The foil’s perforations guide the whiskers into the block, where a pair of opposing blades slice them off. The action is more like what you’d get from a pair of scissors than from a knife. Rotary shavers use similar perforated surfaces to guide whiskers toward their cutters, but instead of snipping, hundreds of tiny blades slice hairs with a circular motion. Imagine the horizontal spinning blade on a power lawn mower—but with teeth—and you’ll get the idea. Some Braun razors work best on dry skin, while others work well on wet skin.
Because of their shape, Philips Norelco razors need to be held in the cleaning base by a kind of stalk-like support, which means an extra step of inserting the razor. You’ll have to decide whether the convenience is worth it; maintaining your shaver manually with the included cleaning brush is certainly easy enough. Philips also provides a range of Click and Style shavers which help trim your beard at an even length.
Chad Beightol, founder of grooming boutique Consigliere, recommends it as a solid all-around wet and dry razor, meaning you can use it in the shower, too. Beightol says the 3800 is a straightforward shaver with features you’d find on advanced models, like an 60-minute battery life and a pop-up trimmer for cleaning up facial hair. If you need an electric razor and don’t want to think too much about extra bells and whistles, you can’t go wrong with the 3800. If you’re someone who’s constantly fighting those pesky neck hairs, then this powerful new shaver brings AI into your bathroom and harnesses it to deliver an epic close shave. The rotary heads make it easy to move with you skin, and the pressure sensors alert you when you’re pressing too hard or not enough.
We asked testers to evaluate each razor for closeness of shave, speed, and irritation. First, testers used the razors at whatever their standard “I need a shave” interval was. We then asked for a double-growth test—skipping a shave—and, as a go-for-broke scenario, a triple-growth test. Once the initial review period is complete we’ll publish a full review, give the electric shaver a star rating, and add an abridged review to this guide. Please be aware that to use these stations properly means you will need to buy replacement cartridges of cleaning fluid, FOREVER.
A full recharge is actually comparatively slow at three hours, but obviously the idea is that you leave charging pad and razor out. This way it’s always ready for action, and also any house philips razor guests can see that you own the World’s Best and Most Expensive Razor. Philips made and marketed a line of Norelco professional video cameras in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s.
Connected models allow to track your routine, and advise you for a shave that’s best for your skin. The blades cut close and safely, without touching the skin directly. Another thing to note if you don’t shave every day is that you’d be better off using a chainsaw or angry dog to remove three-day growth than a cheaper electric razor. If you want to stay smooth, without facial irritation, you simply MUST go high-end when electric razor shopping. Battery life is very good (50 mins on a full charge of its Li-Ion battery) but the sparse icon-based manual sucks and I’m not the only one to think so. But, hey, that’s small fry stuff compared to the Series 7 70’s insane ability to shave so amazingly close.
An electric razor needs break-in time—not for the razor, but for your face. If you’re switching from a manual to an electric, or even from one electric style to another, generally you’ll need to give your skin two weeks to adjust to the new tool. We couldn’t figure out exactly why this break-in period is necessary. Different sources give different answers, ranging from new-user error to the need to “train” skin as it adjusts from healing the scrapes caused by a manual razor to dealing with the pulling and shearing mechanisms of electrics.