Mild Adjustable Razor Options

I been keeping to myself lately, not writing in this blog, because I've been experimenting.

As you may know, I prefer razors on the milder side because of my skin's propensity to get easily nipped. I also prefer adjustable razors -- such as the Parker Variant, vintage Gillette adjustables, the Merkur Progress or Futur, and now the new Weishi adjustable -- for a couple of reasons:

• They allow me to adjust the aggressiveness of the razor as the blade evolves through its life cycle from the first shave to its last, which is usually somewhere between shaves 14 and 21
• They allow me to adjust mid shave to deal with more difficult areas of my beard including those that are more susceptible to wounds and those that require more aggression to shave closely

As I've written many times and in more than one venue (here and Sharpologist.com), unfortunately most adjustable razors don't dial down to be sufficiently mild for my face, when using a blade with few shaves on it. 

Underclocking My Gillette Slim

So once again I pulled out my closeted Gillette Slim for what I believe to be its final chance to be an option for me. In factory-stock configuration, it has consistently been too harsh and too aggressive for me. But here's why this instrument has gotten one final trial:

The Slim can be modified with the release of a catch and the turn of a dial. By using a firm, thin tool such as the point of a metal nail file, depressing the catch in the slot just above the Slim's adjustment ring, the adjustment ring disengages from the razor's adjustment mechanism. By keeping the catch depressed, the adjustment ring can be revolved 360 degrees, and when the catch is released, you have dialed in another adjustment range for the razor. When doing this simple modification, by rotating the adjustment ring in one direction, the razor becomes ultra aggressive at all settings. By rotating in the opposite direction, the razor becomes ultra mild. (For more detailed instructions and images, do an Internet search on something like Overclocking Gillette Slim.)

This modification to the Slim's shaving character to make it more aggressive (though I honestly don't know why anyone would need to do that) is known as overclocking (which I believe was originally a term referring to computer-chip use). By logical extension, some refer to the more-mild modification as underclocking (though no analagous term applies in the IT world).

So I underclocked my Slim and used it for a few shaves. Unfortunately its shave character became ridiculously mild -- so much so that I said, "f--- it," set it back to factory adjustment, and parked it back in bedroom closet with my other shaving gear that I don't use.

The New Weishi Adjustable Razor

Though the Slim modification wasn't successful for me, I got word from a well-known shaving celebrity that Weishi had come out with a one-piece (TTO) adjustable razor along the lines of the old Gillettes. So my wife kindly ordered me one as a gift, and I've been getting acquainted with this new instrument.

(The link, above, is provided for those who are early adopters or those who are merely curious about the new Weishi adjustable razor.)

Though the razor I received is not built with the precision of a Swiss watch in terms of its adjustment mechanism and butterfly-door works, it is symmetrical and parallel in the key aspects of its shaving geometry. I will be providing a detailed review in the future, but for now here are some preliminary observations:

The good:

• I find the adjustment range of this razor to be near ideal. It is very mild at one extreme and more than aggressive enough (for me) at the other.
• It provides for any shave closeness that I need using any blade in any aspect of its life cycle, while offering the safety of a true safety razor.
• Despite not having lather slots (a.k.a. gutter slots), it shaves like any other DE. Yep, the lather builds up on the underside of the razor head, but it doesn't clog.
• I has nice heft.
• The grippiness of the handle is great.

Not a Swiss watch:

• The butterfly doors only open wide enough when the adjustment ring is on 7 (max aggression).
• The butterfly doors hang sometimes on the non-edge of the blade, and need some fiddling to close on occasion (brute force is NOT called for!!). [CORRECTION: The doors don't hang on the blade. The razor setting must be reduced from max aggression to close the butterfly doors.]
• The jet-black coating is not quite as slippery against skin as, say, chrome plating, when doing final clean-up strokes without adding more lather, just water.

That said, guess what razor will be my daily driver for the foreseeable future. Yep, the Weishi Adjustable.

I had a great third shave this morning, capped by one of my favorite after-shave soothing products, Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements' Black Bot Star Jelly Aftershave. I love the classic scent, the slight menthol cooling, and the smooth, soothed feeling of my skin that it leaves.

Happy shaving!