Closer is not necessarily better. Both hubby and son break out if they get too close. (Doesn’t matter how they do it or what they use for aftershave, they get ingrown hairs.)
We’ve found that single or twin blades work great. No bumps.
But finding good blades are hard to do. We like the old Gillette Sensor. They’re phasing them out, so I bought a ten year supply from Amazon.
“Both hubby and son break out if they get too close. “
They may consider looking into wet shaving with a good double-edge blade (see my previous posts). While I haven’t had a problem with breaking out, in my research I read of many men who made the switch and the break-out problem was solved.
Au contraire! I guarantee "how they do it" is the culprit.