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Abstract The southern San Andreas fault is in its interseismic period, occasionally releasing some stored elastic strain during triggered slow slip events (SSEs) at <2.5 km depth. A distinct, shallowly exhumed gouge defines the fault and is present at SSE depths. To evaluate if this material can host SSEs, we characterize its mineralogy, microstructures, and frictional behavior with water‐saturated deformation experiments near‐in situ conditions, and we compare laboratory healing rates to natural SSEs. Our results show that slip localizes along clay surfaces in both laboratory and natural settings. The gouge is weak (coefficient of friction of ∼0.29), exhibits low healing rates (<0.001/decade), and transitions from unstable to stable behavior at slip rates above ∼1 μm/s. Healing rate and friction drop data from laboratory instabilities are comparable to geodetically‐constrained values for SSEs. Collective observations indicate this gouge could host shallow SSEs and/or localize slip facilitating dynamic rupture propagation to the surface.