I can shave with pretty much anything now and I've looked at some of my SE razors that are almost like shaving with a str8, so I figured what the heck. Yesterday AM, I had a test blade in the Slim and I turned the adjustment from 5 to 9. Normally I keep it on 5, there is a huge difference in blade exposure between settings 5 and 9 for those who don't know. Good shave. A few minor weepers (I think they were from flattening skin irregularities), I normally don't get them with SE, but I'll keep trying that "9" setting for a bit. Frankly, I liked the slim on 9. I can't believe I used it set to 5 for as long as I did knowing how much I like the aggressive SE razors. I think it's something about the head geometry that was throwing me. The razor head just seems "fat" or somesuch in use (compared to SE).
Howdy, used to use a slim before my lovely wife discovered wet shaving and claimed it for her legs ....that's OK, I soon found a minty Fat Boy for $32 in an antique store, which suits me a little more (I like the curvature of the head better). Anyway, I never have gone above 6 with a Gillette adjustable. I'm a little frightened to, honestly. But I really like my open-comb Ever-Ready pre-1920 razor, and considering you are equating them to some degree, you have me curious
I open the adjustables, including the Schick injectors, wide open to take advantage of the increased efficiency. Give it a try.
+1 with what Tom said! The more blade exposure generally equals a smoother shave. I run all my adjustables to the open side and maybe a buff on 3 or 4.
What's interesting to me is I typically like my adjustables on 4 or 5. But, when using a feather blade I'll put them on 9. I don't like the wide-open setting with any other blade and it's exactly counter to the general trend of mild razor/aggressive blade or aggressive razor/mild blade combinations I normally like.
I have yet to try it wide open... but I do love me some aggressive razors. I usually have my adjustable on 7 or so. Might crank it up tomorrow morning .
This is good to know infor. I just won a '63 Slim in eBay yesterday ($26, not a bad price, very nice condition), so I'm looking forward to experimenting when it arrives this week.
Once I shaved with Slim on 9, I never went back to any lower settings. I found it easier to shave. I just used a very shallow angle, which made it much easier to shave.
After shaving with a straight for a while, I thought attempting my Fat Boy at 9 would be a piece of cake...turns out, it wasn't! Looks like there's still some undiscovered mysteries in the DE world for me yet.
Used it on 9 again this AM for another fantastic BBS shave, and it was so easy to achieve! Had a Treet Classic blade mounted in it for it's 5th shave, I'll try the Treet tomorrow for it's 6th shave, same razor, same setting. I never go for more than 7 shaves from a blade, after a week they owe me nothing; I'm frugal, not stupid! The Slim on 9 is going to be fun to try with my favorite Gillette Yellow or Med Prep blade. I liked the Slim previous to this, even more now. And to think in the past I'd read of gents talking of using their Slims set to 9 and thought they were nuts. I sure as heck wouldn't have tried this if I thought my technique was lacking in anything; not with that blade exposure!
