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Any benefit to a narrow razor?

I've finally gotten to the stage where I can get a close (enough) shave with a straight razor. I was finishing up the chin and sometimes upper lip area with a DE after a couple of passes with a straight. Now I can do OK without the DE cleanup.

In general I prefer to shave with a 6/8 round tip. I have other razors including a 4/8 "Spike". I always seem to be better shaves with the wider blades however.

I'm just curious if any of you find any benefit to perhaps touching up the lip and chin area with a narrow blade like that after your regular shave with something wider.

It seems like it would just depend on your technique. Using the "scoop" method I can get under the nose with a wider blade but maybe now that I'm more proficient I could do any even better job with a narrower blade.

I'll just try it sometime of course but I'd like to hear others thoughts/experiences. So far I haven't found narrow razors to be an improvement in any way but it seems like there is the potential for them to be so.

What is your experience?
 
I wear a Vandyke so I have no experience with the little razors under the nose. I have several 4/8th's that my gal just loves for shaving her legs with.
I have on more than one occasion given her a total face exfoliation using these very small and nimble razors and they are an absolute pleasure to use for this.
For my personal shaving I also prefer a 6/8th's, the little guys are a bit more of a challenge to hold the shaving angles that I want, supper nimble though.
 
I far prefer a larger blade. Over the years I have sold off any razor in my collection (save one) smaller than 5/8. Most are 6/8...3 or 4 are 7/8-nothing larger
 
While I prefer a larger blade, I think my true preference is a larger, easier to grip tang. I had a 6/8 blade with a thin tang (double notched) and I just didn't care for it. I also had a really thin tanged 6/8 frameback which didn't feel right either. Using a smaller blade only means I need to rinse the lather off more frequently and I have to pay extra attention to my blade angle as it is really easy to go too steep with a 5/8" or smaller razor.
 
I believe it's a tradeoff between maneuverability around chin and jaw line, which favors smaller blades, and more heft to effortlessly mow down whiskers on flatter areas, which favours larger razors.

I own razors from 4/8 to 8/8 size, but am not particularly fond of either of the extremes and gravitate usually to razors around the 6/8 size, even though more recently I started reaching again for my 5/8 razors that I had somewhat neglected for a while.

I suspect that most shavers start with a 5/8 and move on to larger sizes when they gain experience (and courage), but ultimately there is a reason that 5/8 became so popular and there is nothing to be gained from moving too far away from this sweet spot.


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