Age and Gender Difference

I observed four people in total, as well as myself making it 5. I had two males roughly 30 years in age difference and two females with a similar age gap. I noticed that there were several things different between the four participants.

-The first was that the older male used a more traditional shaving method whereas the younger male  used very modern techniques. The older male used a brush for soaping the face whereas the younger male preferred foaming gel as it was quicker. The younger male also occasionally used an electric razor and the older male says he didn’t even own one. Both males recognized that their facial hair was long when they felt it tickle and itch them. 

-The males shaved after the shower whereas the females shaved in/during the shower. The females were also faster than the males at shaving, this may be because they were not shaving their face and it was therefor not as sensitive. 

-The females had different ways of shaving, the younger female was slower taking care of what she was doing, moisturizing her legs both in and out of the shower. The older female was fast out of necessity however she didn’t feel the need to constantly moisturize her legs. This may be because the younger female feels that her legs are a major part of her appearance and she wants them to look as best they can whereas the older female spends most of her time in pants. 

-Males said their faces were itchy and tickly when they needed to shave whereas females said that their legs felt fluffy or rough

-Females were rough when drying their faces whereas men were gentle. Men were also messier than women when shaving as they were not shaving in a contained space. 

I think that age and gender do influence how one experiences shaving as I had four different experiences when observing my participants. While the things they touched, saw and heard where very similar the way they perceived these things was very different for each person. I will try to convey these similarities and differences in my multi-sensory diary.