Razor Blade Shave-Off Round 2

Remaining razor blades at the end of the first round.

First round of the Razor Blade Shave-Off completed. Last year I bought a razor blade sampler. After many months of using a new blade a week I can declare a set of losers and a set of winners. Or more specifically, a set of losers and set of maybes: since I was new to double-edge razors when I started, I only feel comfortable identifying the worst performing blades. Five blades seemed awful to me. This leaves seventeen blades in the running (see photo above).

For the second round I will collect data in a more formal manner. I think I will get the best data if I don’t know which blade I am using during the week. Rather than blindfolding myself when I replace blades, I’ve asked Natasha to select a blade randomly and put it in the razor. Every day after I use the blade I will fill a quick survey. I won’t know which blade was in the razor until I remove it at the end of the week.

The Google Docs survey saves its results in a spreadsheet. After I’ve used all the blades I’ll calculate statistics. Hopefully the statistics will further differentiate the blades.