Slow it down is the information you will see everywhere.
That is definitely accurate but it introduced a different problem that took me a while to figure out. I had problems with very inconsistent extrusion. I was getting a lot of sputtering and gaps in my layers. At first I thought it was wet filament that was popping so I dehydrated the rolls quite a bit which didn’t really help.
Long story short I figured out that I was printing too slow. Flexibles like to ooze out of the nozzle which combined with slow printing seemed to be causing the filament to almost cavitate in the hot end. Combine that with retraction and flexibles being like elastic bands that don’t compress or stretch with the same consistency as rigid filament and there was just not an even enough pressure on the molten filament in the hot end for it to extrude evenly.
I increased my print speed and reduced the retractions to get better results. Then comes the game of trying to balance print temperature with speed because if you crank up the temperature it lets the floppy filament move through easier but also causes more oozing.
I am using a micro swiss direct drive and hot end. If I increase my speed 5mm/s from where it is I have failures where the filament slips through the tiny gap between the extruder gears and the little section of Bowden tube. If I bump up my print temperature 5* I get uneven extrusion. If I change from a brass to a steel nozzle it effects the print temperature and results.
If you need softish flexible prints get some of the Filaflex 82a filament. I have gotten acceptable prints with it. I also use the cheap house brand tpu and have no complaints about it either. It is noticably more rigid though. I don’t use them interchangeably. If I need something with a bit of give that holds it’s shape I use tpu. If I need something soft I switch to Filaflex 82a. My standards of print quality goes down more the softer the filament is, I suggest you have tampered expectations of clean finishes.