Adjustable Razor Caution

[OldSaw]

CAUTION, extremely gross picture attached. Do not go any further if a bloody face wigs you out.

Just to make sure I wasn’t smoking something funny, I thought I’d try adjusting up with my 1962 Gillette slim adjustable, for each successive pass, as discussed in this thread (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=22414). All I can say is, “AWFUL”!

It was one of the worst shaves ever. I am no novice and was using extreme caution. The result is what you see in the picture. I know YMMV always applies, but this is extreme. I would never recommend dialing up to anyone, especially a beginner. In fact, I would suggest starting on the lowest setting and try the higher settings as you learn how to use this versatile tool

I started my WTG pass at the lowest setting of 1. For the XTG pass I dialed up to 5 and for the final ATG pass I went to the highest setting of 9. I usually start at 9 for WTG on the easy parts and dial down to 3 for chin and Adam's apple area. Then I continue down for XTG and finally end up at 1 for ATG and any buffing if necessary.

Set up was T&H PSO and luxury shave soap, AOS pure badger brush and 1962 Slim. Shave prep was the usual and I added the PSO just to be safe even though there is not any need for it with a good shave prep.

I am putting the picture at the end to give people a chance to read without looking at the result.


9539

[Wil]

too late!!!:eek: :a47:

[norman931]

Well, most of us who dial up don't end up like that! :eek:
Actually, I seldom get a nick from the FB, starting at 3 or 4, and working up to 9 for the last pass. I do experiment with different settings from time to time, and I think that dialing down can work equally well.
But this does illustrate that a newbie probably should hold off on the adjustables for a while!

Norm

[polod]

I too dial it up, no problem. I usually start on 5 for first pass, then 7 second and third 9 and touch-up. I never get nicks or cuts. I do keep my face wet and soaked in lather. I've been shaving with a Gillette adjustable for only two months. I quickly adapted my technique with the razor and I find the Gillette adjustable a very easy razor to shave with. In fact I love this razor a lot, probably get buried with mine just in case I need a shave before entering the pearly gates.

[RJSquirell]

hey Old Saw,

WOW:eek: are you sure you weren't sing an old saw? That makes me hurt!
When I dial up it is from 5 to 6 and know more and extra attention to preasure
Man,..OW! I'm so sorry. Guess I won't even think of 7 to 9.

[Zeni]

I dial down with my Progress, even then I get sometimes get a nick or 2 on '1'.

[fritz]

Hmmm, looks to me like your lather may have been a little dry, Dennis.:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
That's a Slim? I do hope you don't own a Fat Boy...
Do you need to order a new alum block? :eek:

I guess my real question is, why didn't you stop after the first 18 cuts? :rolleyes:

OK, seriously, here's hoping that a little laughter really is the best medicine. No? Well, tell us where to donate blood....

[dj88onmc]

OK, seriously, here's hoping that a little laughter really is the best medicine. No? Well, tell us where to donate blood....

Judging from the pic, it's probably going to hurt like the dickens if he does laugh!:smile:

[fritz]

Well, after a little thought... I think your problem came from the extremes. In other words, 5-6-8 might have worked just fine. Here's the reasoning: at setting 1, the WTG pass removed almost no stubble. So the XTG pass at 5 was really the first pass. Therefore, when you went ATG with setting 9 the stubble was still way too long to have that be a good idea.

The whole idea behind dialing up is as the stubble gets shorter, you need more blade exposed to get to it. Another school of thought is that you set a certain blade exposure (as you must if you're using a non-adjustable) and control the amount of stubble removed each pass by changing the angle ever so slightly on each pass. There's a similar explanation for dial-it-down, which is usually better for people whose beard "lies flat". Constant exposure/vary angle OR dial-it-up is good for people whose beard sticks mostly straight out.

Man, I'm going to have to go put on some ASB; hurts just to look at that! :eek:

[OldSaw]

Hmmm, looks to me like your lather may have been a little dry, Dennis.:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
That's a Slim? I do hope you don't own a Fat Boy...
Do you need to order a new alum block? :eek:

I guess my real question is, why didn't you stop after the first 18 cuts? :rolleyes:

OK, seriously, here's hoping that a little laughter really is the best medicine. No? Well, tell us where to donate blood....

The dry lather appearance is only because by the time I found the camera and got a decent picture my face was pretty dry. Actually the only one that hurt was the one on my neck near the jugular and that one was mostly due to putting a #9 setting razor near an area of loose thin skin.

The reason why I didn't stop was because I wanted to complete the entire shave using this technique and thought perhaps I might figure out just the right technique to make it work for me. I was using very light short strokes and most of the wounds are just superficial little weepers. It looks much worse than it was. That was last Friday just before I headed up to my cottage for the weekend and by Sunday I got one of the best shaves which I posted here (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=22583).

I actually really like this razor and use it almost daily, but of course I dial down. My whiskers do lie pretty flat, so maybe that's why dial down works best for me.

[copperhead]

Inspite of all that blood, you get your camera and take a picture to post it here.
As Fritzer said "I guess my real question is, why didn't you stop after the first 18 cuts?" You should stop when things dont go smoothly, which is an understatement in this case. Dude take it easy.

[D'Brie]

Ow! :eek: Man that hurts! Take a day (or two) off. So sorry.

[KenS]

Oh Mannn; I can just feel the burn as you slap on the Proraso Splash or Clubman Bay Rum!!!

[Roman414]

I haven't looked like that since I tried to give a cat a bath.

[VR6ofpain]

I usually do the following:

WTG @ 3
XTG @ 3
XTG again @ 4
ATG & touchup @ 1 or 2

Works great. Since it is dialed down for the final pass, there is no ATG aggressiveness and no cuts.

[OldSaw]

Oh Mannn; I can just feel the burn as you slap on the Proraso Splash or Clubman Bay Rum!!!

I found the AOS lemon ASB to be very comforting and quite healing.

[FloppyShoes]

was it BBS at least? LOL

[digitldlnkwnt]

I haven't looked like that since I tried to give a cat a bath.


....yep...been there!

[paydepst]

ATG at 9?!? You shaving or skinning?

[Justme-]

Wow. It's hard to think of just what to say...I can bet that hurts....:eek:

This is definatly a YMMV, and with everything in threads on this board reguarding how aggressive #9 is, how important it is to know your own face and work up in stages, and how different everything is to everyone, there's alot to consider before making such a leap with those extremes. (you definatly won't do that again :shaving: ;)
If you normally shave on 3 (for example- being the norm), why drop back to 1? Why not 3-4-5....3-5-7....2-4-6...... then move from there. .

I don't use an adjustible (have one, but never used) and everything I've read tells me 9 is a baad thing for my face.

[Hawkeye5]

Actually, my take is that it looks like too much pressure. Or, how many passes did you take in an attempt to achieve BBS? About the only time I get even a bit of blood is when I go back determined to get rid of those last few pieces of stubble and use too much pressure, and I don't use any adjustables (although I did when I was younger) . I shave with a straight 75% of the time, and my first shave with a straight didn't look that bad. In fact, I've had no shave in my life that looked that bad.
Sorry you had to endure that, ouch!
Bad blade perhaps? It does happen.

[OldSaw]

Actually, my take is that it looks like too much pressure. Or, how many passes did you take in an attempt to achieve BBS? About the only time I get even a bit of blood is when I go back determined to get rid of those last few pieces of stubble and use too much pressure, and I don't use any adjustables (although I did when I was younger) . I shave with a straight 75% of the time, and my first shave with a straight didn't look that bad. In fact, I've had no shave in my life that looked that bad.
Sorry you had to endure that, ouch!
Bad blade perhaps? It does happen.

I usually get excellent results with this razor when I start high and dial down. I can guarantee that there was not too much pressure, the blade was barely touching. I do have sensitive skin and a nick here & there is not uncommon even using very little pressure.

The main point of the OP was to see if I could do what many others claim to do and that is do a final pass on the highest setting of an adjustable. Even with much experience I could not pull it off and that is what happened.

Others have suggested only dialing up one or two places but again that misses the point. In fact I don't think it would matter if I dialed up or down if only changing by one notch. I thought maybe I was missing something so I gave it a shot.

[Hawkeye5]

Dennis, thats not a nick or two, thats a self-inflicted disaster. Something was not right. Trash the blade and try again after you have healed. Perhaps I have tough skin, but I've never experienced something like this.

[OldSaw]

Dennis, thats not a nick or two, thats a self-inflicted disaster. Something was not right. Trash the blade and try again after you have healed. Perhaps I have tough skin, but I've never experienced something like this.

You sir are correct. It is more than a nick or two. I will simply return to my usual routine with this razor.

I will say this, it was probably the single biggest shaving disaster I have ever had. I say probably, because the only thing that could have made it worse would be if I used Caswell-Massey shave cream. My first Caswell-Massey shave didn't cause as many nicks but left razor burn like road rash.

[polod]

I don't get it, I've only been shaving with an adjustable for a short time and I can shave on any setting with no problems. I might get the tiniest bleeding patch, but I mean the size of a speck of sand and it will stop bleeding as soon as I rinse with cold water, you can't tell after where it was bleeding, but it's not like my face is covered with red spots or massive rash or burn. I id find that the Gillette adjustable has an easy learning curve compared to the Merkur Progress. I think the head design on the Gillette is great and suites my face and shaving technique.

[polod]

I don't get it, I've only been shaving with an adjustable for a short time and I can shave on any setting with no problems. I might get the tiniest bleeding patch, but I mean the size of a speck of sand and it will stop bleeding as soon as I rinse with cold water, you can't tell after where it was bleeding, but it's not like my face is covered with red spots or massive rash or burn. I find that the Gillette adjustable has an easy learning curve compared to the Merkur Progress. I think the head design on the Gillette is great and suites my face and shaving technique.

[norman931]

Dennis, thats not a nick or two, thats a self-inflicted disaster. Something was not right. Trash the blade and try again after you have healed. Perhaps I have tough skin, but I've never experienced something like this.

When I saw the picture, my first thought was that something is wrong with the blade.
It's fine to experiment, but once you find your comfort zone, there's probably no need. I usually do a final pass on 9 with no problems, but this morning I did the final pass on 2, to see if that could work for me. Nope. Face felt like sandpaper. Had to do the 9 pass. Starting at 9 is something I've never tried, but I suspect I would end up resembling your photo!

Norm

[OldSaw]

When I saw the picture, my first thought was that something is wrong with the blade.
It's fine to experiment, but once you find your comfort zone, there's probably no need. I usually do a final pass on 9 with no problems, but this morning I did the final pass on 2, to see if that could work for me. Nope. Face felt like sandpaper. Had to do the 9 pass. Starting at 9 is something I've never tried, but I suspect I would end up resembling your photo!

Norm

This is really interesting. I never would have guessed that YMMV would cover such extremes. Either that or there is a lot of variability in Gillette razors. The most important thing to remember when on the lower settings, like 1-2, is that the angle must be perfect or no cutting will occur. I like blade buffing on 1 and getting the angle right is the key. AHAA!...maybe that is the key to using the higher setting, detuning the optimum blade angle by tilting more on the guard.

I'm starting to get it now. I might have to try this again with a less than optimum angle. I think the lower settings really do a lot to hone one's technique since the angle must be perfect, too much on the guard and the blade lifts, too much on the head and again the blade lifts.

[OldSaw]

I usually do a final pass on 9 with no problems, but this morning I did the final pass on 2, to see if that could work for me. Nope. Face felt like sandpaper.

That's because you are doing it wrong. The only way you can have that happen is if you hold the razor at the wrong angle. I proved it last night. I even did a dial up finish on 9 without the blood but I had to hold my razor at the wrong angle the way you do. In essence I was scraping my whiskers off rather than slicing them. If you hold it correctly you will have to dial down.

If you hold the razor at the correct angle the blade should always be contacting your skin and will reduce whiskers, even on 1. We had a pretty good thread on this about a year ago complete with CAD drawings. I will try to find it and let you know.

[OldSaw]

This thread (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?p=68573#post68573) is what I was talking about.

Check it out.

[norman931]

That's because you are doing it wrong.

Ease up, Dennis. I'm not "doing it wrong" if the end result is BBS, irritation free, with no need for a styptic pencil. To me, the whole point of the adjustable razor is that you can find the setting, or combination of settings, that works for you and your face. If you have one that works for you, great, but that doesn't mean it is best for everyone else. I have a very coarse beard; the last pass on 9 cleans it up nicely, and the last pass on 2 doesn't. That's scientific enough for me.

Norm

[OldSaw]

Ease up, Dennis. I'm not "doing it wrong" if the end result is BBS, irritation free, with no need for a styptic pencil. To me, the whole point of the adjustable razor is that you can find the setting, or combination of settings, that works for you and your face. If you have one that works for you, great, but that doesn't mean it is best for everyone else. I have a very coarse beard; the last pass on 9 cleans it up nicely, and the last pass on 2 doesn't. That's scientific enough for me.

Norm

I was just trying to jazz things up a little. Too bad we can't see and hear the other person. It did get a response out of you though. :biggrin:

I know I could have worded my reply differently, but that wouldn't have been nearly as fun.

[Smedley]

I haven't seen a face like that since I put my first (badly made) Feather in my Fat Boy and shaved away. OW! Still, glad to hear it looks worse than it felt.

I go 3/5/7 WTG/XTG/ATG with my Fat Boy and find it to be an acceptable progression of settings. Still, there's no arguing with results, is there.

[norman931]

I just got my first real str8 razor. Will be giving it a whirl tomorrow evening. :eek: I hope I don't one-up your photo! Shaving angle is infinitely adjustable!

Norm

[Racso_MS]

Dang... :w00t:

Good thing your weren't using a Progress, a Feather Blade, and Tabac After Shave....

Wooooof, what an eye opener that would be...

You're supposed to...

ENJOY YOUR SHAVE... :biggrin:

[Christoph]

I used to have shaves like that all the time. Not so anymore, thank goodness. Even for the experienced shaver that can still happen with an adjustable on high, or perhaps with a new razor. i got a few nicks recently using a Schick Injector for the first time.