As this title says: I bought a Philips Norelco Oneblade and I'm not sure I'm into it.
Let me explain why I bought it- I've been looking for an alternative head shaving solution to an actual blade that cuts closer and quicker then clippers. DE headshaving is nice in that it reduces irritation but it takes forever and I will occasionally cut myself. The headblade gave me ingrowns, an injector gave me ingrowns, even a Gillette guard shaving only wtg gives me ingrowns on my head and nape. Clippers don't cut close enough for me and take a long time, Wahl balding clippers still take a long time and will leave more cuts then a DE. I had a barber shave my head with an Andis profoil lithium and that resulted in the worst bumps on my head I've ever had!
Fast forward, I decided to try the Philips Norelco Oneblade today and it equally does and doesn't do what it advertises. I watched a ton of videos and read a ton of reviews before making this purchase and many people praised it's close, quick, comfortable shaves. I just charged it up for awhile (more on that in a moment) and proceeded to shave my head and face in the shower just like I would a razor. I decided to lather up with proraso green foam since it was a middle ground between dry shave and brush lather. Keep in mind for the purpose of this review that I bought it soley for head shaving but figured I would try it on my face this time anyway.
I shaved ATG with long sweeps vs short strokes as the instructions stated. I followed my face and head hair growth map that I've grown very familiar with to make sure I was going ATG everywhere.
This took me almost 30 mins to shave my head and face. Now, that doesn't seem long but that was only a single ATG pass of each. I had to keep buffing, keep relathering, and it still missed a bunch of hairs. The worst part is the ATG wet shave left more stubble then a single WTG pass with a gillette guard or even a cart.
Let's talk about two HUGE negatives with this product:
Battery- you have to charge it for 8 hours for 45 mins of use! That's insane! With the way my shave went today I'd get 2 shaves tops per 8 hours of charging.
Blade life- they advertise the blade lasting 4 months, a single replacement is $15, a 2 pack of replacements is $25. The 4 month timeframe is based off of 2 shaves per week! With how much hair this left behind, I would have to shave 2 times a day!
I have to leave a positive here somewhere so I can say that it did a better job on my head then my face (though the back of my next stung a bit when I applied aftershave and is a bit red) and it feels good in the hand.
To bring this to a close, I'm not sure I'll be keeping this razor. They say they offer a 45 day satisfaction guarantee and I may be taking them up on that.
I'll leave you with a few post shave pics:
My head-
My face-
And here's two close ups of the "blade"-
Let me explain why I bought it- I've been looking for an alternative head shaving solution to an actual blade that cuts closer and quicker then clippers. DE headshaving is nice in that it reduces irritation but it takes forever and I will occasionally cut myself. The headblade gave me ingrowns, an injector gave me ingrowns, even a Gillette guard shaving only wtg gives me ingrowns on my head and nape. Clippers don't cut close enough for me and take a long time, Wahl balding clippers still take a long time and will leave more cuts then a DE. I had a barber shave my head with an Andis profoil lithium and that resulted in the worst bumps on my head I've ever had!
Fast forward, I decided to try the Philips Norelco Oneblade today and it equally does and doesn't do what it advertises. I watched a ton of videos and read a ton of reviews before making this purchase and many people praised it's close, quick, comfortable shaves. I just charged it up for awhile (more on that in a moment) and proceeded to shave my head and face in the shower just like I would a razor. I decided to lather up with proraso green foam since it was a middle ground between dry shave and brush lather. Keep in mind for the purpose of this review that I bought it soley for head shaving but figured I would try it on my face this time anyway.
I shaved ATG with long sweeps vs short strokes as the instructions stated. I followed my face and head hair growth map that I've grown very familiar with to make sure I was going ATG everywhere.
This took me almost 30 mins to shave my head and face. Now, that doesn't seem long but that was only a single ATG pass of each. I had to keep buffing, keep relathering, and it still missed a bunch of hairs. The worst part is the ATG wet shave left more stubble then a single WTG pass with a gillette guard or even a cart.
Let's talk about two HUGE negatives with this product:
Battery- you have to charge it for 8 hours for 45 mins of use! That's insane! With the way my shave went today I'd get 2 shaves tops per 8 hours of charging.
Blade life- they advertise the blade lasting 4 months, a single replacement is $15, a 2 pack of replacements is $25. The 4 month timeframe is based off of 2 shaves per week! With how much hair this left behind, I would have to shave 2 times a day!
I have to leave a positive here somewhere so I can say that it did a better job on my head then my face (though the back of my next stung a bit when I applied aftershave and is a bit red) and it feels good in the hand.
To bring this to a close, I'm not sure I'll be keeping this razor. They say they offer a 45 day satisfaction guarantee and I may be taking them up on that.
I'll leave you with a few post shave pics:
My head-
My face-
And here's two close ups of the "blade"-