My Now 35 -year Love-Hate Relationship With Shaving
May 06 '01 (Updated May 21 '07)
The Bottom Line Wet electric shaving is less irritating than a blade and nearly as close. I've the foil units shave better, are easier to clean and less complicated than the rotary units.
***May 2007: I've updated it for my last few electric razors and to recommend the current model my Panasonic ES 8078 razor***
Has really been an odyssey. I’ve gone through blades, and used rotary and foil electric razors. So without further ado, here goes.
When I was 16, I couldn’t wait to shave. The fact that I had nothing to shave merely increased my resolve, since I had heard hat shaving would make the beard grow more. Well, it didn’t work for me. The only thing it really accomplished were some shaving cuts. I told people they were pimples because no one would believe that I actually needed to shave. That wasn’t my only dumb idea related to body hair - when I was 15, I decided that I needed more hair on my arms and chest, so I’d stand outside when it was cold and get goosebumps. I figured that would make hair grow. It didn’t, but at least I didn’t catch a cold.
In college, I generally used blades when I had to. I had the worst of both worlds - enough growth so that I needed to shave, but not enough growth to grow a REAL beard, although not for lack of trying. I found that the blades worked better when I used a beard-treater (Aramis Pre-shaving Beard Softener) before the shaving cream. However, I was still enduring plenty of irritation. Also irritating was the need to keep buying razor blades.
Upon graduation I joined the business world and was faced with the need to shave quickly and comfortably every morning. I first tried an electric razor then for convenience. It was a Sunbeam, as I recall. I found two immediate disadvantages to the dry electric razors. First, despite all advertising, they did not shave as close as a blade. Second, the dry process was extremely irritating to my face, even though the shaving itself wasn’t so bad. Why? In dry shaving, you need to use a pre-shave, like Lectric Shave, that is alcohol-based. It dries the beard so that the razor can cut the hairs easier. The problem was that the alcohol dried out and irritated my face. I had very dry skin around my nose and chin. This was a big problem every winter and the only way I could combat this was with a lot of Clinique moisturizing lotion.
I had also found that blade shaving worked even better in the shower, because, with a soapy face, the shave was more effective in that I could shave closer with less irritation, because the wet hairs were softer and easier for the blade to cut. The blades still were irritating as they got dull and needed to replace.
I believed that the ultimate shaving solution for me would be an electric razor that could shave wet, as it would last longer and be less irritating.
Enter the Norelco Advantage I got one two and a half years ago. It’s a rotary electric razor, which means floating heads. This supposedly make for closer shaves. Even better, this unit could be used wet. The closeness of the shave did rival a decent bladed shave, although not quite as good as a shave with a nearly-new blade. This unit had a lotion dispenser to be used during shaving, and that seemed to work out well. The first disadvantage was the 30-day adjustment period. The next disadvantage of this rotary razor was that it was more difficult to clean, because of the complicated blade assemblies and setup. Plus the lotion dispenser tended to clog and make a mess. Lotion worked better than shaving cream, though, because the razor tended to move the stuff around the face, instead of keeping it on the razor, like the blade did. While messier, this actually turned out to be an advantage, since cream/lotion was still there for multiple passes. This unit seemed to work pretty well until my son took it apart and lost some of the pieces. I had no idea how to put it together and I couldn’t find any place local to fix it.
About this time, I discovered, for comfort, that the ultimate after shave for me was aloe-vera gel. It is soothing and works great.
So, once again, I went back to blades for awhile. I grew a beard, which at age 45, I was finally able to do. I got tired of the beard when I discovered that it was REAL itchy and, unlike the remaining hairs on top of my head, was totally gray. So, about a month ago, I cruised Ebay and found....
A Panasonic Linear ES8067 This foil-based razor has a very high list price, around $300, I think. I got it new for $100. I’m currently going through the adjustment period. Unlike the rotary bladed Norelco, which has separate blade units under each head, this unit has stationary blades under the foil. So far, it seems as if it shaves as close as the Norelco, which is comparable, again, to a typical bladed shave. This unit has the advantage of being much easier to clean because of the simple setup. This unit does not dispense lotion, but it does work adequately with shaving cream and lotion.
Here is the epinion on the Panasonic shaver
Panasonic Linear ES 8067 Electric Wet/Dry Shaver
I needed to replace the panasonic, as I could no longer get replacement foil or bades. I ended up trying two Norelco models the Norelco 7775x Electric Razor and Norelco 7735x Electric Razor. I stopped using the former after I dropped it once too often. Battery life was beginning to shorten. For the second unit, the blades got dull in a hurry and battery life was dwindling.
I replaced them with the Panasonic ES 8078 razor, which has provided great shaves so far.
Bottom line: Wet electric shaving is nearly as close than a good bladed shave, and is less irritating. I’ve found that the foil shaver shaves a little better, is easier to clean and less complicated than rotary razors. Shaving is still a bother, but I think that my present setup is workable.
Please check out my other reviews in this category:
Polar S-150 Heart Rate Monitor
Polar Pacer Heart Rate Monitor
Suave Cucumber-Melon Bodywash
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Thanks for reading. God bless!
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