Is it the gap between the blade and the safety bar or the angle of the blade under the cap/head of the razor? I am looking at an Aristocrat compared to the Merkur HD and while the gap on the HD is greater, it's angle is not as much as an Aristocrat. Hope this makes some sense... s~s
It has to do with blade gap, how far the blade sticks out, the type of bar, the angle of the bar, and the angle the blade sits at. Just about everything decides its aggressiveness.
Throw a Feather blade into the equation and you can have some serious clean up on aisle 4 of bio-hazard material.
Actually both angle and exposure contribute to aggressiveness. I have an adjustable DE that changes the angle and exposure simultaneously, The Doehler-Jarvis. Blades themselves actually vary in width and thickness among brands. And the edges can vary in smoothness and sharpness. The bevels may be cut at different angles from brand to brand, but I'm not sure how much of a factor that is. Check out this article: http://www.razorandbrush.com/bladwidth.html
I also am a big fan of the derby. Just to note, I put a feather in a Gillete Super Speed and got a very mild shave...
My experience is that the width of the blade has a huge impact on the shave. A less wide blade in an already aggresive razor can result in bloodbath... I agree, there are so many factors, maybe someone will come along and try to list them all, and how they relate to eachother...
