If you've used a slant, what are your observations?

Having given a slant a fair trial (see above), I found that:

  • better than my conventional razors

    Votes: 17 47.2%

  • worse than my conventional razors

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • pretty much the same as my conventional razors

    Votes: 19 52.8%
  • Total voters
    36
I have the ATT S1 and the RR Wunderbar. I find both of them to be good razors and the the Wunderbar particularly aggressive and efficient. That said I keep them in my rotation for variety as I do with other razors like open combs.
 
I used to have an Ikon 102, Jeez, I hated that thing...:mad:, gave me the worst shaves of my life. Sold it and vowed I'd never use another slant again...:eek:. Funny, because a few months ago I bought an ATT S2 from a forum member and I have to say, what a shave. Brilliant!! Weird...:confused:
 
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Shave to the grave said:
I used to have an Ikon 102, Jeez, I hated that thing...:mad:, gave me the worst shaves of my life. Sold it and vowed I'd never use another slant again...:eek:. Funny, because a few months ago I bought an ATT S2 from a forum member and I have to say, what a shave. Brilliant!! Weird...:confused:
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Wow! I cannot believe that. It just shows you how people are different and what is good for one shaver isn't for another. I have a 102 and mine shaves beautifully.
 
I like my diagonals as lightweight as possible, because otherwise I can't shave with them. So I can relate to people not liking the 102: it does not rank high on my list of favorites either.
 
@efsk - I have to disagree: the point of a slant is (as the name implies) that the blade is slanted. It may be twisted (or torqued, if you prefer that synonym) or it may not: the iKon 102 slants but does not twist the blade, the iKon X3 both slants and twists the blade. Those two slants feel and perform the same for me. There is no requirement that a slant twist the blade: the vintage Eros slant also does not twist the blade and for me it does a superb job.
 
@Leisureguy - I feel a significant distinction gets lost when calling two rather different type razors the same. That's why I have slants (with torqued or twisted blade) and diagonals (razors where the blade is diagonal to the grip). I differentiate between those types everywhere and always, as I feel they really are different type razors. As apparently did the Germans: they, too, had/have different names for torqued razors and diagonals.
The type of razor does not necessarily say anything about its shaving qualities. Whether normal, torqued or diagonal, all types of DE come in variations that do a terrific job, or a lousy job, or anything in between. Indeed, the Eros (note first line of that post), which i have in variations by Walbusch, Merkur and others as well, is a terrific razor. The iKon 102 however just doesn't work for me. The Merkur 37c belongs to the best I've ever tried, yet the KWC "Fasan-clone" on my face is nothing else but an instrument of torture. And I love Fasan-razors, mind you.
 
efsk said:
@Leisureguy - I feel a significant distinction gets lost when calling two rather different type razors the same. That's why I have slants (with torqued or twisted blade) and diagonals (razors where the blade is diagonal to the grip). I differentiate between those types everywhere and always, as I feel they really are different type razors. As apparently did the Germans: they, too, had/have different names for torqued razors and diagonals.
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Indeed. Twisted blade razors are called 'Torsionshobel' in German, while tilted head razors are called 'Schrägschnitthobel'. (Just in case you see the terms in an ebay auction or on a box). Unfortunately there seems to be just a single English word in use for both very different types of razors. :rolleyes:
 
@efsk - Well, it's certainly true that one might say that there are two types of slants, those that twist/torque the blade and those that do not, just as there are two types of conventional razors, those with a bar guard and those with a comb guard. The key is to communicate, and if one wants to have three types of razors—conventional, twisted/torqued blade, and slanted/diagonal blade—that would work as well. And I do recognize that blade that is twisted (or torqued—those two words an exactly the same to me, but apparently some perceive a difference) is not the same as a blade that is not. But the 102 and Eros both slant the blade (or present the blade at a diagonal, which is again a distinction without a difference, so far as I can tell), so to me they are slants. I usually talk about slants as being of two types: those that twist the blade and those that do not. But I perceive them both as being slants.

So long as we make it clear what we are referring to, the communications goal is achieved. But I'll go with three types if you want: conventional, twisted, and slant. (I think the untwisted is closer to what is meant by "slant" (the diagonal blade) than is the twist-blade razor.

@riverrun - Yeah, it's awkward when one language has a distinction that another language ignores, but it's not unusual in my experience (e.g., words for different types of snow exist in some languages but not in others: Inuit languages are more apt to have words for different types of snow than, say, Hawaiian).

But I think we know what we're talking about, and just in case: in the poll I meant to lump together the twisted and non-twisted slants as being distinct from conventional razors.

UPDATE: After reflecting on it, I would suggest the terminology be: conventional, slant, and twisted/torqued. The non-twisted version really is simply a slanted blade, and the twisted version adds a wrinkle beyond slanting (namely, twisting the blade). So in that terminology the "true" slant is one that simply slants the blade, while the twisted razor goes beyond the simple slant.
 
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@Leisureguy - I use the distinction slant vs diagonal for several reasons. For a long time, the only slanted razors available were the Merkur 37c/39c and these torqued razors have basically become synonymous with slants. So just about everybody will equate a slant with a torqued razor, even if they will call the 102 the same. Most slanted razors are of the torqued/twisted variety. Look at present-day offerings: one diagonal, the 102, where of the top of my head I get 13 presently available torqued slants, 10 if we don't care about colour. In my collection, torqued:diagonal is just under 3:1. So as to not make stuff more confusing than necessary, and use the established term there where it will be used most often (which imho makes it easier for a new term to be adapted), I use slant vs diagonal.
 
@efsk - I don't know that much about the history of slants, so you may well be right. The only problem is in terms of the words themselves: trying to draw a distinction between "twist" and "torque" is a stretch, and the same seems to apply to "slant' and "diagonal": the two words mean the same.

But I imagine we can easily each use our own terminology and make it clear what we are referring to: I will talk about slants in general, both twisted and untwisted (making it clear that there are two types), and you will talk about slants and diagonals (with no general term that covers both). The general terms is, I think, helpful since both razors have the effect of avoiding the straight-on chop of the conventional razor. Or perhaps you do have a general term: "non-conventional," though that seems a little too general.

Update: BTW, the Merkur 37 (the 39 is relatively recent) was not called a "slant," as riverrun points out, but rather a Torsionshobel, so calling that type a "twist" seems closer to the original. And Schrägschnitthobel pretty much translates to "oblique cutting blade"—i.e., a "slant."

So if you do want to use Merkur usage, the two types would be "twist" and "slant." ... reminds me of a song. :)
 
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@Leisureguy - My reasons for using the terminology I use were outlined in my previous post. I also write on a german-language forum, where I do use the german terms. Saves a lot of discussion :D
Apropos Merkur 37: My Christmas shave was with my 37g.
 
@efsk - Cool. I'm curious to know the term you use when you're referring to both the twist/slant and slant/diagonal. I just call them both "slants" and then distinguish between twisted and non-twisted versions. You distinguish the two styles by the name ("slant" and "diagonal"), so what do you call the two together? "Obliques" might work, although it seems odd to refer to a slant oblique as distinguished from a diagonal oblique.

I suppose one way would be to call them "non-conventional" razors, but that seems a little too broad. (I recall my math professor once commenting that dividing the universe of functions into two categories, linear and non-liner, was like dividing the universe of things into bananas and non-bananas. :) )

So have you found a good collective noun for slants and diagonals considered together?
 
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