Gillette Super Adjustable Black Beauty doesn't seem so adjustable

[BarbaGnosa]

I've been enjoying getting my basic skills under control with my Merkur 180 for the past few months, and have gotten it down rather well. Great lathers, good prep, ever better shaves as I work my way through a blade sampler. Nonetheless, the exploration continues, and for those eager and ready to explore a second razor, among the most commonly recommended are the adjustables. The Black Beauty, I've read, has the widest range of razor exposure of the Gillette adjustables, which sounded great to me.

The razor arrived and looks to be in perfect working order. But I'm not finding it all that broad an adjustment. At the lowest numbers the blade is barely exposed at all, I barely feel it, and it's not shaving very much. Even at the top level of exposure, 9, it doesn't seem to have as much blade exposure as my Merkur 180, and I've been getting frustratingly underwhelming shaves with it, and find myself switching back to the Merkur to clean up spots it's not getting.

Am I using a blade particularly poorly suited to the Black Beauty? Personna Reds are my favorites (thus far) with the Merkur, and now with a new Cadet OC I just got (and love - my new favorite). I've read up about how to rotate through the adjustment settings (by loosening the TTO doors just a bit, then rotating the blade exposure adjustment), after which you close the doors tightly.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO IMPROVE THIS RAZOR'S PERFORMANCE? Am I doing something wrong? Is there another setting, something I can do to get this razor to perform better? Is this particular razor in need of repairs? Or, is that pretty much the deal with Black Beauties -- even at max blade exposure they're still not as "aggressive" as a Merkur?!

WHAT MIGHT SERVE ME BETTER? Is the Black Beauty in fact the Gillette adjustable with the widest range of blade exposures? Or the most blade exposure? Does the Slim offer any better blade exposure? It's my impression from reading around the site that the Gillette adjustables tend toward mild. If so, maybe it's time for me to go Futur?

WTT/WTS ANYONE? I'd love to try Gillette Slim, Futur other more aggressive adjustables and open combs. WTT or WTS? pitch me something interesting. I'm all about performance and cost effectiveness (read: affordable!), and other criteria such as vintage vs. new, or perfect appearance are secondary.

Thanks for your varied, passionate, deep and wide wisdom, Badgers and Blades.

BarbaGnosa

 

[BarbaGnosa]

 

[mblakele]

My guess is blade angle. It took me some time to figure out that the vintage Gillettes need a different angle from the modern Merkurs. You might check the angle on your arm or leg, where you can really see the blade edge and how it angles.

Another possibility is that the adjustment is stuck on mild. You could try an overnight soak in warm water and dishsoap. If anything comes out overnight, repeat.

 

[BarbaGnosa]

mblakele, good point. I too noticed right off the bat that there's a very different angle going on with the Black Beauty. That was the fist and most obvious factor to experiment with. Didn't help that much.

The adjustment mechanism is raising and lowering the blade as I rotate it. Perhaps not enough, but it is moving. I'll soak it and see.

But, you've encouraged me. I'll try another blade tomorrow.

More ideas anyone?

 

[kcb5150]

That seems about right. I have been using that exact blade with my 1984 sa with the plastic in the head and it has shaved nothing short of great. It doesn't feel as aggressive as my fatboy or even my slim.

 

[BarbaGnosa]

Hmmm. What is the most aggressive of the Gillette adjustables?

 

[kcb5150]

None of them are really super aggressive imo. A fatboy wide open will mow it down but the head is also quite big and it can bite you. This SA wide open should be taking most anything down. You need to play around with blades and see what works for you in it. This also should have a different angle to it that your merkur if I had to guess. I mean, even a fatboy has a different angle to a slim/sa, and those are diff to a NEW... You need to find every razor's sweet spot.

 

[coolbus18]

.+1! '66 slim adj. here. I use red personnas, crystals, bolzanos feathers . Each adjustment changes the angle, so now the razor is showing a different angle to hold at. It takes a little time to dial in what works for you. Believe me a slim with a feather at the"9" setting can cut down most everything short of kevlar and steel. Also ,Scrubbing Bubbles , is a good way to clean your razor. And check out the thread--Order of Gillette Adjustables. Enjoy!

 

[Xeno_basso]

.+1! '66 slim adj. here. I use red personnas, crystals, bolzanos feathers . Each adjustment changes the angle, so now the razor is showing a different angle to hold at. It takes a little time to dial in what works for you. Believe me a slim with a feather at the"9" setting can cut down most everything short of kevlar and steel. Also ,Scrubbing Bubbles , is a good way to clean your razor. And check out the thread--Order of Gillette Adjustables. Enjoy!

Tried a feather in my "new" 195 today set at 5 and whoa! That is a serious shaving weapon! Had given a NOS Gillette Blue a go before that and not even in the same ball park.

 

[KCee]

I snagged a Slim, Fat Boy and Black Beauty off ebay right after I started DE shaving almost 4 months ago and I felt the Black Beauty was definitely the least aggressive of the 3 by far. Then I noticed that the Slim and Fat Boy seemed to have a clutch feature where the blade gap didn't continue to get smaller as you closed the TTO, but the Black Beauty just kept snugging down. I found I had to only just tighten the Black Beauty instead of turning it to the stop if I wanted the blade gap to be more like the Slim and Fat Boy. I don't know if the Black Beauty is different or if the TTO just isn't working properly. It's fine if I do this and it shaves very well, but in this respect it's not as good as the Slim and Fat Boy although I like the long handle.

 

[deafficianado]

If you like the cadet OC, you should try a Gillette Red tip and New short comb. If you want an aggresive adjustable, stick with Merkur and try there Progress or Futur. At wide open, they are very aggresive. Also the Fatip, Slant, and R41 should be on your to try list.

 

[dparish1952]

The Gillette adjustable razors adjust the blade gap the most, the blade exposure somewhat, and the blade angle very little. See the chart comparing the gaps of several different razors at http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Double-Edged_Safety_Razors_Ranked_by_Blade_Gap

Dennis

 

[coolbus18]

Tried a feather in my "new" 195 today set at 5 and whoa! That is a serious shaving weapon! Had given a NOS Gillette Blue a go before that and not even in the same ball park.

Yup that first shave with a feather sure is something. Slow and easy. Sure sounds neat though. I use them in my Aristocrat also. The Crystal is great for me but a little milder(imho) ymmv.

 

[Cowboy2940]

I have found the super adjustable to be overly mild myself. I can get pretty good shaves with a Slim Adjustable but with the short handle Black Beauty Super Adjustable, I have yet to get a shave I am happy with. The Super Adjustable simply is not aggressive enough for me. I have compared real closely between a Super Adjustable and a Slim, and I can't see a huge difference in blade gap or size of the head, etc...it is an ongoing mystery to me why the Black Beauty is so mild. Even cranked at 9, I barely get a shave. The razor looks great but performance wise, the Super Adjustable Black Beauty is a dud for me.

 

[Haggises]

Can you see the inserts go up or down as you rotate through the numbers?

If not, it's broke.
If you can, then it might well be angle issues.

 

[ins0ma]

I just moved from using a Black Beauty(or Super Adjustable, SA) for nearly a year, to a brand-new Merkur Futur. The difference is huge. I liked the SA better than the Fatboy, but to me neither compares to the Futur in effectiveness, design, and fit and finish. The Futur on 4 shaves a lot closer than my SA on 7, and the enclosed ends of the blade mean no more cuts under my nose or around my ears. The Futur also feels like it weighs about 3 times as much as either the Fatboy or the SA, and for means it's a lot easier to use minimum pressure while shaving.

The vintage razors are cool, and part of history, but after using one for quite a while before moving to a newly designed and manufactured razor, I don't think I'll be going back.

 

[MicBP]

so noone is recomending the BB if i am looking for an agressive adjustible...?

 

[GoneRetroInOH]

I finally got ahold of one of these. I like the long handle. I seem to do best with it set to 7, just like with the slim. I've tried taking it below 5 for the final passes, but that makes it barely seem like there is a blade in there. Slim was the same way in my observation. Overall it gives me shaves comparable to my favorite "fixed" razors like the Mühle R106 and the Merkur 39C slant, but I may have one of those forgiving beards that will shave well with a range of equipment.