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If slants are so good why are there so few of them?

I enjoy my 34c (nacet blades) and get good shaves. I shave every 3-4 days, have a coarse beard and understand from the many comments here that slants do an amazing job, especially under those conditions. I was surprised to see so very few slants are made tho. I'm sure the 37c will be great but the observation surprised me given how many "regular "DE razors exist
 
I enjoyed my merkur slant but found it a tad inconsistent when compared to other razors (probably equal parts inconsistent blade loading and technique). I was happy to use it and should try again but when getting very good shaves with other DE razors I did not see much reason to chase it.

This may be a minor point but I could never really come to terms with the non-square blade angle and shaving tight spots under the nose or the sideburns. It would certainly shave those areas well but when wanting to hold the blade square or exactly horizontal the extra care and thinking needed was a drawback when compared to the typical safety bar or open comb.
 
My 37c is exceptional and my most used razor, often acting as my daily driver. Absolutely love it, very smooth with great results.
 
This is a very good question, and I too have wondered about the answer.

Slants are wonderful shavers. I love 'em. But why aren't there more of them? One reason might be cosmetic. The "twisted head" is not visually appealing to me. I'm a symmetrical guy. But there must be better reasons for the lack of popularity. But what?
 
OC razors, adjustables, injectors, AC razors and razors using Gem blades can all give wonderful shaves, yet there are relatively few of them when compared with two and three piece SB razors. However, there are enough of all of them, and slants, to keep me happy. Finding them just takes a bit more research.
 
The reason is because theyve never been able to prove that slants are better. I own a few slants and do find them to be a bit smoother but for a lot of people, they dont find a slant to shave them any closer than a straight bar does.
 

Esox

I didnt know
Staff member
There will be another hitting the market soon. The Fatip Slant is apparently scheduled for release in September.

I'm not convinced a slant will shave any better just because the blade is torqued, but it could lend some additional rigidity to a blade in razors of less rigid design.
 
I find the Italian Barber Wunderbar slant to be an exceptional razor and it's my razor of choice, but I can get a decent shave with others as well. I think the slant and the fact that many consider the slants to be more aggressive scares some people off, as well as the cost. While the Wunderbar is aggressive, I also get a more comfortable shave from it. The traditional DE razor has been around for years and has been mass marketed for that time, especially by Gillette at the beginning. I would argue that had Gillette introduced a slant at the beginning and mass marketed that, we would be asking, "Why aren't there more traditional DE razors available.
 
I definitely think they shave better, mostly due to two factors:

1. Blade rigidity - most slants hold the blade more rigidly (not the PAA BOCS though! Ha!)

2. Angle - the sweet spot simply moves when you unintentionally change angle. With a straight bar, you can easily move out of angle, with a slant, it kind of moves with you and still cuts to the left or right of the sweet spot.

There just isn't demand. Heck, there isn't much demand for DE to begin with. Who wants to engineer a difficult design and even more difficult tooling? Maybe I'm wrong.

In the end, I think there are plenty of slants available to keep you collecting. Certainly a great deal more than I own (and I own six!)

Dig deeper. You'll find 'em!
 
When I started DE shaving and reading the forums around 2004, my impression was that slants were viewed as a gimmick by the "old guard" forum members. It's possible that's how they were looked at by the majority of DE shavers.
 
Good question!

My thoughts are: 1. There are likely more slant options that you might think, and 2. Slants have many fans, but others (including me) have not found much advantage. YMMV for sure!
 
My experience with a slant (RR German) is that they don't shave any closer and are a lot rougher on my skin. As always YMMV. Perhaps slant fans are a loud minority?
 
I've used 6 different slants and they are all very different. And I know that's not all the slants that are out there.
 
I find that both the 37 and 39 slants from Merkur are nice tools. Not the end all and be all of DE razors but nice (even very nice).

When I travel the only razor I take is a 37c and I have a lot of razors to choose from which should tell you how I "really" feel :)

The case is a re-purposed Weshi case

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I think I've shaved with 3 different slants and overall, I didn't find that they shaved any better or worse than regular razors. They tended to have more blade alignment issues than my regular razors. I didn't see the need or advantage of having one. To me, they were kind of a gimmick. I thought there must be a reason that they have them so maybe they worked better for different beard types than mine.
 
In my own personal experience slants don't offer any advantage over regular type razors (they may for others). That said, I've always felt slants have a "cool" factor going for them. I've always loved the looks of a the Merkur slants and though I rarely use them, I do own several.
 
The slant was quite popular in Germany between the wars, but never caught on here. I would imagine that many of them were lost during the war (along with everything else most people in bombed out areas had) so they are somewhat scarce. Never sold with Gillette style marketing in the US, and Gillette did not make one and that reduced the number in the US.

I have two, one is a German one in Bakelite, the other is a RR slant head. Haven't shaved with either yet, but will eventually.

Rumor has it they take more skill than the typical beginner has, so they get acquired later in the shaving game, if at all. Technique sensitive razors don't give good shaves to beginning wet shavers as a rule, and tend to put people off them permanently.

And probably they don't give most people a vastly different shave that a straight bar or comb, so there isn't much point in having just another (weird) razor.
 
I’ve only tried one slant, the Razorock Wunderbar. Having decided to minimize, I retained it while parting with my R41, Gillette Fatboy, Mergress, Aristocrat and News.
 
I've tried several slants, including the Ikon 102, Fine Superlite (darn aggressive feeling), Stirling Soaps briefly made (not bad actually), Fine Aluminium (nice shaver, but not $125 worth of nice for me), and an Ikon X3, which I currently have. The Fine Aluminum and X3 were the best for me out of those I tried, but quite frankly the X3 gets rarely used. I don't find a slant really provides a closer or better shave because it's a slant, and it really depends on the design of the individual razor. Every slant I tried still took 3 passes to get to my idea of BBS, usually with additional touch-ups. Slant doesn't seem to make a difference, it's more how the razor design shaves your face.

If you go from say a mild Tech or Weishi to a slant, you're going to get a better shave, as odds are the slant will have a more engineered design and be a more polished and efficient shaver. If you're going from something in the caliber of a Timeless, Paradigm, Charcoal Goods, or even a Rockwell (hey, looks utilitarian, but great shaver), which shaves extremely well, you're probably going to be in for a let down and the shave isn't going to be any better. - No I don't have, nor have a shaved with a Paradigm or Charcoal Goods, but mentioning the higher echelon of shaving gear.

There is no way that any slant I've tried would get any closer, or probably as close, as what I have from this morning using my Rockwell on plate 6, guaranteed, I'm that smoothly and closely shaven. - Open your mouth and rub you gums, that's how my face was left following the morning shave. How do you get any closer than that?
 
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