My most recent SuperMax Titanium blade gave me 24 good shaves before being retired to the recycle can. The last two shaves of those 24 were done with my Gillette Slim Adjustable. Those shaves among others recently caused me to re-think my use of the Slim for only commemorative occasions.
Previously, I've tried the Slim on various settings of the nine available though I've never shaved above six, and infrequently at or near that aggressive of a setting. I got my good, recent shaves varying the setting between one and three -- depending on the area being shaved as well as the stroke direction in relation to beard grain and also what pass I was making. Generally I'd make first-pass strokes across grain, with the razor set to one, although I stroked with grain on my upper lip. Then the second pass, again on one, was largely against the grain except on my upper lip, which was across the grain. My final pass was with the razor set to two and was again against grain. Final clean up strokes were done as needed with a razor setting of three.
When I replaced the recycled SuperMax blade with a Personna Red, I took its first shave using the Slim. I did the first pass on one and the second on two, with clean-up strokes also on two. That maiden shave with the Personna Red was a bit rough, leaving irritation and a number of small weepers in its wake. The second shave with the Red on the following day had it installed in my Parker Variant. I followed a similar process, with the idea in mind to go easy and not irritate the previous day's injuries. I was somewhat successful, but not perfectly so.
Then this morning I again used the same Personna blade for its third use back into the Slim. Another conservative, careful shave again gave poor results with unacceptable irritation and blood letting.
I'm starting to see a trend here. With a fresh, sharp blade, the Slim is too aggressive on any setting to give me both a close and comfortable shave. If I keep it set to one, I have to work very hard to get a reasonably close shave; but if I set it beyond that, the razor begins to attack my skin along with beard. My initial thought is that for old-but-still-usable blades, the Slim may be a great razor option. It allows dialing in the blade-bar-gap that may be just right for getting an optimal shave with a blade that isn't itself optimally sharp. However, with a new blade, a more skin-friendly razor such as the Variant may be a better choice.
I'm going to continue using the same blade and alternating daily between the Slim and the Variant for the useful life of this blade. Three shaves in, I've gotten off to a rocky start with that first shave with the Slim, and my skin is still recovering. However, as I continue this two-razor shimmy, I'll let you know at what point the worm begins to turn, when the Slim begins to offer a good, close, comfortable shave and how that compares to the Variant as the blade ages.
Happy shaving!
Thanks for sharing your experience. I think it will be helpful for future newbies.
ReplyDeleteI'm a newbie to wet shaving and I have inherited a Slim from my father. If not of that special link, I think I'd have thrown it out of the window!
The first strike against it is choosing the setting. The intuitive 'just start at 1' is debated! I read threads on forums where some claim that lower settings cause _more_ irritation than higher settings, and then the opposite claim.
Somehow, some people just looove their Slim, and I have the feeling that this is a specific set of people with just the right blade, the right shaving skill and the right skin and beard combo. In other words, not a generalizable thing. So that'd be a second strike against this razor.
So far, I've put the razor at 5 and end up with plenty of irritation - sometimes more than when I use a straight razor.
It definetely doesn't come as a 'beginner friendly' option!
As you may have seen from my most recent posts, the Slim works best for me with an old blade near the end of its life. I will also continue to use it (when I do) with its settings at 1 or 2 because more aggressive settings are just too irritating (at best).
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