Yeah, the only thing I can say with some positivity is that my shoulders are not bad, and while small I think I'm shaped nicely, lol.
My problem is I probably haven't worked out hard enough (had the best diet). As far as being a hard gainer, you probably have a much easier time than me. For some reason I've always pictured you as big. I think my idea of slender and your idea of slender are two different things, lol.
Not according to our experiences our ideas of being slender is the same. I was ALWAYS told I needed to eat when I was a little younger than your age. (20-21) Even into my mid and late 20s, just not as much after I put on the weight.
I was 120 pounds, 5'10-11" I ate ALL the time, yet I didn't gain a single pound. I tried weight gainers, I tried bulking foods to no avail.
The men on my mothers side are all hard gainers and slim. I got my frame from her side of the family. I was and still am the runt of my family on my fathers side.
Now I am not tiny, but I am far from huge. (currently about 180-90) still 5'10-11" I am average and I busted my butt and "killed myself" to reach that.
When I stated working out on creatine I worked out EVERY day except Sat and Sun. 1.5-2 hours.
I would work out to exhaustion, upping the weights every day to the point where the ONLY thing that kept me from dying was my ability to refuse to give up and force that bar up one more time.
After about 3 months... (maybe a tiny bit less, maybe a few days more) I was at 160. The kicker, my sides started hurting, when I visited the doctor she told me "Stop working out and stop taking creatine." I asked "Do I have to?" She said "No, but if you don't its going to kill you."
The fear was either kidney stones, or straight up kidney cancer. I stopped taking creatine and the pain stopped and never felt it again. (I had been drinking PLENTY of water, it was all I drank all day. Living in Texas...... I was constantly ingesting H2O)
When I started working out again, I lessened the dose of creatine. (According to those in the "know" I ingested less than is even worth anything at under 5gms a day )
I also started taking Beta Alanine, which was awesome. However after a little while of taking it, I was at work and it felt like someone was thumping my heart. t would hurt, but by the time I was able to even say "ouch" it was gone. It did it for about 4 days in a row. I didnt want to stop taking it if it were just coincidence. When it happened on the fourth day..... I stopped taking it and never felt that pain again.
It IS possible to gain, you just have to put in the work and do it right. If you are doing that, then look at your diet. Supplements are NOT a substitute for any of those things. Good enough diet and supplements are not really needed.