Cleaning a Gillette Slim Adjustable

When my Fat Boy's TTO mechanism was acting rough, it seemed no amount of oil drops here or there did anything. I read on a shave site (possibly this one-cannot recall) to try a 24hr baby oil soak. I tried that, and that worked wonders. Today, a good 9 months later, the action is still smooth as silk, plus the soak cleaned it better than anything else I had done in the past. I have since made this my TTO clean/lube practice.

 

Great (and skin-safe) idea!

 

Was it Johnson's Baby Oil or something more organic? I was thinking about 3-in-1 oil but after reading this thread, I thought baby oil would probably be better. I just received a 1978 Y4 Gillette Super Slim Adjustable and soaked it in dish soap and brushed it out. It is looking very clean and isn't squeaking anymore when I open the head. I would like to soak it as well in the baby oil; get a deeper clean going. Thank you!

 

You'd be amazed what junk comes out of them after soaking in nearly boiling soapy water!

 

Baby oil is just mineral oil and it's safe to use. Many guys here have used it to lube up the moving parts in their razors.

Just be warned that a lot of petrified gunk might come out from inside the handle after you introduce the mineral oil. After soaking my Slim in near boiling water, soaking in soapy water, scrubbing with dish soap, scrubbing with Scrubbing Bubbles, and finally soaking in rubbing alcohol, a bunch of black gunk still came out after pouring some mineral oil into the handle and even more came out after using the ultrasonic cleaner.