This hobby/experience/journey/whatever-you-want-to-call-it is an odd thing, especially in the forum of r/wicked_edge on Reddit. I’ve recently noticed that as I’ve gotten into this, I truly have been working to experiment and experience a wide variety of hardware and software combinations, and a lot of people don’t do that. And that surprises me for some reason.
I’ve offered my opinion and advice in comments on a few posts recently, and they really echoed what I’ve told people all along–experimentation is the key to finding great shave(s). I’ll encourage the poster to get a blade sample pack, try a couple of different soaps, pre-shaves, and aftershaves; and that if they get an adjustable razor, try all of the settings with the different blades.
This is the idea behind experimentation, right? Try out all of the combinations to find the best results. It’s worked for me and I’ll keep doing it for quite a while going forward, as I have so many possible combinations to try out.
But increasingly, I’m finding people who just want to settle on that first option that works for them, and they stop experimenting.
I hesitate to call him out, but we’re both anonymous here (well, mostly. With just a little research, you can find out who I am). But the individual I got the free blades from recently was an example of this. He appeared to have purchased a bulk quantity (50 or more) of a set of popular blades, and ended up deciding that he was going to stick with Feathers forever, and opted to get rid of the rest. I mean, good for me, but there were some good blades in his collection. And while I know that blades are the cheapest part of this hobby, that still was probably about $15-20 worth of blades.
A poster I commented on recently wanted to get a Rockwell 6C or 2C (basically the same design, but while the 6C comes with 3 double-sided plates, the 2C comes with just 1). This person said that they currently use a Henson mild, and that the Rockwell would just be another option, but they wondered if they would be happy with the 1/3 plate that comes with the 2C. I commented that for just $20 more, they could get the 6C and have a razor that’s 3 times more adaptable. And they responded that they were just looking to settle on a single plate to use and leave it there.
So why buy an adjustable razor at all?
I don’t know why I’m noticing this more right now, or if it’s always been out there, or if it is really more prevalent. Half of the fun for me is the experience of trying something new or different–and for me, trying something new is not something I normally embrace, but shaving and food, I guess, are my big adventures. While I could do it if I had to, I don’t want to get locked into a fixed shaving combo that I’d use every day. I enjoy creating the weekly shaving plan, just as I enjoy planning the weekly menu for the household. I enjoy the anticipation of what’s coming as much as savoring what’s here now.
But back to the others. I really do wonder if what I’m seeing is a trend. Do people not want to experiment with something as fundamental to their daily lives as grooming? (This is said as someone who had the same shaving habit for 29 years and didn’t change until 14 months ago). And if experimentation isn’t something people are interested in, why do they ask a question like “what should I try” on an internet shaving forum? Do they not expect to receive about 400 different responses?
I understand that experimentation is costly and time-consuming. I believe that in this area, keeping some written record of what you try is required. And yes, I can make a case for purchasing every single thing I have in my collection. But is that the fundamental problem that keeps people from wanting to experiment with different razors, blades, lathers, and the like? I really don’t think so.
I believe that people these days seek out opinions (and maybe ratings online) of the “best” products in an area. They try it, like it if it works well for them, and stop there. In essence, they follow a herd to a broadly accepted standard. I’m not saying it’s lazy, just time-saving.
OR….
I decided to do some quick research before publishing this post, because I realized I’ve been seeing a lot of people buying stuff off of Amazon. So I headed over just to see what lurked out there.
When it comes to blades, yes, I found some sampler packs, but none that really matched the scope or depth of some offered by the popular online shaving sites in terms of curated samplers (from, say, Maggard Razors, The Razor Company, Razor Emporium, for instance). And I could see how, if you latched on to one blade was being good for you, you’d head right back out and order a box of 50 or 100 blades.
So is that the rest of the story? Is that what’s going on? That people get lazy about research and then get lazy about sourcing? Just go off to Amazon and don’t dive any deeper? I’m starting to think that’s it because it’s just about the only thing that makes sense to me.
Not me, though. First off, I gave up ordering from or having any kind of membership with Amazon at least two years ago. And rest assured that I’ll keep experimenting and working with what I have. I don’t have many plans to expand the collection, just finish trying the samples and decide on a core supply of products that I can keep working with. I’ve spent over a year trying things out, and while I’ve largely figured out what works for me, I still get surprised (like that the Shark blades work extremely well for me).
