I was recently testing some soap so have been thinking about soap properties. I thought it might be fun to get some TSD input to create a bubble graph of select soaps. My first hurdle is selecting the three dimensions to be represented in our soap bubble (<— HA! Pun not intended, but WOW!) graph. Just what makes a good shave soap? Belay that! What are the best properties of soap to which we can assign numbers — subjectively and collectively? First, I vote to rule out scent. I hope the reason is obvious, so will not elaborate. I'll start with a few that I think might be good candidates: • slickness • protection (same as cushion?) • skin conditioning (aka post shave feel) • lather Whatever you call it, I think slickness and protection are the properties that allow the razor to do its thing and avoid butchery. If they are X and Y, then what should the bubble be? Do you guys highly value skin conditioning so prefer it to lather? WHAT ABOUT LATHER? <sigh> This is a toughie! I think it no stretch to say wet shavers are all about the lather. However, it may be quite a task to herd those cats into a single agreement about what a good lather is! Some of you guys take pride in whipping up copious piles of foam, while many in the Brotherhood of Face Latherers are pleased with a thin, dense coat. All of these measure are subjective, of course, but I suspect that lather will have the greatest variation. ++ I also considered "workability." Soaps with poor workability reputations would be Williams ( @swarden43 Right, Steve? ) and MWF. ++ We could combine slickness and protection into a single score. It frees an axis, but loses some distinction. This post is part one of the soap bubble graph project. It is to ask for interest and to lock down the measures. Part 2 would be collecting the data from TSDers. I'm thinking we could all submit three soaps of choice and their scores. I would then compile the data and publish bubble graphs for the top five or ten. A graph might look like this: What do you guys think?
Sean I have to agree and disagree, with But YMMV, I could name a lot of soaps, I will watch this review.
Yeah... I hear ya. Personally, I get good lathers from both. However, enough people have sworn off of either that I think the claims of "non-workable" are out there. It may also be a question of individual skill, as I believe Steve can work a Williams lather but hates it.... not that I would speak for him! So... do you have an opinion on what we should score? I am leaning away from lather and toward skin conditioning. Skin conditioning would be the bubble size and let slickness and protection be the X and Y. What do you think? If several people agreed to play, I think the data might show some fun "pictures." You may remember the blade histogram from last year... or not. <sigh> Yes, I'm a nerd. I think graphing things is fun!
Oh, yeah... If this takes off and you decide to play, then you get to submit your choice of three soaps. That's where some of the fun with data will come in.
I think this is a great idea. Enough data points on a soap where they're all ranked relatively high makes a soap a pretty safe bet. If the ratings are all over the map, well YMMV applies I guess. Thinking about how to present the data... I like the soap bubble graph but maybe just a standard two-axis graph with separate bell-curves for each of the criteria would work too. That way, you could even include a separate bell-curve for scent for people who want to think about that. I envision a Tabac scent bell curve with a large standard deviation .
I've been thinking some more about this soap-graphing idea. I think the axes should be "slip and cushion" and "skin conditioning." The bubble can be "lather." There may be a ways to quantify the qualitative data, but the input from wetshavers is surely going to be nothing but subjective. So let it be what it's gonna be! That said, if we each post our top three, that just show what we like rather than rating a variety of soaps. I think it would be way cool for each TSDer to rate soaps on a given list. After rating, nominate your two faves that are not on the list. NOTE 1: Scent is not part of this effort. You may hate a soap for smelling like urinal cake, but please rate it on the selected measures. NOTE 2: It would really help if participants cast their votes in this format: <soap name>, <score 1>, <score 2>, <score 3> SO... assuming you guys want to participate, then the next step is selecting the base list. I won't try to generate the whole thing at once, but here are a few common shave soaps off the top: Arko Catie's Bubbles Cella Colonel Conk Martin de Candre Mitchell's Wool Fat Proraso RazoRock Stirling Tabac Taylor of Old Bond Street The Shave Den Van Der Hagen - Deluxe Van Der Hagen - Luxury Williams Whew... that got to 15 in a hurry! I was trying to just pick a FEW that I've seen mentioned a lot. I vote to stop the list at 20. If enough people want to play, I can collect all the data and let the total number of votes determine the list. However, don't limit your votes to just your favorites! You have to list the "never again" soaps, too or we won't be able to show what a bad soap looks like! SO... does anyone want to play? Ever a nerd, Sean
