The Gillette Adjustable One-Piece Razor instructions specifically states - "When shaving a particularly sensitive area, perhaps on your neck, dial a lower setting for more gentle action." I consider my face to be a little sensitive after one or two passes. I have had great results with less irritation by starting aggressive and lowering the setting with each additional pass.
adjustable razors. when do you adjust.
- Thread starter adriang
- Start date
On my slim i go 3 WTG, 5 AXG, 7 ATG
similar to you, I dial it up too.
WTG pass 1: set on 3
XTG pass 2: set on 4
ATG pass 3: set on 5
The above works like a charm for me.
Why dial down if you are going for "beard reduction". Set it on low and dial it up for subsequent passes. no point in takin off 90% of the stubble in pass #1 of a 3 or 4 pass shave.
1st pass removes a lot of stubble, 2nd almost all the rest and the 3rd pass on most aggressive setting picks up any rough spots missed and gives me a BBS. even if I skip the ATG and do a 2nd XTG (opposite direction), it still works best.
this was a Boris (aka edgerunner) tip that I have adopted and use daily.
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At the moment ive been in the "Set it and forget crowd". But i may experiment the next time i use my fatboy.
I'll have to give the "dialing up" shave a try. I love my aggressive razors much more than my non-aggressive ones, but on some areas, like my chin and neck, require more passes/clean-up with a very aggressive razor. This usually leads to irritation.
I never adjust during the shave.
I used to never adjust it at all and would keep my Progress at 4. A while back I realized if I have shaved the day before I could set it at 2 or 3, depending on my mood, and get just as good of a shave.
I used to never adjust it at all and would keep my Progress at 4. A while back I realized if I have shaved the day before I could set it at 2 or 3, depending on my mood, and get just as good of a shave.
I run 3 passes with a fourth J hook on my neck all at 9. any thing less seems like more work, I think the key is blade combo with the higher settings.
I start off with 8 or 9 but dial it down on the last pass to 5 so that I can clean up without getting razor burn. The whiskers on my upper lip are like copper wire and they make the blade really dig in on an ATG pass if the gap is set too aggressive.
I dial it differently for different blades but that is it.
7-5-3 then buff again on 3 for my Slim and Fatboy. On my Mergress usually 3 and 1 to finish. This with my standard IP Red blades.
I tried various ways on my vacation week with a Slim.
Numbers below are for WTG/XTG/ATG
5-5-5 - good shave
3-6-9 - great close shave
9-9-9 - close but a bit irritated
9-6-3 - food, but needed extra buffing
7-7-7 - good shave
3-3-3 - good shave, some extra buffing
Thanks to Bruce (and Boris) for the suggestion - increasing the gap worked for me
Numbers below are for WTG/XTG/ATG
5-5-5 - good shave
3-6-9 - great close shave
9-9-9 - close but a bit irritated
9-6-3 - food, but needed extra buffing
7-7-7 - good shave
3-3-3 - good shave, some extra buffing
Thanks to Bruce (and Boris) for the suggestion - increasing the gap worked for me
I usually keep my Slim Set To 3 Through out The Shave, Unless i Want to change it up a little.
I set my Progress at 2.5, except for the nose and lip area, where it's at 1. The FB I leave at 5 and the Slim at 4--they're too hard to change.
5 all the way for both my slim and FB.
Today I tried the "dial up" method, 3-5-7 with my Slim. I'm not sure what to conclude yet. I had some irritation after pass 3 but I'm on shave 4 or 5 with a Polsilver SI. I have to hive this an honest test with a fresh blade.
I tweak the settings a lot...
I tend to adjust different razors differently:
FB, heavier head, I find it generally milder than Slim and I also find the Super adjustable [short handle] milder than the FB. I used a Gillette 7 o'clock blue blade with FB yesterday: 4,5,6 and 5,5,7 on the Super adjustable today [ both days fresh blades]
I also tend to go up during the shave, with a more aggressive setting for the final pass and touch ups.
If the blade is sharp, I generally keep the same setting throughout the shave. If my second pass has felt irritating, I will adjust down for the third pass but I don't do that very often.
If the blade becomes dull: for a while I've responded by increasing the setting, but unsurprisingly it does not give me a more comfortable or cleaner shave, so now when I realize I want to increase the setting upfront, I throw the blade away.
So there is a lot of variables here, I think over time I've learnt to start 'as low as comfortably close' I can shave, so I use the settings at 4 a lot more often than I did a year ago. I like a higher setting for the final pass and touch ups and overall I like playing with the settings during the shave even though it may not be what was intended by the manufacturer. The one I tweak the less often is the Slim, as I find it more aggressive, I tend to set it at 4, maybe 5, and leave it there but I don't use the Slim so often these days.
I tend to adjust different razors differently:
FB, heavier head, I find it generally milder than Slim and I also find the Super adjustable [short handle] milder than the FB. I used a Gillette 7 o'clock blue blade with FB yesterday: 4,5,6 and 5,5,7 on the Super adjustable today [ both days fresh blades]
I also tend to go up during the shave, with a more aggressive setting for the final pass and touch ups.
If the blade is sharp, I generally keep the same setting throughout the shave. If my second pass has felt irritating, I will adjust down for the third pass but I don't do that very often.
If the blade becomes dull: for a while I've responded by increasing the setting, but unsurprisingly it does not give me a more comfortable or cleaner shave, so now when I realize I want to increase the setting upfront, I throw the blade away.
So there is a lot of variables here, I think over time I've learnt to start 'as low as comfortably close' I can shave, so I use the settings at 4 a lot more often than I did a year ago. I like a higher setting for the final pass and touch ups and overall I like playing with the settings during the shave even though it may not be what was intended by the manufacturer. The one I tweak the less often is the Slim, as I find it more aggressive, I tend to set it at 4, maybe 5, and leave it there but I don't use the Slim so often these days.
I start with my Super Adjustable dialed up to 9 for the first three passes and then dial it down to 4 or 5 for the final pass and any touch-ups. My routine is as follows:
1[SUP]st [/SUP]- North to south, from sideburns to bottom of neck.
2[SUP]nd [/SUP]- Outside to inside, ears to nose above the jaw line. Diagonal below the jaw, imagine going from the top outside corner of a box to the bottom inside corner.
3[SUP]rd [/SUP]- Inside to outside, the reverse of the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] pass.
4[SUP]th [/SUP]- South to north above the jaw, or just buffing (diagonal strokes like this \/). Touch-ups on the neck.
Rinse and done.
1[SUP]st [/SUP]- North to south, from sideburns to bottom of neck.
2[SUP]nd [/SUP]- Outside to inside, ears to nose above the jaw line. Diagonal below the jaw, imagine going from the top outside corner of a box to the bottom inside corner.
3[SUP]rd [/SUP]- Inside to outside, the reverse of the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] pass.
4[SUP]th [/SUP]- South to north above the jaw, or just buffing (diagonal strokes like this \/). Touch-ups on the neck.
Rinse and done.
How so? I find mine rather easy to adjust. Loosen the doors a bit, change the setting, tighten 'er back up. 5 seconds, tops. Perhaps you have a sticky dial?
My Super adjustable with a Gillette Yellow or a Bic blade: 6 for my whole shave. If I go longer than 2 days I can crank her to 9 for the first pass if I want to, as long as I lather and let the lather sit on my beard for a few minutes. I also turn her up to 9 to trim my sideburns, the extra aggressiveness helps cut through the longer hair if they get uneven
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