The Adjustable Razor is Universal!
What most people don't realize when they see the Gillette Adjustable razor is that it was designed to be one product that could work for any customer regardless of their beard type or skin type. Truly one size fits all. In this way, a customer could buy a single razor, experiment with the setting and find a great shave. Before they had Red Tip and Blue Tip and standard Super Speed razors. A customer might have to buy two or more razors in order to discover the best one for their individual needs. This would cause dissatisfaction with Gillette; a problem that needed to be solved. The adjustable razor is not a gimmick! It was never designed to be a multiple pass razor with dial down or dial up shaves; although this can definitely be done with it. Gillette envisioned an initial trial period with your new razor. After some experimentation and you found your best setting, you would just leave it alone and do a one pass shave. Gillette found the typical customer wanted to shave as quickly as possible to get it done and out of the way (so much so that they had to invent coated razor blades because users never even splashed water on their face long enough to soften their beards). This is why so many razors are found in the wild frozen in one position. That was the perfect setting for that individual. And, soap gunk froze it there.
The following is a graphic from an internal Gillette marketing document in the 1950's showing how the range of settings of the adjustable razor satisfies the shaving desires of 99.7% of all consumers. Also, the average consumer will prefer a setting of "5" and 68% of all consumers will be satisfied with an adjustable between the settings of "4" and "6". So, one product could meet the needs of just about any individual, regardless of their beard of skin type. In addition, the marketing document went on to explain how a consumer can use the adjustability of the razor to compensate for conditions such as balancing skin comfort versus closeness, shaving different area such as the face and the neck; needing a lighter shave in the evening; getting the best performance out of a new blade; and special face conditions such as sunburn.
