Rotary v foil electric shaver

Merlin5 · 19 Jun 2015 at 00:00

I think it's time for a new shaver. Because the shaver I have is discontinued and it's hard to know if any of the replacement blades available are genuine. My experience of foil shavers (years ago) was that the thin foils have torn and cut me, so I'm a bit wary of them. My current shaver is a 2 head rotary philishave HQ481 rechargeable, so I want something like it but there's only 3 head shavers these days. I keep mine in the car between charging as I often do quick shaves when out and about, but not when driving. So need something not too long or bulky. What is recommended around say £20 to £30?

George Hincapie · 19 Jun 2015 at 01:09

Is there a particular reason why you need to use an electric razor?

Merlin5 · 19 Jun 2015 at 01:22

George Hincapie said:
Is there a particular reason why you need to use an electric razor?

Been using electric all my life. Don't have time to faff around with manual shaving, plus I hate getting all those little nicks.

ci_newman · 19 Jun 2015 at 08:45

You only get little nicks when you do it wrong

Doing it in the car is probably out of the question though

Conversely, I have only ever done a wet shave - I've no idea what passes as a good electric shaver so I'll keep an eye on this thread too. Wet shaving every morning is tiresome

Raumarik · 19 Jun 2015 at 08:54

I alternated, ended up going manual route, more control and frankly wakes you up in the morning.

krooton · 19 Jun 2015 at 09:18

Foil for me (Braun 3 series) as my beard isn't overly thick.

Merlin5 · 19 Jun 2015 at 09:45

krooton said:
Foil for me (Braun 3 series) as my beard isn't overly thick.

Have you used it for long, does the foil ever break? There's some Braun series 1 rechargeables at a decent price between £28 and £38, the 150 and the 190. Do you know if they'd be good?

Metallifux · 19 Jun 2015 at 09:46

Never had a good electric shaver, tried both types. Maybe my beard is too coarse.

Eurofighter · 19 Jun 2015 at 09:51

I used to have a Braun and now a Philips. I prefer the Philips so rotary for me.

krooton · 19 Jun 2015 at 09:52

Merlin5 said:
Have you used it for long, does the foil ever break? There's some Braun series 1 rechargeables at a decent price between £28 and £38, the 150 and the 190. Do you know if they'd be good?

I've had this 3-series for about 3 years now, only replaced the foil and cutter last week (not because it broke, just because you need to every now and then)

I only use it fortnightly though, and sometimes I wet shave. It's convenient when I can't be bothered with the faff of wet.

SexyGreyFox · 19 Jun 2015 at 10:13

I've tried loads but basically been using Braun for 41 years however since I'm a very hairy person after I electric shave I go over it quickly with a dry razor shave with a Protector blade.
About every 3 years I have to change the foil after a little hole appears but at a cost of about £15 it's no hardship.

Haggisman · 19 Jun 2015 at 10:17

I tried (a good 10 years ago) a Braun foil - it was awful, think it left me with a good 1-2mm of stubble still... (was possibly using it wrong, but it put me right off!)

Would much rather a nice wet shave

krooton · 19 Jun 2015 at 10:27

Haggisman said:
I tried (a good 10 years ago) a Braun foil - it was awful, think it left me with a good 1-2mm of stubble still... (was possibly using it wrong, but it put me right off!)

Would much rather a nice wet shave

Horses for courses, my Braun foil actually gives me a closer shave than wet (unless I wet against the grain).

thep02 · 19 Jun 2015 at 13:21

Halfmad said:
I alternated, ended up going manual route, more control and frankly wakes you up in the morning.

In 3.5 decades of trying I've never found an electric shaver anywhere near good as wet shaving though in that time I've assessed that rotary is the best electric, I mostly go unshaven or beard these days.

Mason- · 19 Jun 2015 at 13:43

ci_newman said:
You only get little nicks when you do it wrong Doing it in the car is probably out of the question though

Conversely, I have only ever done a wet shave - I've no idea what passes as a good electric shaver so I'll keep an eye on this thread too. Wet shaving every morning is tiresome

Only time I ever nicked myself was when I was in a real rush. I used to use a phillips rotary thing and I by no means have a dense beard but it was rubbish. I spoke to my dad about wet shaving and he was pretty shocked they still sold that sort of stuff outside of specialists in barbers etc. So he got me a set for christmas and got himself a set and my electric shaver has sat on it's charging stand since christmas untouched :L

roadie · 19 Jun 2015 at 14:04

I've had the top of the range Braun foil for a few years now and use it daily. It's really very good. Certainly better than the mid range Philips shavers I have used previously.

Rroff · 19 Jun 2015 at 14:19

Never had a foil break on me but I prefer manually shaving. I'd probably go rotary though if I went back to electric - when I used one a few months back it gave just as good shave as the foil ones I used to use but with less irritation. (EDIT: I wouldn't try using rotary with more than a few days worth of growth though).

Cuchulain · 19 Jun 2015 at 14:20

Phillips 3 head rotary for me, wife bought me a Braun foil at Christmas and it takes twice as long to get a worse result.

Merlin5 · 19 Jun 2015 at 20:22

Hmm, think I'll probably go with a 3 head phillips rotary then.

semi-pro waster · 19 Jun 2015 at 20:30

Merlin5 said:
Hmm, think I'll probably go with a 3 head phillips rotary then.

I've got a wet and dry 3 head Philishave which sort of replaced an old Braun foil shaver and it's a lot better but still nowhere near as close for me as a wet shave with a Gillette Mach 3. The results are ok but you would need to shave more often as it doesn't get so close - the converse point is that it irritates less so it doesn't matter so much if you use it every day.