Shaving gear statistics, aka there is an app for that part III.

A few years ago I posted about Shaving Buddy, an Android and iOS app that lets you keep track of your shaving gear statistics. Since I posted about it last, it has gained one major and several minor updates. It is a much more capable app now than it was in 2015, which is why I keep using it.

Having used it for more than a few shaves, I now have quite a bit of shaving gear statistics. Which I’m sure can tell us something about my shaving habits.

Razors

Currently I have eighteen razors in my regular rotation, plus a few of razors I use while traveling or at work. I also have a few razors on the back shelf I take out now and then.

In the regular rotation there is three injectors and four EverReady / GEM razors.

shaving gear statistics, razors
Razor statistics

Not too many surprises when it comes to razor statistics. Since I run a fairly strict rotation, most razors will see an fairly even use. Injectors are an exception. Since their blades lasts longer but are hard to shift between razors, I use them two weeks at a time instead of only one.

Razors that have low usage numbers are either razors I use when traveling, or razors that have been added to or taken out of rotation during the last seven years.

Blades

I’ve tried a lot of blades over the years. Lately I’ve been narrowing my choices, but I still like to change it up a bit. After all, changing things up is fun – which is why I wish there was more choices easily available for my EverReady / GEM razors.

shaving gear statistics, blades
Blade statistics

Not any large surprises here. I already knew that the Green Astra is my favourite blade. GEM blades are overrepresented since that is the only blade that will fit in almost one quarter of my razors. And Feathers were an early favourite of mine. It is an aggressive blade though, and better suited to milder razors.

I do see that I ought to dig in the blade drawer a bit more, and not just grab a tuck of Astra. I got some untapped potential for shaving zen when it comes to blades.

Brushes

I got far fewer brushes than I do razors. I do keep a pretty strict rotation on my brushes too, with just one “other” brush I sometimes use at home. In addition, I got one travel brush and one brush at work.

shaving gear statistics, brushes
Brush statistics

The Turkish No6 and No7 have been taken out of my rotation. Not because they were bad brushes, but because I have better ones. The TGR brush sheds horrible, so that went on the shelf really quick. And the Vei Long near the bottom is the only horse hair brush I own that tangles, so that is sadly a hangar queen as well.

The Body Shop brush? It is part of my shave at work kit.

Lathers

I have… a lot of lathers. An embarrassing amount of soaps, croaps, and creams. Less than some shavers, granted, but more than most sane people would keep.

But the choice is part of what makes each shave interesting and fun. If I only had one razor, one brush, one blade, one lather, and one aftershave… I would have had a full mountain man beard by now.

shaving gear statistics, lather
Lather statistics

No big surprises here either – I seem to be fairly even-handed when it comes to picking my lathers. The Proraso is overrepresented because I don’t differentiate in the app between the Proraso in the tube and the Proraso in the tub.

I probably should use more of Mike’s soaps though.

Aftershaves

I don’t have nearly as many different aftershaves as I have lathers, thankfully. I still have plenty to choose from, which makes the statistics rather revealing.

shaving gear statistics, aftershaves
Aftershave statistics

I am clearly playing favourites when it comes to aftershaves. Doubly so when you consider that I had used the Shaving Buddy app for a few years before buying the Marmara Kolonya Barber #3 from a nearby barbershop.

There is a reason I like it so much though; it smells good, it feels good, and it came in a 500ml bottle. I don’t have to worry about running out. Small wonder it replaced Krampert’s as my go to bottle after my shaves.

The app and wrap up

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, all of this statistics have been collected using the Shaving Buddy app. This app have been significantly improved since I started using it, and I can recommend it without hesitation.

The app is quite straightforward and easy to use. Add your gear – this can take some time if you have a lot – and then pick and choose as you shave. Once saved, the shaves can be shared with any app on your phone that accepts text and/or images.

There is a few features of the app that I don’t use myself.

One is the option to rate your shave from one to five stars. For someone chasing the perfect combo, this could be a useful thing.

Another is the option to write a comment on the shave. This would be useful if I was posting my SOTD directly from the app.

And lastly, you can add a photo to the shave. This can be done either from the camera or from the gallery on your phone. Again this would be useful if I was posting my SOTD directly from the app.

A feature I have used on a couple of occasions is the ability to delete a shave for any reason. A useful feature – if you need it, you really need it.

So if you, like me, like having shaving gear statistics available at your fingertips, Shaving Buddy is a good choice. It is also a good choice if you, like me, wants to keep track of your daily shaves for sharing on a blog, a forum, or other social media. It shares easily with WordPress, Twitter, Imgur, Reddit, e-mail, and much, much more. There is a free version you can try out, but you’ll need the premium version if you want to have more than five items in each category.

I hope you found this deep dive into my shaving statistics interesting and informative. I did, and I shaved all those shaves.

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