There are two popular types of Electric shavers in the market, Foil type and Rotary Head type.
The foil type has many holes on a metal head and the cutter rotates inside, as the shaver head is moved over the beard, the hair enters through the holes in the foil and the blade cuts them off. Most chinese makes available in the market are of foil type.
The other variety - rotary head type has round sections on the shaver head with a thin metal comb behind which are rotary blades, hair enters through the metal comb as the shaver is moved over the face and the rotating blade cuts them off. Philips shaver (called as Norelco in the US) come with rotary heads.
The price will range anywhere from 400 to 10, 000 depending on the features offered by the shaver. Features such as time remaining display etc do not add any value from the shaving perspective. There is no drastic improvement in the shaving performance with the increase in price. If you choose to buy one, go with a modest one, preferrably a washable(water proof) shave which will make cleaning of the shaver easier by just running tap water over the shaver.
Any shaver will easily cut the facial hair above the chin level, thats the easy part, the problemmatic areas would be getting a clean shave over the neck and the adams apple. Its always frustrating to have some hair left out inspite of moving the shaver head over and over on the same place.
This is where a rotary head shaver is better compared to the foil type.
There are many brands which have a wet shave feature, but these are more of a marketing gimmick, shavers perform optimally on a dry beard rather than wet.
I chose Philips as it is among the higher end electric shaver brand available in the Indian Market today. At around Rs 1900 HQ5710 as a product is value for money. It has two rotary heads.
I observed the following advantages of this product HQ 5710:
The shaving heads are floating type, meaning they can bend and adjust to the contour of the face as one moves the shaver up and down the face.
The other major advantage of this shaver is that it is water resistant and is washable, so cleaning the shaver is hasslefree, just open the head and clean the shaver and the metal head under tap water - as simple as that to get rid of all the hair. I believe washable shaver is a must have to avoid using the brush to remove hair accumulated in the shaver.
The other advantage is that the shaving heads are non-corrosive; meaning rust free, so daily use of water does not deterioriate the blades.
General tips:
One needs to buy a couple rechargeable (preferrably NiMH) AA battery which will last for about 2 weeks between recharging if used daily. Using the NiMH battery will ensure that the shaver gets a constant level of power for optimum performance.
User the shaver daily or max every 2 days. Its relatively easy to cut shorter stubble compared to shaving after the hair gets longer.
Would I recommend using an electric shaver ? Answer is NO. Main reason is I found shavers roughening and darkening the skin.
I wanted to try the electric razor out of curiosity. I have been using using Gillette razor for a long time (Sensor Excel and Mach3) I have no complaints, but had always toyed around the idea of using an electric shaver.
Using the shaver the first three weeks was like hell and there was burning sensation after the shave. I wanted to be patient and continue using it because I heard that it takes about 2 to 3 weeks for the face/skin to get adjusted to a shaver and then it gets convenient.
Three weeks turned into six but I was disappointed with the following aspects:
The shaver is being moved over dry skin, there is lot of friction, you are basically moving the shaver head against the direction of hair growth ie., upward motion to get the hair enter the rotary combs so that it gets cut. This tends to nick the skin at the base of the hair and ends up with burning sensation after the shave.
You have to move your hand/shaver head in circles over and over again at the same spot which results in skin irritation. I experienced even small pimples initially.
If you use the right razor (Gillette for instance) and wet your face before applying cream and lather your face well with shaving cream and make the hair ripe for cutting and move the razor downwards ( only in direction of the hair growth, not upward strokes), then the razor will simply glide over your skin and give you an excellent shave with least/almost no irritation.
Razors are undoubtedly better than shavers in the long run and good for the skin if used the right ways as mentioned above.
There are many who have reported a positive experience with electric shavers and it may in fact suit them, but I have switched back to good old Gillette razor system and happy with it.
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