I’ve made a post talking about my shaving spreadsheet. Go ahead and check it out if you need to.
As I mentioned, it plays a few vital roles in this journey for me: it helps me track inventory–what I have, what I’ve used, and what I think about them–, it helps me track shave combos and see how the overall shave worked for me, and it helps me plan the next few weeks of shaves.
Again, I will plan for 3 shaves a week, usually using the same razor and blade combo, but mixing up the rest (pre-shave, lather, and aftershave). That accomplishes a couple of things for me: first, it lets me see if a blade needs a more slick lather setup to make a better shave; second, it gives each razor and blade combo a wider sample base for evaluation; and third, it lets me use a blade 3-4 times a week. I look forward to the week’s worth of shaves, and I end up looking forward to the coming week’s shaves as well.
But what goes into my planning? I’m not one of those shavers like in the subreddit who use dice or cards to just randomly select what they’re going to shave with on any given day. While I did put a randomizer into the spreadsheet in case I wanted a random shave selected, I’ve never used it–it was more of an experiment to see if I could create one or not. I really like taking a kind of scientific approach to this: experimenting with the combos, but keeping enough steady so that there aren’t a million variables. And, well, let’s face it, I don’t like change, and I like predictability. I really do like knowing what my shave will be on Sunday.
So here are the things I consider:
- Sundays are Proraso Sundays. That’s just organically become a thing. One truth you’ll always find here is that I love my Proraso products. And my Sunday morning schedule allows for just a little extra time for a good shave. Lathering with a brush takes a little more time than just applying a handful of gel or something, so it felt like a natural thing to make the Sunday shave more relaxed. Plus, my last shave would probably have been Thursday, so there’s an extra day’s growth, and from experience, that third day shave is usually closer and just generally better than a second day shave.
So I plan for some Proraso combo to be used on Sunday. Pair that with the chosen razor/blade combo for the week, and Sundays plan themselves. Plus, I still can’t get myself to use the Proraso brush with non-Proraso products, so literally the whole shave is planned almost automatically. - Avoid using a razor two weeks in a row, if possible. I want to make sure to keep my razors in use, so I try to not use a razor for two weeks in a row, subbing in one of the others for the upcoming week. There’s no real reason for this here, except that it just help keeps things fresh. The Parker and the Van Der Hagen, though, can just go and sit in the corner for a while.
- Use the new stuff/stuff I’ve never used before. If I’ve gotten something new (to me), that needs to get into the plan as soon as reasonable. New razor? That’ll usually be used within two weeks of receiving it. If I’m really excited about next week’s shaves and a razor came in on a Thursday or something, I’ll probably wait to use it until after the next week.
New blade? Same thing. As soon as reasonable.
New pre-shave, lather, or aftershave? Since there are now two shaves left in a week after the Proraso Sunday, this can get limiting, especially if I have a bunch of samples as I had a couple months ago. I don’t want to completely cut out existing stock, especially as I’ll want to compare the new stuff to the existing stuff. So these items get pushed out a bit, and it can be a month or more before I get to something new if it just doesn’t fit in the schedule. - Themes. In the spreadsheet, I do have themes listed in the Shave Combos tab. These themes have recently come into play in a big way:
I had the anniversary month shaves, revisits with the Van Der Hagen, and revisiting a blade I haven’t used in a while.
But also, trying a new blade isn’t just a one-week thing. I have 3 or 4 razors that I also need to try with the new blade, just to see how it compares in other combos. And I try to schedule those close to the first week of trying the new blade–if not the next week, then a week or two further out. - Combos I haven’t tried before. I check off whenever I’ve used a blade with a razor. That way, I can see that I’ve used, say, 10 of the 22 blades with the King C Gillette. So obviously, I can easily see combos I have yet to try with each razor. So if I’m looking for a pairing for a week, I may consult this part of the spreadsheet.
I don’t keep this list to track pairings of the lathers with a razor and blade, though. That’s just excessive. - Continued experimentation. An individual shave or even a week’s worth of shaves may trigger a thought for an experiment, so this will result in a planned week of shaves. For instance, simply because I’ve discovered that the medium blades give a lower-effort, closer shave with a more aggressive razor, I’ve decided to set up an upcoming week by pairing the Dorco blade with the more aggressive plates of the Rockwell 6C. While I have tried the Dorco with the Rockwell, that was all with plates 1, 2, and 3, which won’t tell the whole story with that razor.
- Length of time between uses. If it’s been a while since I’ve used, say, the Barbasol 1919 shaving cream, I’ll try to pay attention to that and slip it in to the plans. I think I can get to all of the lather products over the course of a month, so I try to hit them with that frequency. This generally just applies to the software, but I do feel guilty by deciding not to use the Parker for a couple of months after just getting it.
Let me just say that while choosing a combination to shave with seems like an easy task, there are points where it’s almost overwhelming. At the moment with everything that I have in stock, there are about 900,000 shaving combinations possible. Though there are favorites, there are also products that I’m not likely to use except for some exceptional reason (like the Van Der Hagen and Barbasol foams). It should be kept in mind that sometimes, I just want to use a particular blade that week, for no particular reason. And I just feel like using a certain lather on another day. It’s overwhelming, fun, and exciting, all at the same time.
Then I go back and edit and rethink. Which can be a problem…
Once the schedule is set, at least for the next two weeks, I go an extra step here and copy the shaves to a private custom Google Calendar, so on shave mornings, I can look at the calendar to see what’s planned for that shave. Two weeks out seems to be the limit where I’ll try to not audible out of something (unless that week’s experience has prompted a change). But generally, I’ve got plans for 6-8 weeks out.
So now that you know how I plan my shaves, you can go plan yours! Enjoy!
