I have read and heard a few things lately, and more significantly have had some experiences, that make me wonder whether the whole “YMMV” attitude toward all things wet shaving may actually be more complicated. Maybe our different impressions of different products aren’t simply a matter of personal preference. Maybe there’s something more there.

What got me thinking about this was /u/Cadinsor’s experience with the Parker 24c. He posted a video to his Youtube channel where he shaved with the razor and found it a bit uncomfortable. Plenty of people suggested that maybe his angle was too steep, so he made an adjustment, tried again, and posted another video in which the razor gave him much better results.

That may actually be consistent with the mileage analogy. If I am fond of jackrabbit starts, I’m gonna burn a lot more fuel than someone who drives more conservatively. Poor technique and a manual transmission can lead to membership in the clutch-of-the-month club, just like too much pressure will tend to cause razor burn.

But I wonder if maybe there are differences between the products we’re using, too. I’ve recently re-purchased new examples of a couple of razors that were my favorites in years past, including the Merkur 34c and the Standard. The 34c is much more comfortable than I recall, while the Standard is slightly less so.

Maybe it’s just faulty recollection, but what if it’s more than that? What if the tolerances of the razors are wide enough that a razor made today is noticeably different than one made last week or last year or 15 years ago?

I seem to recall reading that differences in head geometry of as little as 0.05mm make a perceptible difference in the quality of a shave. We know for a fact that not every razor that comes off an assembly line is absolutely identical: if they were, there’d be no need for quality control. But what about the razors that pass QC because they’re within allowable limits – how much variation is there among those razors?

And at least razors are manufactured. Badgers vary from individual to individual, so the notion that the neck hair from one badger will be identical to that from the next is a little absurd. A good manufacturer can sort them pretty well, but there’s bound to be some variation.

Anyway, I don’t really have a point. And maybe this should have gone in the General Questions thread. But the notion has been percolating all day, so I figured I’d bore the rest of you with it…

Edited: corrected two typos.