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Someone Explain Slant Razors To Me

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
I'm not really in favour of the concept. You are really buggered if you are a lefty. Just personally . . . I'd not waste a dime on a slant. But that is just me. Please feel free to curse me at your leisure.
Now I'm about to go shave. I'm a lazy ambidextrous retired Cosmetologist, I'll go see how it turns out!

(Everyone that cuts hair and is any good learns to use both hands to save steps.)
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Now I'm about to go shave. I'm a lazy ambidextrous retired Cosmetologist, I'll go see how it turns out!

(Everyone that cuts hair and is any good learns to use both hands to save steps.)
I did it. Used my RR 37 German thingy. Left handed. Fifty first shave on that GSB blade felt just as good as the second. Not sure what I'll use for a blade next time, but I might be more cognizant of using both hands depending on which side of my face I'm tackling. Danged near BBS.
 
So.. this is a really good example of YMMV... I have a pretty coarse but not especially dense beard and had been using a 34c as my daily driver. When I started working from home 5 years ago and only shaving 2x weekly the 34c couldn't keep up. I tried the 37c.. a slant version of the same razor and used it for a few years. It does a decent job with a corresponding decent amount of blade feel and was more irritating. I bit the bullet and spent the money on a Timeless .95 OC and the difference is pretty big... even closer shave than the slant... no irritation... less technique required compared to the 37c. Looking back I'd have to say that the slant wasn't the best option and was not the best for me.
You're comparing apples and oranges. The Timeless has a much more aggressive geometry than the Merkur. Another slant might give better results. I much prefer the Fatip lo Storto to the Timeless.

Sent from my LG-US998 using Tapatalk
 
I'm not much into the theory, but I can tell you that my RR German 37 seems to work well for me with pretty much every blade for me. I like to use it when I have more than a day or two of growth the wide gap between the blade and guard also means it pretty much never clogs, even if I only rinse a few times during each pass.

For me, it's what I use whenever I need a quick shave. I can do each pass much faster and without any thought whatsoever compared to any of my non-slants. It's definitely my, "plan landed two hours before work after I haven't shaved for work, time to quickly blast off a week of stubble while I rush to work" razor. However, this seems to be the opposite of what I've read from most posts here, so YMMV.
Every time I use the German 37 I think it's my favorite razor. :)
 
You're comparing apples and oranges. The Timeless has a much more aggressive geometry than the Merkur. Another slant might give better results. I much prefer the Fatip lo Storto to the Timeless.

Sent from my LG-US998 using Tapatalk
absolutely... the Timeless is in another class altogether. It was my path and it worked for me.
 
R

romsitsa

As mentioned above, there are two basic types of slants.
1: Head is attached to the handle at an angle (for. eg. Neo Ras, MEM, Kabrand). This has roughly the same effect as the "Gillette slide", it shears the hair instead of attacking it frontally (have my doubts).
1/b: Head is attached to the handle at 90 deg, but the base plate is at an angle (for eg. Ile de France, Walbusch) same effect as with 1.
2: Head is attached to the handle at 90 deg but the whole head is twisted (for eg. Ibsen, Merkur, Fasan). Compared to 1, these hold blades more rigid and the blade faces the same direction, no matter wich side one uses.
 
Hi,

Well, left v right is a meaningless point. I am ambi and shave my right side right handed and my left side left handed. With any razor. I can do it all with either hand, but that makes no difference, either. What does make a difference is the slant. It shaves better than anything else I have ever tried.

I use a slant most every day since 2013. Oh, there are days here and there when I use something else. Maybe 2 or 3 days per year. I had a generic (no name brand) Solingen differential to begin with. Then, picked up a Fasan DoubleSlant. Yeah. More twisted than usual. Then, a second Fasan. Back in January I picked up an ATT S2 and used it for two months. But it isn't up to the Fasan and so I went back.

This how they came in:


There are two variants, one has a metal top cap:


I don't like the original handles, so I changed them up:



Additionally, I added a little #8 lead shot to balance out the metal top cap weight.

And, after the way the ATT S2 doesn't do nearly as well as the Fasans, I won't likely be looking for another kind of slant.

Stan
 
The head is slanted at an angle in relation to the handle; if you look at a photo of one you’ll see what they are. The purpose is so that the blade cuts the beard with a greater slicing motion which is somewhat more efficient - think of how a Guillotine’s angled blade slices rather than chops as it shaved the back of its customer’s neck. As for the technique, it’s exactly the same as a regular DE - you shave in straight strokes as you normally would; the slanted head applies the slicing motion. It’s supposed to replicate the old ‘Gillette slide’ technique.

+1! Plus the torque on that blade may increase rigidity.

Some love slants; others don’t find much advantage.
 
I did it. Used my RR 37 German thingy. Left handed. Fifty first shave on that GSB blade felt just as good as the second. Not sure what I'll use for a blade next time, but I might be more cognizant of using both hands depending on which side of my face I'm tackling. Danged near BBS.

I just checked, the RR 37 is $20, seems like a pretty good price! What do you think, money well spent, or spend a bit more to get a bit more?
 
I just checked, the RR 37 is $20, seems like a pretty good price! What do you think, money well spent, or spend a bit more to get a bit more?
I really like my German 37 with HD handle, a real bargain. However, it is very tempting to get the Fatip Open Comb Slant, now that it is available for around $30.
 
You did a GREAT job of how I feel about my only slant. It's the one you described. I've said on here several times that I could shave blindfolded with it.

At the risk of banishment, I have to say I probably don't use it much because it's boring!
Blind as I am, I pretty much DO shave blindfolded!
 
As mentioned above, there are two basic types of slants.
1: Head is attached to the handle at an angle (for. eg. Neo Ras, MEM, Kabrand). This has roughly the same effect as the "Gillette slide", it shears the hair instead of attacking it frontally (have my doubts).
1/b: Head is attached to the handle at 90 deg, but the base plate is at an angle (for eg. Ile de France, Walbusch) same effect as with 1.
2: Head is attached to the handle at 90 deg but the whole head is twisted (for eg. Ibsen, Merkur, Fasan). Compared to 1, these hold blades more rigid and the blade faces the same direction, no matter wich side one uses.
Type 1 slants don't work for me at all after I spent several years perfecting the Gillette slide with my normal razors. When you add that slanted head into the equation, it was actually making my good Gillette slide strokes in non-Gillette slide strokes in some cases; on the other side of the face it was "over-sliding." Plus, I was so used to using the baseplate of the razor as my visual reference and not using the handle direction at all; I found myself straightening out the baseplate and doing the regular Gillette slide, contorting the handle every which way. What a pain! (This was with an iKon 102.) So I had to get rid of it.

I even have a bit of a hard time with type 2, because, again, I am so baseplate focused and have spent so much time perfecting my Gillette slide technique.
 

Old Hippie

Somewhere between 61 and dead
Let me add my vote for the RR G37 to those above! It’s worth 20 of anyone’s hard earned.

Or, if you're in Canada, 40 of anyone's hard earned...

Took me about a year to get over converting CAD to USD in my head so I knew "what something was worth."

Mine's supposed to be here tomorrow.

O.H.
 

Fred D

Member of The Illiterati
I'm not really in favour of the concept. You are really buggered if you are a lefty. Just personally . . . I'd not waste a dime on a slant. But that is just me. Please feel free to curse me at your leisure.
Had my first shave with a slant today and it was great.
I'm a lefty and can only shave with my left hand. I think every male on my father's side was a lefty going back about five generations that I know of. I think they drowned the right handed males. 😂
 

Fred D

Member of The Illiterati
Or, if you're in Canada, 40 of anyone's hard earned...

Took me about a year to get over converting CAD to USD in my head so I knew "what something was worth."

Mine's supposed to be here tomorrow.

O.H.
Last time I was in Canada the exchange was $1.10 US for $1 Can.
So yes, it was a very long time ago. 😁
 
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