Help with buying first DE razor

[rudygu]

There is nothing mild about the 195 and Slim, especially at higher settings.

At setting 7 a 195 or Slim is .97 in terms of blade gap.

At setting 8 it is 1.04

At setting 9 it is 1.14

Double-Edged Safety Razors Ranked by Blade Gap - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/wiki/Double-Edged_Safety_Razors_Ranked_by_Blade_Gap

These gaps should be quite sufficient for most men, paired with a mature technique.

In my opinion a good and evolving technique actually lessens the need for an overly 'aggressive' razor with many shavers.

I would recommend you pick a Slim or 195 up. Apart from being beautiful masterpieces of industrial design they give excellent shaves. The Slim is more affordable if you have a tight budget.

The great thing about them is that span all the Gillette vintages in one package. A 1-2 setting will give you a mild but efficient Tech shave. 3-6 will give you all the Super Speeds including the Red Tip and English Rocket vintages' shave experience. 7-9 betters the Merkur Progress.

You should be able to pick up a Gillette Slim in great condition for $40 if you keep an eye out, and you will own a true classic of DE razors. A 195 would be even better, and some go for the same price if you get lucky.

This is really good advice. The slim really is as good as everyone says. It is efficient at all settings and the adjustments cover a very useful and reasonable range from mild to aggressive in perfectly spaced increments. It’s nice to have a razor that flexible that’s owned by so many people. It can be used as a benchmark to compare pretty much any other razor against down the road when you’re looking to buy something else. The super adjustable models are almost as good, but the slim handles a little better and feels more premium in hand.