Shavers.com - The Shaver Blog

June 22, 2010

Electric Shavers Are Boring

Filed under: All Shavers.com Blog Posts — Bogie @ 1:47 pm

Yes, it’s true. No, no, I can admit that. There’s no reason to feel sorry for us. Electric shavers ARE in fact, boring to talk about, much less blog about, and tedious to buy, use, repair and get replacement parts for. Why am I knocking my industry, you ask? It’s for the sole reason that these waters have become muddied, ladies and gentlemen. Muddied and dirty, and thinned out like a fine sheen now reflecting little rainbow reflections in the gulf of mexico.
The problem that has arisen is that at some point over the last ten years, a few non-shaver sellers out there (not mentioning names but the biggest one of them is named after a famous rainforest) decided that selling electric shavers to the great unwashed is an easy and profitable thing to do. The various “marts” also took notice of this and gave a rousing “yeah, we’ll do that too” to then be quickly followed by every little pissing electronics store who clunked a website together.

So what you now end up with is 4,575,862 different places to buy electric shavers. And of those 4,575,862 places, about three of them know enough ABOUT electric shavers to make even the most rudimentary recommendation to a buyer as to what will work best for them or who can tell said buyer which parts they need to keep it running (you guessed it, Shavers.com is one of them). Try going down to your favorite neighborhood “mart” and ask them which parts will fit the Braun series 2000 shaver. Chances are that you will be answered by some pimple-faced kid with a lot of “umms”, a glazed look and a thin trickle of drool down the chin. Mayhaps I even say that once said pimply kid recommended that the customer call Shavers.com for the answer, and then come back to the mart so that they could reap the rewards of the purchase. Shame on you, mart. Shame.

Now what is worse is the fact that the shaver manufacturers do not want to deal with 4,575,862 resellers of shavers who know nothing about their products other than the sku numbers (4,575,859 if you count out the three that do know something) so they made the decision to stop caring about resellers other than the marts. This is the main reason that really high-quality electric shavers are no longer trickling out of factories any longer. What you are left to choose from are generic, “techy” looking, plastic pieces of crap that do an okay kind of job, but rarely more than that. There ARE a few exceptions to that statement (to be fair) but the marts sure couldn’t tell you which ones are the exceptions.

The fact that 90% of what’s out there is crap, there are waaay too many companies selling them, not many know enough about them, and the fact that the average consumer grows more steadily frustrated with the many options and lack of knowledge regarding the product, I often wonder just what it will take the bring a once proud and innovative industry back from the brink. Maybe we can do it at Shavers.com, maybe not. But until someone does, electric shavers will continue to remain thoroughly dreary shadows of their former selves.

In other words, thoroughly boring.

May 19, 2010

Accelerated Nature

Filed under: A Better Shave, All Shavers.com Blog Posts — Bogie @ 1:46 pm

Yeah, yeah, so it’s been awhile since my last post. Sue me.

Okay, so I have taken the plunge and now took the reverse approach to fighting male pattern baldness by doing a complete 180 and shaving every last hair instead of trying to rescue the last few stragglers clinging to the sides of my head. If you have a full head of hair, have no plan to shave your head, or still refuse to accept that it’s your shiny head in the mirror, then you can stop reading here.

If you’re still reading then let me tell you this; if you want to take the plunge and use a buffer instead of a comb, then make one last trip to the barber. Tell him (or her) to take it all off down to the skin and have at it. All your worries are now over. And what do you do from that point on? Why, you use an electric shaver, of course!

Now, to clarify, the reason I told you to make that last trip to the barber is because an electric shaver will NOT take your long hair down to the skin effectively. You would most likely destroy the shaver. Another option would be to use your own hair clipper (buzzer), but unless you have one already it does not make much sense to spend $40-$100 for a one shot deal. So let the barber do it and then maintain your cranial smoothness with an electric shaver.

Which one? Thats the question now, isnt it? Topping the list in our test is, once again, the Braun Pulsonic series 7-70 or Panasonic Lamdash models, and the runner-up was the Remington MS680 model. The reason these shavers seemed to do better in tests than other models is solely based upon the fact that they have nice wide heads to cover a lot of surface area at once. This is not to day that they will shave your face better than others (see previous posts for all that info) as these tests for only for bald head shaving.

Now there are many that would say that shaving ones head with a blade is preferable to an electric shaver in that the shave will last longer. To be perfectly honest with you, I did not find that to be the case after testing both ways. When I was done shaving with the electric, I found my head to be just as smooth to the touch as when I shaved with the blade, and I also did not have any risk of cutting my head with the electric razor. Overall, shaving the cranium as well as the face with my Braun Pulsonic was a decent experience. It took no longer than shaving with a blade (and, to be fair, was no shorter on time either) and seems to be an every other day affair for myself, so while there is no longer any hairstyling involved, don’t think that your daily expenditure of time on your head is going to change all that much.

Oh, and lesson learned? Yeah, wear sunblock all over your head.

October 27, 2009

Bear vs. Bare

Filed under: All Shavers.com Blog Posts, What's New, Which Shaver Is For Me? — Tags: , — Bogie @ 3:02 pm

Ever been accused of wearing a sweater to the beach?

Got more hair on your back than you do on your head?

Cant see the tree for the forest in your pants?

Thus comes the staring into the mirror and the great conundrum of balancing out the acceptance of what God gave you and the extreme “manscaping” going on in more “beachy” areas of our great nation. Where do you stand? Smooth or sasquach?

Ultimately, just like shaving our faces, men have limitless possibilities with incremental hair removal. Luckily, we also have many possibilities in which we can accomplish these trim-or-not-to-trim options. For instance, the personal groomers section of Shavers.com has many such products that will ultimately accomplish the same thing, but matters of personal taste and comfort definitely jump to the front of the line here. Lets explore a few options.

Surprisingly, Norelco has had such a machine out for years now, with the BG2020 Men’s Body Groomer Trimmer/Shaver and it has enjoyed great popularity and steady sales for men (and women) doing a little body, leg, lawn mowing. We’ve also found this unit good for head shaving. It’s also easy to hold and has a good design in the shaving head configuration.

Braun has thrown itself into the body-shaving arena by coming up with the BodyCruzer Men’s Body Groomer that looks to this webmaster that while it may work well, it looks a little “dangerous” for trimming/grooming/thatching “certain areas” of the male body. (Hey, what do you want from me? This is a family blog.) However the trimmer on the other business end of this unit certainly looks like it’ll do the job on the rest of the body.

Remington has a body groomer that seems to be more geared toward shaving ones back called, appropriately enough,  the Remington BHT600 Body and Back Groomer. While the doohickies on this thing allow it to supposedly extend to the point where you could shave your back, I for one cannot see how you could know that you managed to cut every hair without seeing behind you. I guess you could do the double-mirror thing, but seems a little iffy regardless. What’s nice about this unit thought is that it comes with lots of different heads for getting the job done.

Our recommendation? Now you know better than that. Those of you who read this blog know perfectly well that we always say that not every shaver is for every man, and any of these units did pass the strength tests for trimming body hair down–a whole different ball game than facial shaving and beard trimming–so at least the choice is only amongst 3 instead of 30.

As far as should you or shouldn’t you? Well, if you ask me…let HER decide. Just whatever you do, clean the hair up off the floor when you’re done. She will not appreciate the unexpected fluffy bath mat that you create.

Shavers.com

August 27, 2009

The Sky Is Never The Limit

Filed under: All Shavers.com Blog Posts — Bogie @ 11:32 am

Just when you thought the teetering economy had lashed all pricing down to unbelievable  savings for consumers.

Just when you thought that manufacturers and retailers were so desperate for your business, they would forgo all profit just to get you shopping.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.

Da-dum, Da-dum!

You were wrong…

Because Panasonic is proud to introduce, TADAAA! The new ES-LA93-K Model Wet/Dry shaver with “ultra-thin vibrating outer foil, nanotechnology, 4-blade, multi-flexible active head, and fast, linear motor drive”! Oh, and it’s black–in case that matters.

Yes, the good folks at Panasonic are soon to come out with their latest stake in the vampiric heart of the shaver industry with this new, war-of-the-worlds spacecraft look-alike (see below) and decided that despite the eviscerated economy, they would price this new machine at, what? A whopping $400.00.

Yes, you are reading correctly. They put the suggested retail price at Four Hundred Dollars!

Now, lets all pop the nitro pill under our collective tongues and get up off the floor and look at this. There must be a reason, right? This must be the end-all of all shavers! Maybe something in the description tells us. Shall we break it down?

  • Ultra-thin vibrating outer foil- okay, thin is good when it comes to foil technology, but “vibrating” is something Braun first came up with in the early 2000’s called the “activator”.
  • Nanotechnology - Sure sounds impressive. Everyone reading this blog should give a call to Panasonic (800-211-7262) and ask them what “nanotechnology” means in regard to their shaver line. Seems to indicate that something is very, very small and first became popular as a word during the many uses in “Star Trek - The Next Generation”. Too bad the price tag never utilized nanotechnology.
  • 4-Blade - Okay. Maybe the addition of that 4th blade cost an extra $200. Hmmm.
  • Multi-Flexible Active Head - In other words, it pivots like just about every other Panasonic, Braun, Norelco shaver on the market.
  • Fast, Linear Motor Drive - Panasonic shaver motors are among the fastest in the world today. That’s why most of their shaver line sounds like dentist drills. But I seriously doubt they could be made much faster. Especially since it is not the speed of a shaver, but the torque, that gives you a better shave. Oh, and linear just means “back and forth in a straight line”. Again, a moot point considering every foil shaver on earth is technically linear.

es-la93-k4

So there you have it! The worlds first $400 electric shaver. Are we going to test it? Oh yeah. Are we going to sell it….well, we’ll probably carry it. Lord only knows if one will ever sell. We will DEFINATELY keep you posted.

Shavers.com - your only ultra-thin, vibrating, nanotechnology shaver website.

July 30, 2009

Two Out Of Three Aint Bad

Filed under: A Better Shave, All Shavers.com Blog Posts, What's New, Which Shaver Is For Me? — Tags: , , , — Bogie @ 9:59 am

It’s finally happened.

The heavens have opened. Pigs are flying. Snowballs are not melting in hell.  All that and the fact that Shavetronics finally has another shaver ready for sale. The first attempt came out pretty good with the Weekender double-head pocket rotary shaver. Then there was the disaster of the ST-50 single-head cord model shaver–there will be no need to rehash that here. But now, finally, another success with the “soft launch” of the new ST-100 universal (110-220v), Intercontinental Rechargeable Shaver.

Hallelujah.

What’s the skinny? Well first and foremost what must be said is that this is a POWERFUL shaver. It’s like a freight train across your face so the first piece of advice we are offering with the sale of this unit is to please us a gently touch with this razor. Pressing hard against your face with this machine will dramatically reduce the lifespan of the foil and cutter, and in some cases cause razor burn. Dont press hard.

Another thing we are proud of is the single unit foil/cutter/headframe combo for replacing the parts. Oh sure, you can take the foil and cutters out individually if you want to, but we will be selling the entire unit as a combo to make the swap as easy as possible. And yes, the headframe is one solid unit of metal. Yes, a metal headframe. Try damaging that by tapping on the sink. You’ll break the sink.

The shaver comes with everything you need to get going, so if you are looking for a simple, powerful, easy-to-use shaver with minimal bells n whistles and at a great price, then the Shavetronics ST-100 Shaver is for you.

Available now on Shavers.com.

July 8, 2009

Quit Pushing!

Filed under: A Better Shave, All Shavers.com Blog Posts, Shaver Maintenance — Tags: , — Bogie @ 1:39 pm

Yeeouch! You scream as the head of your electric shaver burns against your face, the tiny hole that appeared as if by magic snaring a chunk of skin and leaving you with a scratch/nick/burn on your face that really should not be hurting this much considering its size. You, my friend, have to replace that screen (foil) or suffer further consequences of the ever-growing hole.

Sound familiar? If not, sounds awful, right? Yeah, we know and it happens. Usually after about a year of so we all get the little foil holes that signal a few days of scruffy face while we hunt down or wait for the delivery of a new foil and cutter set. But what about those of you that just bought a new set? Why are you getting a hole in your foil after three months of use? This is getting expensive, right?

While there are many possible reasons that damage can develop on a foil (improper cleaning, banging on the edge of a sink, improper placement of a protective cover, etc…) the most common culprit is the simple fact that most of you (us) push way too hard on your face while shaving. Yep, gone are the days when the strain of two-handed pressure against your face caused neck trauma just in order to get a good shave. With shavers today, a lighter touch will give better results.

It makes sense if you think about it–heavy pressure will force the rapidly oscillating (or spinning–sorry, Norelco) blades to rub up against the inside of the foil day after day. Heat and friction are the surefire enemies of the shaver foil and cutter, and by shaving this way–you’re giving both.

So the advice is–ease up, man! Relax, loosen the sphincter and apply calm, gentle pressure against your face. Let the shaver do the work.

Otherwise, you can just buy a gross of shaver heads from us and replace as necessary. Yeah… we’d like that.

May 20, 2009

Sereez Three dash thReEseveNty

Filed under: All Shavers.com Blog Posts, What's New, Which Shaver Is For Me? — Tags: , , — Bogie @ 12:59 pm

The first round of new Braun shavers have landed with a resounding “thud” at the doorway of Shavers.com. The new “series-3″ shavers, as they’re called, promise a whole new experience of good shaving fun for all us unbearded boys.

Yeah, right.

Y’see, there’s a problem. Now I hate to start off resoundingly negative, especially when I have yet to touch of those new beauties to my face as of yet. The problem started even before the shavers went into production. As many of you may have noticed, for some reason the Braun company (aka P&G) feels that there are far too few numbers in the universe and therefore must reuse them continuously and promote mass confusion in those who have bought a Braun shaver prior to…well, today. 

While this new line has many of these examples, let’s focus on one in particular. A shiny new example called the “Braun Series 3-370″. Sounds simple enough, right? It’s a series 3 shaver and it’s the 370 model. What’s the problem?

The problem is that up until about a month ago (as of this writing) the Braun series 3-370 was a completely different shaver. It was a shaver that used to be called the model “5885″ which was changed to “series 3-370″ in order to conform to the new naming and numbering system that the young suits at Braun are all frothed up about.

Confused yet? No? Don’t see the issue here? Wait…it gets better.

You see, the “old” series 3-370, formerly the 5885, takes a foil and cutter set called the “5000/6000 series”. Why? Because when it was still called the “5885″, that made perfect sense to all the existing Braun customers and shaver sellers. 5885=5000 series, and it was good. But then the name was changed to include the words “series 3″ which said to existing Braun customers that it must be the 3000 series foil and cutter set that fits that shaver. That would only make sense based on the way Braun did their numbering system for the past 60 years, right? Wrong. Not anymore.

So what do we have here? We have a brand new “series 3-370″ that just came out to replace the old “series 3-370″ that uses a different foil and cutter set (not yet available for sale) that has no relation to the old (5885) model, that comes either with or without a clean & charge system, and no way for the poor customer to officially differentiate the models they have for the purpose of purchasing parts.

OH! And did I mention? The number “370″ also refers to a Braun pocket shaver that is still out for sale today, but has been officially been renamed the “P70″, despite that there are literally thousands of Braun 370 pocket shavers out there with the little “370″ imprinted on them. What fun!

All summed up, my fine fellows, this is a mess. And not just some crumbs on the table, mind you. We are talking mud on the celling, lost all control of the hose, dog ate the ex-lax kind of mess that makes you want to just suck the thumb and cry for awhile. We’ll do the best we can on the website to keep the confusion under control, hopefully Braun will learn from mistake backlash they’re going to get from all this. Maybe.

May 1, 2009

Electric Shavers and Shaving Green

Filed under: All Shavers.com Blog Posts, Shaver Maintenance — Bogie @ 11:37 am

Yeah. Everyone is trying to be “green” now. Minimizing that carbon footprint. Giving back to the earth. All that good stuff.

Okay, so what about shaving with an electric shaver and keeping green? I’m sure there are plenty of “do-gooders” out there who will insist that unless you are shaving with a whittled-down piece of sharpened bamboo and a facefull of plant-fat based lather, then we’re doing harm to the planet. And maybe in some way that’s true due to the components of an electric shaver: plastic, metal, batteries and motors can all be pollution contributions to the environment.

But, let’s look at this another way. The alternative to an electric shaver is some form of blade razor–the most common of which is a plastic disposable razor that is tossed out after a few uses (those of you whittling a piece of bamboo need not read further). Now THAT is pretty bad for the environment too, because the problem with recycling those little blade heads is separating the little metal blade strips from the plastic housings. That presents a difficulty for a recycling company and therefore usually results in the old landfill option.

Now an electric shaver, while composed of many different components of plastic, metal, rubber and other “stuff”, offers a greener comparison due to the fact that the typical electric razor lasts anywhere from 3-10 years. Just imagine how many disposable razors get tossed out in that amount of time from a single user. Getting the picture?  Components of an electric shaver are easily separated from one another with the removal of a few screws in order to break the machine down for recycling.

Now sit down, all of you now screaming into your computer screen that Ni-Cad and NMH batteries are located within most shavers and are highly toxic when they leak out into the environment. Yes, I know, I know. BUT do keep in mind that most electronic stores and many gas stations do offer to take used batteries in for recycling at no charge to you. And the removal of those batteries is, in most cases, as easy as two snips of a pair of household wirecutters or even as easy as a good hard pull.

Now some of you may ask; “But who the heck is going to take the time to break down an electric shaver for recycling?”

The unfortunate answer, for the moment, is not many. But the solution to that problem is simply a matter of getting used to doing something. I’m sure that many years ago people thought it a great inconvenience to separate paper from plastic from metal in their household trash, but now it is second nature to many of us. Is it so much to ask to disassemble an electric shaver once every 3-10 years? How long could it take–five to ten minutes? Shame on you, those who think that too much of an inconvenience.

With good intention, a little extra effort and a screwdriver, we can all use our electric shavers knowing that we are contributing to the health of our planet. Happy green shaving.

www.Shavers.com

April 27, 2009

Now Accepting Paypal and Google Pay

Filed under: All Shavers.com Blog Posts — Tags: , , — Bogie @ 9:17 pm

Shavers.com now accepts both google Payment and Paypal in addition to the usual methods of payment- Visa, Master, Amex, Discover.

April 17, 2009

What Determines The Price Of A Shaver?

Filed under: All Shavers.com Blog Posts, Which Shaver Is For Me? — Tags: , — Bogie @ 9:30 am

Unfortunately there are many different factors that determine the price of a shaver (other than unscrupulous things like price gouging or selling loss-leaders).  Everything from where the shaver was made (Germany, US, China, etc…) to the features, functionality and accessories it contains (cleaning systems, pulsing head frames, water-cleaning, etc…) to the company name which many people associate with levels of quality (Braun draws a higher shaver-quality rating than Wahl, for instance).

For the average consumer I recommend staying along the lines of what has worked for you in the past, carefully consider “bells and whistles” if you don’t really need them, and understand that when considering the lower-end machines that you do get what you pay for. Really.

Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress