Gap, exposure, angle! Aggressiveness?

Dear gents;

Most of the discussion about safety razors is about aggressiveness vis a vis mildness. *Most of the time that is expressed in terms of the gap between the blade and the safety bar. *I have no doubt that it represents part of the formula of aggressiveness, but, i have learned that aggressiveness is a bit more complex. *It also has to do with exposure of the blade and the angle in which the blade is held vis a vis the safety bar. *For example, the Timeless .95 is considered a somewhat*aggressive*razor. *The Asylum Evolution is plenty aggressive also, but it has no gap. *Why is it that the discussion centers around gap dimensions and never around the other two factors? *Why there is never any measurements of the exposure or the angle of the blade??? *Shouldn't all them be considered?

I thank you for the time you take to post your reply,

Pepe Peña


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We always discuss the blade exposure and there are numerous threads about that. That exposure is really the main factor in determining how aggressive the razor is. You will see numerous references to the muhle R41 OC which is famous for it's extreme aggressiveness and the quality of it's shave. One look at the head with the blade exposure tells you why.

I've been interested in that discussion lately. Above The Tie website has a FAQ that compares blade gap of the various ATT heads with those of well known razor heads of the past and the present. https://www.abovethetie.com/blogs/fa...gap-comparison

I have shaved with quite a few of these and indeed, the angle the blade is held, the weight of the razor, the amount of exposure all contribute to the efficiency, or lack thereof, of the razor.

Matter of fact, all of my life I thought I needed a razor with a larger blade gap to work well on shaving my beard. The ATT S-1 & S-2 were my first realization that it wasn't necessarily so. The Ikon X3 slant, which has next to none, and the Feather AS-D2 as well all surprised me at how well the shave works for me with them.

I was also surprised that the only difference between the Gillette Super Speeds of the late '50s, which were designated with different levels of aggressiveness by the color of the TTO knobs at the base of the handle. The Red, Black and Blue Tip, with red being the most aggressive, and blue the least, all have the same blade gap. The weight of the handle was the only difference. The heads were identical !

Another aspect that has to be taken into consideration is the blade, but just as important, the level of proficiency of the end user. The better the technique, the better the shave will be razor for razor. IME.

Thank you guys for taking the time!


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