Yo, so this is part two of an experience on five blade razors. The razor today was the Schick Hydro 5 with the fancy handle on a day's worth of growth. I'm going to share my experience across several categories. If you are brave, read on.
Product appearance and feel: The product itself was a handle that promised some kind of pressure compensation mechanism. I found that I did not care too highly as this to me made the razor feel cheap. Grip was okay. There was a lock to turn the compensator off but the handle still felt wiggly. The razor head had its standard five blades with raised bars on the blades (Something to do with raising the skin) and the head was open on the front and back for easy rinsing. Very good feature here. Blade pivot was adequate but cheap feeling. Attaching the blades is a chore in minor tediousness to avoid breaking the cheap plastic prongs that hold the razor. Overall for this category: 3/5
Shave Experience: Shave experience was pretty sub-standard for this razor. A few minor tugs, but this was easily solved with a rinse. Rinsing this razor in practice was hit or miss as I needed to rinse the razor several times under running water whereas I normally use a sink-full of water to rinse out the razor via swishing it. This was not something I liked. The razor had an odd gel reservior that is supposed to assist in providing superior lubircation to a standard lube strip. This feature turned me off to this razor as the gel took a while to finally take effect and afterwards when it did, the gel left a slimy afterproduct on my face that I particularly did not care for. The rinse between passes was particularly time consuming with this nasty slime.
The razor overall did not meet my criteria for saving time with one pass for a day's growth. The razor was only marginally better than the two blade disposables I've been using. (If it has so many blades, it should reduce the passes I have to do. Not worth the money.) Overall for this category: 2/5
Final thoughts: This razor is a piece of crap in terms of the results, features, and price. Five blades in general are only marginally better than two, with a wide gulf in price. This razor has gimmicky handle features that add failure points to an already poorly built handle billed as part of their premium razor line. Overall, stick with what you have, this razor is garbage.
Product appearance and feel: The product itself was a handle that promised some kind of pressure compensation mechanism. I found that I did not care too highly as this to me made the razor feel cheap. Grip was okay. There was a lock to turn the compensator off but the handle still felt wiggly. The razor head had its standard five blades with raised bars on the blades (Something to do with raising the skin) and the head was open on the front and back for easy rinsing. Very good feature here. Blade pivot was adequate but cheap feeling. Attaching the blades is a chore in minor tediousness to avoid breaking the cheap plastic prongs that hold the razor. Overall for this category: 3/5
Shave Experience: Shave experience was pretty sub-standard for this razor. A few minor tugs, but this was easily solved with a rinse. Rinsing this razor in practice was hit or miss as I needed to rinse the razor several times under running water whereas I normally use a sink-full of water to rinse out the razor via swishing it. This was not something I liked. The razor had an odd gel reservior that is supposed to assist in providing superior lubircation to a standard lube strip. This feature turned me off to this razor as the gel took a while to finally take effect and afterwards when it did, the gel left a slimy afterproduct on my face that I particularly did not care for. The rinse between passes was particularly time consuming with this nasty slime.
The razor overall did not meet my criteria for saving time with one pass for a day's growth. The razor was only marginally better than the two blade disposables I've been using. (If it has so many blades, it should reduce the passes I have to do. Not worth the money.) Overall for this category: 2/5
Final thoughts: This razor is a piece of crap in terms of the results, features, and price. Five blades in general are only marginally better than two, with a wide gulf in price. This razor has gimmicky handle features that add failure points to an already poorly built handle billed as part of their premium razor line. Overall, stick with what you have, this razor is garbage.
