way to blind myself as to what group each set of razors belongs. However, my renowned objectivity and strength of character should be adequate protection against any alleged treatment bias. :D

Each group (normal and non-normal prep) of razors shall be used on a daily basis to shave my head and face (as per labels on the razors) for the period of 6 consecutive days. On the seventh day I shall rest (my face and head). The following 6 days' shaves post-rest shall be done using the other prep type, and so on. This shall be done so as to minimise the influence of the previous set of days' shaves (ie to minimise any residual treatment effects). The starting treatment shall be randomly chosen using a suitable randomisation technique (details in paper to follow.... lol!)

All practical aspects of the shave, besides beard prep, will be held as constant as is feasible. Same soap, same strop, same brush etc.. In terms of stropping, each razor shall receive 30 laps on kangaroo leather in as similar a fashion as possible. Lather shall be consistently made. I have been at the shaving caper long enough now that most aspects of my shave routine are fairly homogenous from shave to shave, and any variance should be randomly partitioned in terms of beard prep treatments.

In the event that I impart a nick or cut to my person during the experiment, I will endeavour to impart a similar nick or cut as soon as is possible to my person during a shave of the opposite beard prep treatment :D Seriously, if this happens I will record the day of the shaving sequence, stop the experiment for an amount of time adequate for healing, and resume thereafter. A similar amount of stoppage time will be applied to the other treatment sequence that follows.

In all cases a WTG and an ATG pass shall be defined as a "shave" for the face, and a "north to south" single pass shall be defined as a "shave" for the head. The number of strokes taken to shave will most likely vary on a shave-to-shave basis, but due to the amount of experience I have, this variation should only contribute a small amount compared to any variation attributable to the treatment under consideration, if in fact the treatment has any effect.

A pilot of non-normal treatment shaving using two other razors shall be undertaken for a period of 6 days prior to the commencement of the experiment to habituate myself with the foreign prep regime, which should eliminate any variation attributable to unfamiliarity with the new prep routine.

2.1 Beard Prep Treatment Methodology

(a) Normal Beard Prep

The normal beard prep treatment shall consist of my normal beard prep regime. Namely, two splashes of hot water (regulated to a consistent temperature by my solar hot water system with electrical booster on overcast days) to the shaving area (head or face), and a regulated application of lather to the entire area which is allowed to sit during the 30 stropping laps (the timing of which will be regulated to be as consistent as possible across shaves using my innate stropping skills and the use of an electronic metronome for cadence). Post stropping, another layer of regulated lather shall be applied to the shaving surface for the purposes of lubrication.

(b) Non-normal Beard Prep

The non-normal beard prep treatment shall consist of the following, in the order presented:

(i) Facial (or head) cleansing using Clinique for Men facial (or head) cleanser;
(ii) Two splashes of hot water (at regulated temperature) to the shaving surface;
(iii) A hot towel treatment to the shaving surface of no shorter than 1 minutes duration (towel at regulated temperature);
(iv) Prep as per normal treatment.

The experiment shall be carried out for as long as the edges continue to give decent shaves. If it turns out that increased prep makes the edges last longer, the experiment will continue under identical conditions to ascertain by how much longer the edges last, with two other razors substituted for the normal treatment shaves.

I will report back on a regular basis to this thread any observations made during the experiment.

James.

Go Go Gadget shave guy :tu

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

2.1 Bear Prep Treatment Methodology

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If the Bear becomes restless during its prep, you can seduce it with a Snickers candy bar. M&Ms may do in a pinch, but do not overestimate their influence on a hungry bear that is being disturbed by someone trying to prep it!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hoglahoo

If the Bear becomes restless during its prep, you can seduce it with a Snickers candy bar. M&Ms may do in a pinch, but do not overestimate their influence on a hungry bear that is being disturbed by someone trying to prep it!

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:roflmao Woops. Edited now.

James.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Go Go Gadget shave guy :tu

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:rofl2::rofl2::rofl2: I haven't thought about that since my kids were little!

Good luck on the test, James.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hoglahoo

If the Bear becomes restless during its prep, you can seduce it with a Snickers candy bar. M&Ms may do in a pinch, but do not overestimate their influence on a hungry bear that is being disturbed by someone trying to prep it!

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Bears also go mental for toothpaste. Since you'll be in a bathroom at the time, just take off the lid, lob it at the bear, and while it's going nuts eating the tube, sidle out of the bathroom and lock it in. Then call someone with a gun asap, a small tube's not going to keep him occupied for long, and if he starts rampaging your razors might get damaged!

I'm afraid there is way too much subjectivity in this "experiment" for it to have any meaning to me. But if you want to do it and report the results, I'm sure many will be interested.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fccexpert

I'm afraid there is way too much subjectivity in this "experiment" for it to have any meaning to me. But if you want to do it and report the results, I'm sure many will be interested.

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You could have just as easily not posted at all and the net result would have been the same.


I'm interested in the results!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Oglethorpe

You could have just as easily not posted at all and the net result would have been the same.


I'm interested in the results!

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And your point is?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fccexpert

I'm afraid there is way too much subjectivity in this "experiment" for it to have any meaning to me. But if you want to do it and report the results, I'm sure many will be interested.

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Well, I mean no one really expects this to be an actual experiment, do they? I will run it as close as I can to the protocol, which I think is objective enough. But I am definitely open to suggestions as to what would make it less subjective if you or anyone else has any to add.

You can trust me - I am a statistician. I tell others how to do this kinda thing for a living...... lol :D

James.

Jimbo,

This will be interesting as I'm an "a" prep guy and hope that the "a" prep will be as effective as "b". My life, while not all that complicated, needs to "b" no further complicated. ;)

I'm into this and look forward to the results. But then again I'm into the whole subjective shaving experience myself. Kudos James!

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Originally Posted by Bruce

Jimbo,

This will be interesting as I'm an "a" prep guy and hope that the "a" prep will be as effective as "b". My life, while not all that complicated, needs to "b" no further complicated. ;)

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Bruce, I am with you mate! It has been pointed out that, logically, proper and adequate prep. will, ceteris paribus, not be as harsh on your edge as inadequate prep., and I do concede that point (no pun intended, but pretty cool nonetheless :) )

But what I am interested in is whether the difference is practically significant (as opposed to statistically significant). If we are only talking an extra 10 shaves, I personally am prepared to forgo the extended period of non-honingness to remain comfortably in my current prep rut. But if we are talking a substantial increase in longevity, I myself may rethink what I do prep-wise. I will leave it to each reader to decide whether what comes out of this "observational study" can be construed as a "substantial increase" or not.

James.

Well, I am feeling comfortable with the increased prep routine so far - adds about 5 minutes to each shave so it is not too onerous. I will continue the pilot until Saturday to make sure I am completely on top of it, and commence the actual trial starting Monday next week.

On a side note, the increase in prep has given me a small, yet noticeable, increase in what you might call shaving smoothness - hard to quantify of course, as I am using a variety of razors atm.

Also, I have rethought the razors I will use for the experiment - I do not know why I did not think of this earlier, but I have a seven day set of JR 5/8 wedges with clip-on (single) handle. These appear to be ideal for my current purpose, as they are as uniform as you are likely to get in terms of manufacture, type, and wear. So I am changing the protocol from Bengalls to a randomly selected set of 4 of these JRs.

James.

Very cool, Jimbo! Thanks for doing this.

I too admit that the times I've sat down with several hot towels prior to a shave and really focused on thorough prep the shaves have felt smoother. I'm a prep "a" guy all the way though, I'm afraid.

As a related aside, the most thorough prep I've heard about to date was from an article I read some time ago about Finnish immigrants of Northern Minnesota who kept the sauna tradition alive and well. In the article it talked about the men, after taking a long and hot sauna would find their whiskers so softened from the heat and steam that they would often shave (straight razors undoubtedly at that time) with no lather.

Maybe I should jump from being a prep "a" to prep "c" and install a sauna in my basement!

Chris L

This is awesome! I really like experiments like this and look forward to the results!

I just loves Bengall razors!!!!

:)

Lynn

[in response to the question what would make it... more scientific, or whatever it was]

Alternate shaving protocols each day. Probably goes without saying.

A second person to blindly rate your two razors for sharpness to confirm your findings.

Some objective means of establishing lather lubricity, vicosity, foamicity etc-icity.

Of course, it'd be even better if you were blind to the prep technique, but drugging you and having someone else do it is impractical.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BrentonC

[in response to the question what would make it... more scientific, or whatever it was]

Alternate shaving protocols each day. Probably goes without saying.

A second person to blindly rate your two razors for sharpness to confirm your findings.

Some objective means of establishing lather lubricity, vicosity, foamicity etc-icity.

Of course, it'd be even better if you were blind to the prep technique, but drugging you and having someone else do it is impractical.

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Those are good points. For the first one, I decided to perform each prep. treatment for 6 consecutive days followed by a rest day to minimise any residual effects on my skin from the other prep method - you know, just in case I get some burn or whatever, it would not leach over into the other beard prep treatment - and also to try to assess medium-term effects of the prep routines. But I do see the point of a daily alternation.

The problem with experiments like this is that there is a very constrained population to infer about (me, my beard, my soap, my strop, my brush, my selected razors etc). So your other points, while valid, are unnecessary embellishments in the present case. If this experiment was being replicated over many shavers, in an attempt to expand the inferential sphere, then consistency of all these things would be vital.

But it is just me. And as I have said, my shaving routine is at a point where any variability in the (non-treatment related) ingredients to the shave process (lather, stropping etc) will at least be consistent across treatments, if not minimal compared to the variability due to the treatments. This is my biggest concern here in fact - that any signal might be swamped by noise - but if my edges last long enough, the old sample size thingy will kick in and hopefully I might get some kind of result I can trust.

But in the end, I am doing it for the fun. If it doesn't work, or the results are inconclusive, at least I had fun doing it. And those who come after me can treat what I have done as a pilot and improve from there.

James.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lynn

I just loves Bengall razors!!!!

:)

Lynn

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I haven't used a huge variety (still in acquisition mode...), but I do have a 13/16 Bengall near wedge and it is my #1 favorite razor...I have such a small rotation that it's hard to resist just using it every time! I LOVE my Bengall - and with really good prep it gives me the greatest shave each time!

Be well!

Julian

Hey Jimbo,

Just wanna make sure you know I wuz just gettin in the spirit of doing the scientific thing... I wasn't serious, except for the first point about alternating.

That'd be an easy one to implement.



I'm completely with you in how you're going about this. Sensible steps taken to do a fair comparison. But at the end of the day, you don' t always need representative population sampling with an N>x, and a p<.05 to know that, for example, "every time my fiance drinks white wine, she has an asthma type reaction and I don't get...ahhh, I don't get....ahhh, 'how 'bout next week, then, honey?' "

[Though trained as a scientist, I do get irritated by the science "game" in certain contexts]

{rant over. I feel better now.}

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BrentonC

Hey Jimbo,

Just wanna make sure you know I wuz just gettin in the spirit of doing the scientific thing... I wasn't serious, except for the first point about alternating.

That'd be an easy one to implement.



I'm completely with you in how you're going about this. Sensible steps taken to do a fair comparison. But at the end of the day, you don' t always need representative population sampling with an N>x, and a p<.05 to know that, for example, "every time my fiance drinks white wine, she has an asthma type reaction and I don't get...ahhh, I don't get....ahhh, 'how 'bout next week, then, honey?' "

[Though trained as a scientist, I do get irritated by the science "game" in certain contexts]

{rant over. I feel better now.}

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Oh it's all good - the whole idea of an experiment is just a bit of fun anyway. In the end it may prove illuminating or it may not, but I will have a lot of fun along the way :)

James.

Just curious James. How long between honings as a rule? Methinks using Bengalls, this experiment may run quite some time :p

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Originally Posted by onimaru55

Just curious James. How long between honings as a rule? Methinks using Bengalls, this experiment may run quite some time :p

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lol! Yes, a good point Oz, and one that I have been thinking about. I could be at this a while - more like months than weeks I think, based on previous between-honing times.

James.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

I could be at this a while - more like months than weeks

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The anticipation is almost too much to bear!

But good things come to those who wait, and I like good things :) Good on you for this sacrifice, Jimbo

Say, how about shaving twice a day?!

That way you'd speed up the wear and tear on your blades.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

lol! Yes, a good point Oz, and one that I have been thinking about. I could be at this a while - more like months than weeks I think, based on previous between-honing times.
James.

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A shame Zeepks are at the other extreme. Might have saved time :D

How's it going, Jimbo?

Are you bored to tears?

Ehhh.. You are aware that this forum is about shaving, right?:banghead:

"It would appear that the strain was more than he could bear."
Sorry , another gratuitous "Bear Prep" pun :)

So, how's it going? Inquiring minds want to know.

Yes, sorry I have not been keeping things updated here, but at the moment there is nothing to report.

I think I already said I have noticed a smoother shave with the extra prep, and that is continuing as I progress. However, I have found no discernible difference between the two sets of edges yet. I have a feeling this might take a while.

James.

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

I have a feeling this might take a while.

James.

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Have you noticed any difference yet?

In fact it has been on hold for quite a while now. You may rest assured that when I get the time I shall resume the experiment.

James.