First shave with an adjustable

[joshk]

I've been wet-shaving for about eight months now. I started with a Super Speed blue tip, quickly decided it wasn't aggressive enough, and bought a flare-tip, which has been my only shaver for the past seven months or so.

I finally decided it was time to try an adjustable. I bought a black-handle Super Adjustable on eBay, and it arrived yesterday. I gave it a good cleaning/sterilizing this morning, then tried it out.

Started out on one, then dialed it up to three. Three was good, but I wanted something still more aggressive, so I pushed it to five.

Wow! As soon as I set it to five, it just felt good on my face. One of the best shaves I've had since I started wet shaving. I have a hunch the Super Speed is going to be one lonely razor...

Now, the big question: Stay at five, or dial it up and experiment at higher settings?

Also, to others that use adjustables, do you ever use different settings for different parts of your face?

 

[rolisrgti06]

I had been using my Slim on 3 or 4 because those 2 settings are close to the agressiveness of my SS Flare. I set mine on 5 this morning and got a BBS shave on my face with a brand of blade I had previously written off. My neck is still a problem and I am wondering if I should set the razor higher for my neck? If I try more than 3 passes on my neck with any razor/blade combo I have tried, the irritation sets in.

 

[joshk]

I hear you on the neck irritation -- it's a fine line there. I may try a higher setting on the neck, but it gets irritated fairly easy. That's why I switched to wet-shaving in the first place -- without fail, cartridge razors gave me awful razor burn on the neck.

 

[nickelsig229]

I too started at a 1 and was up to 4 by the second pass. I love my fat boy and its ability to push to a 6 for a specific area on the back of my head. It's neat how you can feel the aggressiveness of the blade change against your skin.

The adjust ability is something that I'm surprised more modern brands don't perfect. I guess they may feel that it kills off half of there lineup since you can do with one what might require two or more razors to achieve.

I'll try a progress as soon as I get some play dough.

 

[grump]

Congratulations.

And on the changing for different parts of the face - No.

As Ron Popeil would say, set it and forget it.

 

[snookdog]

I recently acquired a Fat Boy, Slim and Red Tip. I used the Red Tip the first part of the week. It's a great shaver. I don't think it's possible that I could apply too much pressure or use an incorrect angle with this razor.

I used the Slim on Friday and found that I had to dial it up to 7+ to get a bit more aggressive than the Red Tip. I figured if 7 is good then 9 must be better. And indeed it is. Just needed 2 passes on the neck for a BBS shave. If not careful the 9 setting could easily make hamburger out of one's neck on the ATG passes. Today I used the Fat Boy, also dialed up to 9 with the same results. Set it on 9 and let 'er rip.

Enjoy!

 

[RocketMan]

You will find what works best for you by using it. I tend to do a first rough pass on 5 then crank to 7 or even 8 to fine tune.

 

[DerFly]

Generally on 7 but sometimes 9 however, only when I'm very awake if it's an early morning shave.

 

[Hank21]

I haven't been able to get a good shave with the SA. Fortunately I have other razors that do an excellent job. I suppose if the SA was the only razor I owned I'd be more inclined to experiment.

 

[oversaturn]

I have a Slim Adjustable. For me, a setting of 4-5 with a Feather or a Bleue Extra is what gives me the best results.
But, as always, YMMV...

 

[kingfisher]

I disagree with grump about "set it and forget it." I set it and fiddle with it on a daily basis. But I don't really set it differently for "different parts of my face," with one exception.

here's what works best for me.

First pass, WTG: Open it up to 6 (or 7 if the blade isn't an especially sharp one). HOWEVER, I dial it down to 3 or 4 for the mustache area and the "soul patch" area, because these areas are more sensitive. This is the exception I mentioned above.

Second pass, XTG: Dial it down to 3 or 4, depending on the blade. Complete the entire second pass at this setting.

Touch-ups: Sometimes I leave it at 3, sometimes I dial it down to 2. I haven't decided what I like best. At a setting of 2 it feels like you couldn't hurt yourself if you tried, but it's not as efficient as leaving it at 3.


Anyway, as I said, I've been doing it this way every day for over a month, and I really think this is the way to go with an adjustable. Mow down stuff quickly with a more aggressive setting on the first pass, and then refine the shave at a milder setting to avoid irritation.

It really works for me. Without this feature, I would have been back to cartridge razors.

 

[fisherbln]

FWIW, I use my slim adjustable almost exactly like kingfisher described. My settings are slightly different, but very similar. I get an excellent shave this way with little to no irritation.