I’ve had a bit of a problem with razors lately.
The refills for disposable razors like the Gillette Mach 3 are pricey as hell, and cheap disposable razors are a mixed bag. I’ve used disposable brands that leave my face feeling smooth one week - sliced and vulnerable the next.
My proposed solution to this dilemma was to go the electric route – again. I’ve been through this cycle before, but it never ends well.
The strategy was to buy the second most expensive electric razor WalMart sells, so that I wouldn’t feel so bad if it wasn’t a complete success (…glad I didn’t buy the $180 one!). At least I gave it a go with a “quality” electric.
Like all electric razors, this one doesn’t give me a clean shave; it chews my beard slowly, as though my face were being pecked at by hungry lorikeets. When I’m finished (usually due to exhaustion, rather than completion) – my beard looks only slightly less mangy than when I started.
But what really boils my balls is Braun’s insistence that I clean this razor every single day using its patented “Clean and Renew” technology. This is a four-hour process that requires purchasing a cartridge filled with a proprietary fluid which runs dry every 30 days. You can get them at Target for about six bucks each, but they sometimes go for double that. The instructions discourage cleaning the razor manually. Well, of course they do – how else would they get you to shell out six bucks a month on replacement fluid? (The fluid, by the way, smells like rubbing alcohol and lemon juice, but the Braun documentation says it also contains oils to lubricate the gears).
The razor fits snugly in the cleaning unit, and the process – as I’ve noted – takes four hours. That’s roughly a few minutes of the razor loudly buzzing away as it’s immersed in the cleaning fluid, and the rest of the time spent presumably drying off. The razor does smell factory fresh when you remove it, I’ll give them that.
The Golem's Verdict:
