Any suggestion of adjustable setting?

[Cutthroat]

I think I'll give the Fat Boy a shot tomorrow. I have never used an adjustable before. I have been using a 40's or 50's superspeed with good luck both with Derby's and Merkur's. Every once in a while i get a little burn on the neck if I am in a hurry. I probably should not change things but I think I will like the added weight of the Fat Boy over the superspeeds. I'm going with a Derby blade but dont know about the setting. Start around 5?:confused:

[teamacacia]

I initially started around three then moved upto 6 and then down to 4. Now when using the Fat Boy I start with 4 on the first pass and then 5 on the second. Seems to give me outstanding results.

[mrob]

I get my best results with the FB staying in the less aggressive settings, perhaps the bottom half of the range. And I almost always use a less aggressive setting for each successive pass.

Just my 2 cents--YMMV.

[ouch]

I started with a 5, figuring, well, it's in the middle. Didn't work. Moved up to a 6 and quickly realised that was the wrong direction. Eventually settled on a 3, with an occasional drop to a 2 for touch ups.
In general, I think the initial pass should be the most aggressive; the ensuing passes require a lighter touch. Of course, someone else's experience may be just the opposite.

[kenxxxxxx]

I initially started around three then moved upto 6 and then down to 4. Now when using the Fat Boy I start with 4 on the first pass and then 5 on the second. Seems to give me outstanding results.

Wow... I guess I hadn't thought of changing settings BETWEEN PASSES. I figured I found my setting on the adjustable and always used it. I'll have to try more/less agressive settings between passes.

[Tito]

3:thumbup1:

[htownmmm]

First pass: 8

2nd pass: 7

3rd pass: 6

That's loaded with a Derby, Israeli, or Swedish Gillette.


Marty

[Agent86]

I typically do two passes with the FB...the first on 3, the second on 5.

[jduffy]

Wow, lots of variants on adjusting.

As I recall someone here was anti-adjusting in a big way. He was proselytizing setting it once and leaving it there.

[MasonM]

My recently purchased Futur is my first experience with an adjustable. It didn't take me long to figure out that adjustment is a balance between aggressive cutting and comfort.

As I have a tough beard I started out with a high setting and got a pretty nice razor burn for the trouble.

I suppose the ideal setting is whatever gives your face and beard a nice shave without irritating your skin.

But then, I could be wrong. :wink:

[Gatorade]

See that is intresting. I actually go the opposite way from most here.

5, 5, 7.

I use the 7 on the last pass for cross grain and T&C. The more exposure the closer the cut. Why would you take exposure out of the last pass? If you went over the area at 4 and then went back over it at 2 then your blade wouldn't cut as close to the skin as the first pass. Anyone who adjusts down please expain why?

[guenron]

See that is intresting. I actually go the opposite way from most here.

5, 5, 7.

I use the 7 on the last pass for cross grain and T&C. The more exposure the closer the cut. Why would you take exposure out of the last pass? If you went over the area at 4 and then went back over it at 2 then your blade wouldn't cut as close to the skin as the first pass. Anyone who adjusts down please expain why?
It's all very simple, my whiskers are shorter.. Don't need as much blade.

[Gatorade]

It's all very simple, my whiskers are shorter.. Don't need as much blade.

But the length of the whisker is not the issue. If anything the shorter whisker would need more exposure to cut the whisker closer to the skin. The shorter whisker would pass under the lower exposure number while the higher number would cut the shorter ones.

If the shorter whisker is what is desired then you should just go to the most exposure and be done with it. If you think of it from a whisker reduction point of view.

Setting #1 ---------\

Setting #2 --------\

Setting #3 -------\

Setting #4 ------\

Setting #5 -----\

Setting #6 ----\

Setting #7 ---\

Setting #8 --\

Setting #9 -\


Going from Setting #5 to #2 gives you something like this:

Setting #5 -----\
Setting #2 ----- \

You are missing the whisker you cut at #5.


Going from Setting #5 to Setting #7 gives you this:
Setting #5 -----\
Setting #7 ---\

Shorter whisker in the end.

[superfly]

Start with 3 (or 1) and go from there. That's what's good with the adjustable razor. My dad uses his Gillette Adjustable (slim) on 9, and still leaves the silo a bit opened, for even more blade exposure...

Nenad

[Jonnybc]

But the length of the whisker is not the issue. If anything the shorter whisker would need more exposure to cut the whisker closer to the skin. The shorter whisker would pass under the lower exposure number while the higher number would cut the shorter ones.

If the shorter whisker is what is desired then you should just go to the most exposure and be done with it. If you think of it from a whisker reduction point of view.

Setting #1 ---------\

Setting #2 --------\

Setting #3 -------\

Setting #4 ------\

Setting #5 -----\

Setting #6 ----\

Setting #7 ---\

Setting #8 --\

Setting #9 -\


Going from Setting #5 to #2 gives you something like this:

Setting #5 -----\
Setting #2 ----- \

You are missing the whisker you cut at #5.


Going from Setting #5 to Setting #7 gives you this:
Setting #5 -----\
Setting #7 ---\

Shorter whisker in the end.


That's a beautiful post but I must disagree, the edge of the blade is against your face, no matter how much blade exposure there is the blade will always reduce the amount of hair. When I do the T&C pass on "N" on my Vision it always removes more stubble, if your theory is correct no hair will be removed doing this on "N".

[kenxxxxxx]

That's a beautiful post but I must disagree, the edge of the blade is against your face, no matter how much blade exposure there is the blade will always reduce the amount of hair. When I do the T&C pass on "N" on my Vision it always removes more stubble, if your theory is correct no hair will be removed doing this on "N".

I have to disagree with you, John. I just cut my lawn on one setting. If I raise (less agressive setting) the deck on my mower and recut it, I don't cut anything. The only way to cut lower (closer) is to lower the deck, to a more agressive setting.

This is a good discussion. I wish my hair would grow faster so I could shave right now.

[MasonM]

I have to disagree with you, John. I just cut my lawn on one setting. If I raise (less agressive setting) the deck on my mower and recut it, I don't cut anything. The only way to cut lower (closer) is to lower the deck, to a more agressive setting.

This is a good discussion. I wish my hair would grow faster so I could shave right now.
I'm no expert but this isn't a good analogy at all. The mower is on wheels and thus raising and lowering it moves it's blade closer or farther from the grass. A razor doesn't work that way as adjusting the razor to a more or less aggressive setting actually changes the angle of the blade to the whiskers, not the distance from the blade to the skin.

[_C_]

Hi Cutthroat,

I use a Gillette slim adjustable, only. I was flipping around alot trying to figure out what setting to put it one. Some days 2, 3, 4, others where 7, 8, and 9. Something to keep in mind is that the angle at which you set the head against your face will have an effect on how the blade sits on it as well.

After a few 'bouts of razor burn, I got a crazy idea...

Your hands have far more nerve endings than your face, so there's more feeling there. I decided I'd try mock shaving the ends of my finger.... (Keep in mind, your doing this at your own risk! :behead: ) It was very easy to determine what was going to be too much and what would be too little. 3 seemed to be just right for me. I tend to get much better contact with all three elements of the razor (safety bar, head, and blade) when using this setting then any other. I find that If I use 1 or 2, there is little to no connection with the blade. 4, 5, 6 tends to expose too much blade for my liking. 7, 8 and 9 actaully requires the saftey bar to be lifted from my face in order to prevent me from removing it altogether. :shaving:

I guess the real point is, play around and see what works best for yourself. And always start low and work your way up.

[guenron]

But the length of the whisker is not the issue. If anything the shorter whisker would need more exposure to cut the whisker closer to the skin. The shorter whisker would pass under the lower exposure number while the higher number would cut the shorter ones.

If the shorter whisker is what is desired then you should just go to the most exposure and be done with it. If you think of it from a whisker reduction point of view.

Setting #1 ---------\

Setting #2 --------\

Setting #3 -------\

Setting #4 ------\

Setting #5 -----\

Setting #6 ----\

Setting #7 ---\

Setting #8 --\

Setting #9 -\


Going from Setting #5 to #2 gives you something like this:

Setting #5 -----\
Setting #2 ----- \

You are missing the whisker you cut at #5.


Going from Setting #5 to Setting #7 gives you this:
Setting #5 -----\
Setting #7 ---\

Shorter whisker in the end.
Great thinking and graphics. Still less beard, less blade. Oddly, despite your splendid rationale, it works beautifully, every time. If someone were to follow your logic to its end, peach fuzz would require a bare blade without benefit of a safety bar.

[Gatorade]

Great thinking and graphics. Still less beard, less blade. Oddly, despite your splendid rationale, it works beautifully, every time. If someone were to follow your logic to its end, peach fuzz would require a bare blade without benefit of a safety bar.


I'm not saying you aren't getting a great shave. I get a great shave and go the opposite route. All I am just saying that it seems to me like the whisker is trimmed farther down on the higher setting. As mentioned above someone said that at setting 1 or 2 they noticed the blade moving away from their finger. I just don't think that by trimming a shorter hair with less blade is effective. I think you need more blade for a shorter hair to get closer.

No, following my logic to the end as you say would result in the blade making direct contact with the skin at an agressive angle. Thus cutting the hair as close to the skin as possible. However for some this may actually result in a thin layer of skin being removed and razor burn to develop. That is why you can adjust the blade away from the skin and cause less burn by having less contact with the skin. However this also results in the hair being trimmed farther up the shaft and leaving more exposed at the end of the shave.

I'm not trying to tell you what works best for you. I was just pointing out that while most were thinking the last pass at a less agressive level was removing more hair. It probably was not removing as much as they thought it was. If anything just flip your settings one day and see if there is a difference. Go from least to most. I have tried it both ways and the least to most works best for me. I take the majority off with the first less agressive pass and reduce down to the smallest hair by using the closest blade setting.

By the way Ron a bare blade with no saftey bar is nothing more than a straight razor. And we all know how close a shave that is. By YOUR rational you should hold the straight slightly above but not touching the skin and you would get a smoother shave. That logic doesn't seem right. Less beard more blade.

[Elmo]

the quotation below says it all

[moses]

I really do not get this theory that by adjusting to a milder setting, you are adjusting the blade away from the skin. I am so not a expert here, but what Ron is saying, that the Blade is always against the face, makes sense to me.

Perhaps it depends on how you hold the razor for angle.

The way I do it, I have the head of the razor just resting against my face, with the razor angle down just to where the blade starts to touch. Thus, as I found this weekend, I don't get that different a shave from a Futur on 1 versus on 6. All the safety bar does is protect me if I screw up slightly, especially around corners. And it is the safety bar that is being adjusted. It would be different if the adjustment mechanism poked the blade further and further out (not really possible with a DE, I would think).

On the other hand, if ones angle was created by the safety bar and blade, rather than head and blade, the adjustment would make a huge difference. Although it seems this would be to the angle again, rather than the actually closeness of the blade to skin.

The lawnmower thing is nice, but just doesn't work. Lawnmovers are like beard trimmers - they are designed to leave stubble. This analogy would only work if a safety razor were designed so that the blade was recessed behind the plane of the head and safety bar, so that it could never actually quite touch the skin. (hmm.... would this be what you really want for the Lerch method of beard reduction?).

Final note: My comments on adjustables are based on the Futur. It does occur to me that others may use a different type of adjustment. All the same, it doesn't not seem to me that any would hold the blade off of the face.

[Gatorade]

The lawnmower thing is nice, but just doesn't work. Lawnmovers are like beard trimmers - they are designed to leave stubble. This analogy would only work if a safety razor were designed so that the blade was recessed behind the plane of the head and safety bar, so that it could never actually quite touch the skin. (hmm.... would this be what you really want for the Lerch method of beard reduction?).

That is EXACTLY what we are saying. That when you have a Gillette adjusted on the lowest setting, the blade is farther away from what was just cut at the higher setting.

If you could set your lawn mower to cut beyond the shroud then you would have a setting of 9 on the gillette.

That is why I think Ron is wrong going lower after he was at a higher setting. He is missing the hair that was already cut at the higher setting! Who knows it may just be a placebo effect or maybe he isn't reducing as much as he thought on the last pass. He won't explain anything beyond "Less beard, less blade" which is completely backward in reality, for less beard you need more blade.


When you use a Gillette adjustable the saftey bar and the head stay in the same place. The blade actually changes angle and exposure into the head if you dial down the adjustment. Like someone said earlier when you have it set at 1 and you lay the saftey bar on a flat surface then raise the razor till the head contacts the same surface the blade will not actually touch the surface. If you put it at 9 then the blade protrudes past touching the surface and would actually press slightly into the skin.


Maybe the whole discussion is just the difference between the Merkur adjustables and the Gillettes.

[moses]

AH, interesting then about the Gillette adjustable. Definitely then, if you shaved set on 1, when the blade actually is behind the plane of the safety bar and head, you definitely would need to extend the blade. I am thinking from the platform of the Futur, where the blade is going to be able to touch skin even on the lowest setting. Therefore, you will still cut beard on a setting of 1, even after a first pass set on 6. The same principle would apply on a Gillette though, on any setting were the blade actually breaks the plane of the safety bar and head (iow, you could not have both the head and bar touching a flat surface, because the blade would be in the way). So you should be able to do a pass on say 9, and then still cut on a second pass at say 5.

One explanation I would have for using a lower setting for later passes: On very mild razors, if I have two or more day's beard, the stubble is so thick that it pushes up on the safety bar and lifts the blade off my face slightly (not so bad if you follow the reduction theory). Using an adjustable opened up, the bar is lifted up further away from my face, so I get more on the first cut (limited experience here, but the theory makes sense, and I have found it to apply). After a first cut reducing the stubble down, this is no longer an issue, so a very mild setting will still cut to the skin (assuming there is still SOME blade exposure, not like what you describle of a Gillette on 1).

Edit: Looking back, I think the last paragraph may be want Ron means by "less beard, less blade."

[Gatorade]

I really wish my camera was good enough to show you the gap when you have a Gillette on 1 and compare it to the gap on 9. A picture is worth a thousand words and at this rate I may be over that!:biggrin:

[Jim]

This has been an interesting thread...

If I make multiple passes with a non adjustable and on each successive pass I continue to reduce stubble who's theory would apply in this scenario?

[Gatorade]

This has been an interesting thread...

If I make multiple passes with a non adjustable and on each successive pass I continue to reduce stubble who's theory would apply in this scenario?

:confused1 I don't usually do multiple passes in the same direction. I change direction after each pass and then T&C at the end. N-S, then S-N then E-W. So I couldn't answer that.

[_C_]

I really wish my camera was good enough to show you the gap when you have a Gillette on 1 and compare it to the gap on 9. A picture is worth a thousand words and at this rate I may be over that!:biggrin:

Excellent idea! My camera isn't all that great for macro photography either :frown:, although I thought I'd give it a whirl anyway. The picture below is of a gillette slim adjustable.

1660

Notice how the camera failed to pick up the blade when the exposure was set to 1 compared to the exposure set at 9...

[Gatorade]

Excellent idea! My camera isn't all that great for macro photography either :frown:, although I thought I'd give it a whirl anyway. The picture below is of a gillette slim adjustable.

1660

Notice how the camera failed to pick up the blade when the exposure was set to 1 compared to the exposure set at 9...


YES!

Thanks for that!

[Kyle Stoner]

Here's some more graphic imagery from my newly repaired :biggrin: Gillette Super Adjustable:

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c390/kylestoner/blade005.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c390/kylestoner/blade006.jpg



Another factor to consider is the stress of the bent blade - with a higher setting, the blade is under more pressure and less flexible.

[GeeQue]

I was always under the impression that the adjustment was different for different faces and stubble. Once you determine what number works for you ...that's it.
If 3 works for your beard, then you should be able to get the best possible close shave for you at that setting...and so on.
I never thought of different adjustments for different stages of a shave. If blade exposure alone would be a determining factor or requiremnet for a close shave, then fixed blade razors as the Superspeed or the Merkur HD would be obsolete.

[_C_]

I was always under the impression that the adjustment was different for different faces and stubble. Once you determine what number works for you ...that's it.
If 3 works for your beard, then you should be able to get the best possible close shave for you at that setting...and so on.
I never thought of different adjustments for different stages of a shave. If blade exposure alone would be a determining factor or requiremnet for a close shave, then fixed blade razors as the Superspeed or the Merkur HD would be obsolete.

I tend to agree with you on this point. I probably would have purchased a fixed blade razor if I was confident that I could buy one that had the proper exposure for my face. I figured the adjustable route would be safer as it curtails the need to buy and try several razors.

[Gatorade]

I was always under the impression that the adjustment was different for different faces and stubble. Once you determine what number works for you ...that's it.
If 3 works for your beard, then you should be able to get the best possible close shave for you at that setting...and so on.
I never thought of different adjustments for different stages of a shave. If blade exposure alone would be a determining factor or requiremnet for a close shave, then fixed blade razors as the Superspeed or the Merkur HD would be obsolete.


I think that is kinda what happened. Remember that when the adjustable came out they discontinued the colored tip razors and I possibly the Aristocrats and the others that were fixed went away with the exception of one fixed model. It was probably cheaper and worked for many people so you have one fixed and one adjustable line. Remeber not everyone cares about as close a shave as we talk about here. A lot of guys were probably buying whatever was cheaper so the SS kept going but only as one model that changed styles in the 50's, 60's and 70's.

[OldSaw]

I was always under the impression that the adjustment was different for different faces and stubble. Once you determine what number works for you ...that's it.
If 3 works for your beard, then you should be able to get the best possible close shave for you at that setting...and so on.
I never thought of different adjustments for different stages of a shave. If blade exposure alone would be a determining factor or requiremnet for a close shave, then fixed blade razors as the Superspeed or the Merkur HD would be obsolete.

I use different settings for different parts of my face. I start on 9 for the easy parts and lower to 3 for the sensitive areas.

As seen by the pictures the setting changes the guard not the blade or the head. With the guard more open on the higher settings the blade can be pushed along the skin more aggressively, mowing down the mightiest trees in the forest. It also gives you a wider range of angle to work with and is more forgiving of technique in regards to closeness. However, it will remove skin, especially in areas like the chin, if pressed too hard. On the lower settings the guard closes, giving you more protection against cutting skin but requires closer attention to the angle you use.

So I would completely disagree with the lawn mower scenario, since the blade is always in contact with your face if done properly. It is an issue of how much matter can be crammed between the blade and the guard, not wether or not the blade is capable of touching your skin. Another factor to consider is the fact that your skin rolls and stretches over the guard, blade and head. So each person will have their own preferences, as long as they agree with mine they are right. :wink: