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Auditory feedback when shaving

Auditory feedback when shaving

I recently received a Merkur Slant. Thanks Lee’s Razor for the great service. Overall I am very pleased with the way it feels and shaves. I’ve only used it twice so far. It is loaded with a Crystal (Israel) blade. I typically shave early in the morning when the entire house is nice and quiet. One thing I've noticed is that I can actually hear the hairs being cut. Maybe this is because of the slicing action used by the offset blade angle. This sound reminds me of shaving with a hollow handled Bic Sensitive (yellow handle).
Anybody else notice this?
Thanks in advance.
 
I am very attuned to the auditory feedback in all my razors and blades in their various combinations. I consider this sound as an important part of my overall shaving experience and I never drown it out with music, or any other competing sounds.
 
This phenomenon is also noticed with the VISION. hearing that sound is like the great hitters in baseball who can smell the ball before they hit it-if you can hear it, you are tuned in and will have a great shave.



Marty
 
As my eyes are aging with time, I tend to use my ears to "see" the quality of the shaving!.

In fact you can "see" much better. :)
 
Don't keep the water running...or better yet, fill the bowl with water and keep it off. Keep the exhaust fan in the bathroom off. Experiment with the angle of the razor, etc...and see how the sound changes. Get it tuned into your ears what it sounds like when it's really doing a good job-- when you've had a good prep, a good sharp blade, and you've ended up with a great smooth shave. It will be a sound you will want to duplicate each day.

GOOD SHAVING, my friend!
 
Don't keep the water running...or better yet, fill the bowl with water and keep it off. Keep the exhaust fan in the bathroom off. Experiment with the angle of the razor, etc...and see how the sound changes. Get it tuned into your ears what it sounds like when it's really doing a good job-- when you've had a good prep, a good sharp blade, and you've ended up with a great smooth shave. It will be a sound you will want to duplicate each day.

GOOD SHAVING, my friend!

For whatever it's worth, I ran my kitchen knives across my beard with the blades perpendicular to the skin, and I could hear symphonies similar to those I get with my Futur. It seemed like the more flexible the blade, the higher the pitch. I believe the singing tone of the Futur comes from the blade not being held as firmly as in, say, an HD. I believe the blade in a Futur vibrates to a significant degree, which is generally not good.

In any case, I still maintain that it will be awfully difficult to judge the cutting performance based on sound, probably more difficult than recognizing all the pitches in a 6-note chord.

Those are just my thoughts.

Best - MM
 
For whatever it's worth, I ran my kitchen knives across my beard with the blades perpendicular to the skin, and I could hear symphonies similar to those I get with my Futur. It seemed like the more flexible the blade, the higher the pitch. I believe the singing tone of the Futur comes from the blade not being held as firmly as in, say, an HD. I believe the blade in a Futur vibrates to a significant degree, which is generally not good.

In any case, I still maintain that it will be awfully difficult to judge the cutting performance based on sound, probably more difficult than recognizing all the pitches in a 6-note chord.

Those are just my thoughts.

Best - MM

Interesting...at least on a 6 note chord you have "color" (major/minor/dim, etc) to key the ear, inversions, etc...

Your experiment sent me to get my beloved 8" Henckel's chef knife out, and there WAS a sound. I also ran a copy of my county's Plat Book over my face and got a sound, but a different one. The Henckel's sound was certainly not the same as the blade in the 59 fatboy, nor did the book sound the same, or this vintage Apsco stapler I'm absent-mindedly running ATG at this writing.

I concede-- there IS a sound for everything. Everywhere there is friction there is a sound, no matter what the surfaces involved. The bladless SS I just picked up and ran over my be-whiskered face makes relatively less sound than any of the above-named objects...including the book, due to lack of friction, no less.

SO...when you take the kitchen knife, and you cut through a piece of celery and you hear a sound, are we actually hearing the sound of the fibers being CUT or are we hearing friction from either side of the knife blade? If this were the case, could we duplicate the sound of cutting celery by running cut edges against the blades?

I'm not "dueling" with you here...you bring up compelling arguments, and I agree with you, in large part-- I hope you consider this discourse gentlemanly, as do I-- I respect your curiousity and thouroughness.

As to the string at hand, I DO think that we use auditory feedback in shaving, whatever that ends up being defined as (whether the sound of a blade cutting or the sound of a given blade at a given angle ATG or WTG) Can we at least agree that SOME sound is produced and that it can be valuable to listen to it?

Tom
 
I'm not "dueling" with you here...you bring up compelling arguments, and I agree with you, in large part-- I hope you consider this discourse gentlemanly, as do I-- I respect your curiousity and thouroughness.

Oh, no problem here. This is an objective exchange in the interest of shedding some light on the scientific (i.e. geeky) aspects of shaving. I have never understood it any other way.

Sorry, gotta run. I ran out of Nivea Shaving Cream, so I'm just going to quickly hop over the pond to pick me up some. Need anything from Germany?

Best - MM
 
Oh, no problem here. This is an objective exchange in the interest of shedding some light on the scientific (i.e. geeky) aspects of shaving. I have never understood it any other way.

Sorry, gotta run. I ran out of Nivea Shaving Cream, so I'm just going to quickly hop over the pond to pick me up some. Need anything from Germany?

Best - MM

Nah...what do I need from Germany? I'm just 3 miles from WISCONSIN! Have a good trip:rolleyes:
 
The problem is that you get that sound irrespective of whether the hairs get cut or not. Best - MM


Mozart!!!! Here we go again. (lol) I am going to test a further theory...because we have to find out if there IS a sound of things being cut.

How about this...If I take a potato (or as Dan Quayle would say, "potatoe") and I cut it first with a very sharp knife...will it produce a sound? And if it produces that sound, is the sound produced simply the sound of cutting?

It would follow that if I took an identical knife, but one not as sharp, that we would be pushing "potato molecules" apart in a different fashion...shouldn't the sound change?

I'm fascinated by the question, as you are...is this the sound of cutting or some peripheral sound that occurs around cutting. I'll let you know my findings later this PM!

Regards...
 
I remember the crunch sound with I first used my HD. I was a little afraid to look at my skin at first because I didn't think that was a good sound. Now it is part of the whole sensory experience.
 
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