Part of the reason things are so confusing and subjective is that gap is easy to measure but less important than exposure, which is difficult to measure.
It’s sort of like dropping your keys in the shadows but searching under the streetlight because you can see better there.
To make it more confusing, most (probably all) adjustable razors inherently change the blade exposure along with the gap.
That’s not to say gap doesn’t matter (it does), but it gets far too much attention simply because it is easy to see.
Comparing gaps across two different razor designs is almost totally irrelevant unless you are also comparing exposure, span, angle, etc.
Of course, there’s still no magic formula that fits everyone, but choosing razors based on the least-relevant parameter contributes a lot of the YMMV confusion.
It’s sort of like dropping your keys in the shadows but searching under the streetlight because you can see better there.
To make it more confusing, most (probably all) adjustable razors inherently change the blade exposure along with the gap.
That’s not to say gap doesn’t matter (it does), but it gets far too much attention simply because it is easy to see.
Comparing gaps across two different razor designs is almost totally irrelevant unless you are also comparing exposure, span, angle, etc.
Of course, there’s still no magic formula that fits everyone, but choosing razors based on the least-relevant parameter contributes a lot of the YMMV confusion.