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Gillette Slim Adjustable

Been using my Slim Adjustable for the past 3 shaves on setting 5 and was wondering if that is equivalent to say a Gillette Blue tip Or Red tip for aggressiveness ?
If so i might try and add them to my collection.

Thank in advance B&B family
 
Been using my Slim Adjustable for the past 3 shaves on setting 5 and was wondering if that is equivalent to say a Gillette Blue tip Or Red tip for aggressiveness ?
If so i might try and add them to my collection.

Thank in advance B&B family
Setting 3 will mimic the Gillette Super Speed and the mid range razor of the Gillette Trio.

Setting 4 will mimic the US Red Tip and the English Rocket Heavy Duty.

Setting 5 will mimic the English Red Tip, which was the most aggressive TTO Gillette made by blade gap.

Above that the gaps increase to nothing previously made in the Gillette range for blade gap efficiency.

The highest 5 setting on the Merkur Progress of 1955 was at a Gillette 195/Slim setting 7.
 
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I somewhat disagree. I have and use all these razors. We can't be dogmatic on all this. It's hard to generalize, as we all have faces with different sensitivities of skin, and we all have differing shaving techniques and behaviors.

I suggest a setting of 5 on the Slim is about the same as the mid-range Super Speeds.

A setting of 6 or 7 on the Slim will be similar to the Gillette Red Tip.

A setting of 3 on the Slim will be similar to the Gillette Blue Tip.
 

lasta

Blade Biter
My C1 Red Tip is about a 5 (maybe slightly under) on a Slim.

In terms of feel. No idea about the gap.

Older Super Speeds (including Red Tip) and Rockets clamp more, if you are into that sort of thing.
 
I somewhat disagree. I have and use all these razors. We can't be dogmatic on all this. It's hard to generalize, as we all have faces with different sensitivities of skin, and we all have differing shaving techniques and behaviors.

I suggest a setting of 5 on the Slim is about the same as the mid-range Super Speeds.

A setting of 6 or 7 on the Slim will be similar to the Gillette Red Tip.

A setting of 3 on the Slim will be similar to the Gillette Blue Tip.
I am very appreciative of your reply @santamariasteve, these are the kinds of discussions where the collective experiences of B&B members really makes the forum interesting.

I agree completely that these impressions fall very much into subjectivity, however I was very much surprised by my recent experiences with the US Red Tip and an English Rocket.

I own, or have owned all of these razors with the exception of the Blue Tip and English Red.

I recently let go of my Slim, so I have been using my 195's as an adjustable example baseline. I am not aware that the 195 and Slim was altered in any way in terms of the settings.

I have been using the B&B resource https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/wiki/DEdged_Safety_Razors_Ranked_by_Blade_Gap for my baseline thinking on this. I am aware it is not perfect, and some may disagree on its measurements to an extent, but it is something to go on.

I found the US Red to be suprisingly smooth and mild, although with a good degree of efficiency. It seems to fall into a 195 at 5 in terms of the shave. I expected more aggression, although again, I appreciate the efficiency. The English Rocket HD was around 4-5 I felt, and it seemed to give a similar shave. Bear in mind that the EJ89 has the same gap as the Rocket in the table, although it is now considered a 'mild' razor. I dispute that!

The US Red best replicates a Rocket HD to my face.

It gets more interesting. A 195 on 3 would seem to simulate a 50's Super Speed standard, although a 40's version is slightly more efficient, at around 4.

Added to the interesting conclusions I have tentatively come to regarding the very different TTO designs of the English and US Gillettes, and different blade gaps, and why Gillette added very much more aggressive gaps in the 195's 6-9 settings, this is all a work in progress and would indicate that there is still much to dig up on the Gillette design histories in different countries, etc.

It may also be a question of contemporary vs modern blade usage, angle, and better soaps and even brushes available today.

These are my thoughts on this.
 
I somewhat disagree. I have and use all these razors. We can't be dogmatic on all this. It's hard to generalize, as we all have faces with different sensitivities of skin, and we all have differing shaving techniques and behaviors.

I suggest a setting of 5 on the Slim is about the same as the mid-range Super Speeds.

A setting of 6 or 7 on the Slim will be similar to the Gillette Red Tip.

A setting of 3 on the Slim will be similar to the Gillette Blue Tip.
That's been my understanding for some years. That said, I only have a nickel '64 SS and don't recall ever using the blue or red tip. I find that my sweet spot on the 195 and Slim is 5 FWIW.
 

lasta

Blade Biter
I am very appreciative of your reply @santamariasteve, these are the kinds of discussions where the collective experiences of B&B members really makes the forum interesting.

I agree completely that these impressions fall very much into subjectivity, however I was very much surprised by my recent experiences with the US Red Tip and an English Rocket.

I own, or have owned all of these razors with the exception of the Blue Tip and English Red.

I recently let go of my Slim, so I have been using my 195's as an adjustable example baseline. I am not aware that the 195 and Slim was altered in any way in terms of the settings.

I have been using the B&B resource https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/wiki/DEdged_Safety_Razors_Ranked_by_Blade_Gap for my baseline thinking on this. I am aware it is not perfect, and some may disagree on its measurements to an extent, but it is something to go on.

I found the US Red to be suprisingly smooth and mild, although with a good degree of efficiency. It seems to fall into a 195 at 5 in terms of the shave. I expected more aggression, although again, I appreciate the efficiency. The English Rocket HD was around 4-5 I felt, and it seemed to give a similar shave. Bear in mind that the EJ89 has the same gap as the Rocket in the table, although it is now considered a 'mild' razor. I dispute that!

The US Red best replicates a Rocket HD to my face.

It gets more interesting. A 195 on 3 would seem to simulate a 50's Super Speed standard, although a 40's version is slightly more efficient, at around 4.

Added to the interesting conclusions I have tentatively come to regarding the very different TTO designs of the English and US Gillettes, and different blade gaps, and why Gillette added very much more aggressive gaps in the 195's 6-9 settings, this is all a work in progress and would indicate that there is still much to dig up on the Gillette design histories in different countries, etc.

It may also be a question of contemporary vs modern blade usage, angle, and better soaps and even brushes available today.

These are my thoughts on this.
I appreciate our ambassador delving deep into this!

But I would also add that day to day production variances may also yield different outputs. These razors were probably made in the millions, mine at 5 may just as well equal someone else's 6...
 
I appreciate our ambassador delving deep into this!

But I would also add that day to day production variances may also yield different outputs. These razors were probably made in the millions, mine at 5 may just as well equal someone else's 6...
I dunno me old mucker, it would seem US mass production combined with exact tolerances reached their epitome at this time, in the 40's-50's. I don't believe they were sloppy in their manufacturing. In fact US precision industry was effortlessly good, look at their performance in WW2 from electronics to the B-29 Superfort. Razor mass production in precise tolerances would not have been any issue!

Gillette was making precision aircraft engine parts from 1942-44 I believe.

I am assuming this precision in razor assembly would would apply to other Gillette plants worldwide also.
 
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I think over the years, adjustable razors could get knocked out of whack a bit but my anecdotal experience is that Gillette razors were quite uniform in their specs and performance.
 
I have been using the B&B resource https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/wiki/DEdged_Safety_Razors_Ranked_by_Blade_Gap for my baseline thinking on this. I am aware it is not perfect, and some may disagree on its measurements to an extent, but it is something to go on.

I found the US Red to be suprisingly smooth and mild, although with a good degree of efficiency. It seems to fall into a 195 at 5 in terms of the shave. I expected more aggression, although again, I appreciate the efficiency. The English Rocket HD was around 4-5 I felt, and it seemed to give a similar shave. Bear in mind that the EJ89 has the same gap as the Rocket in the table, although it is now considered a 'mild' razor. I dispute that!

The US Red best replicates a Rocket HD to my face.
Measurements help but the slims/super adjustables had the thinner head and the blade exposure was different as well. This also was translated around 1962 into the super speeds but some individuals have claimed overlap as early as 1960.

A 1962-1966 superspeed may mimic what he wants best? I don’t have one sadly to speak of for experience. The old style head of the red tip may (correction, does, took a second to remember) make for a different experience.
 
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You don't have to unless you want to. I would judge by the results (clean and comfortable) I was getting from my current razor/blade.

+1! This^

After quite a bit of ’experimentation’ I found that the ‘mild/moderate’ range suits me best! YMMV, of course.
 
Setting 3 will mimic the Gillette Super Speed and the mid range razor of the Gillette Trio.

Setting 4 will mimic the US Red Tip and the English Rocket Heavy Duty.

Setting 5 will mimic the English Red Tip, which was the most aggressive TTO Gillette made by blade gap.

Above that the gaps increase to nothing previously made in the Gillette range for blade gap efficiency.

The highest 5 setting on the Merkur Progress of 1955 was at a Gillette 195/Slim setting 7.
I've been testing seven types of blades in the same four razors on this thread, intending for it to be a test of the blades. But doing so also sheds some light on the razors used (all vintage Gillettes). While I'm still in the middle of the the Red Tip round, I'm through the Slim round (I kept the Slim locked at 8) and can offer some comparisons.

First, the Red Tip shaves much smoother than a Slim on nearly any setting. I guess you could say that the lowest Slim settings are smoother, but they're so inefficient that I'll cut myself pressing to get a closer shave. I'd classify the Red Tip as a mild razor, in that it's configured to put the brakes on before you shave extremely closely. If I left well enough alone, I could get a fast, easy DFS shave from the Red Tip almost in my sleep. I go for BBS, however, and that's where I get cuts. (Cutting yourself because a razor is too mild is different than cutting yourself because a razor is too aggressive, but the blood is the same.)

Slim, for the middle and higher settings, offers more opportunities for you to cut yourself, even in earlier beard-reduction passes. I used the 8 setting in these trials as it seems to afford me more flexibility as to the angle I use. The Red Tip seems to lock me into shaving at a quite shallow angle (toward riding the cap), and its range of cutting angles is narrow.

If you're shaving comfortably with a Slim at 5, I think you'll find a Red Tip to be mild and comfortable in comparison. It's going to get you to DFS (or BBS, if your stubble isn't super thick) quicker and with less chance of getting cuts than the Slim.
 
In terms of efficiency, I'd say that the 1-3, 4-6 and 7-9 settings does to some degree represents the Blue, Flare and Red Tip Super Speeds, but you also have to remember that all of those razors have different weight shape and form and that does affect the shave even if it's a tiny bit.

The other thing is that some of those razors might have been dropped at one point and their blade gap might have been messed up a bit. Even amongst the adjustable razors like the most common ones like the standard gold D1/F4 Toggle, both gold plated and regular versions of the Fatboys, Slims and Super Adjustables, there are some small differences that affect the shave.

The only real way to know for sure is to buy them all and test them for yourself.
 
Like SlimShavy, I find the super speeds smoother then any of the adjustables but that’s coming from my limited experienced and I don’t have many shaves with them. I’m not sure why but all of the super speeds just seem to shave smoother for me.

My favorite is definitely the red tip and I’d rate it medium aggressive by todays standards and is a very efficient shaver. In fact out of many modern and vintage razors it’s probably in my top 3-4 razors. For comparison my favorite modern is the GameChanger 84p.

I’ve used 2 red tips and the first one I used felt a bit more aggressive to me and then when I purchased my own the one I got felt a bit smoother but was just as efficient.

Usually I don’t find my razors very blade dependent but with my red tip I find one of my favorite blades (German Wilkies) don’t do it for me. They just don’t feel sharp enough in this razor. But my Astra SPs are perfection, I’ve never found a single razor that didn’t like Astras. I need to try the red tip with a Nacet here soon.

OP - the red tip shouldn’t be too much for you. I think it shaves smoother then a slim/fat boy/Super on setting 5 while being more efficient.
 
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