It's Cool!

I purchased this Philips/Norelco Cool Skin 7737X razor about a week ago at a wholesale outlet for $45.00. It was in new, unopened packaging, and was not advertised as refurbished, although it very well may be for all I know.

A lifelong blade user and Gillette Mach3 Turbo and M3 Power customer, this is at least the 3rd electric shaver I have tried in vain attempts to rid myself of the blade once and for all. I think I may have FINALLY found the answer! For me, at least.

After unpacking the shaver, I read the instructions which say to charge the razor for 8 hours before first use. Apparently, the charger does not include an automatic shutoff or trickle charge, because it also instructs that you do NOT leave the razor on the charger for longer than 8 hours. Plug it in before you go to bed at night, unplug it the following morning. Shouldn't be too difficult.

I have used the shaver all week on the first charge, so my initial report on battery life is good. This shaver has a unique, integrated lubricant dispensing system which can dispense either Nivea for Men chamomile and vitamin enriched lotion or menthol and vitamin enriched gel using small cartridges that plug in to the back of the shaver using a reusable adapter. These lubrication cartridges are inexpensive. I figure they work out to about $1.00 each, and I am still on my first cartridge after 1 week of shaving. I think I used to spend at least $4.00 per month on shaving lotions with razors, so six of one, half dozen of the other.

There are a lot of things I like about this electric shaver, one of them being its ability to be used either wet or dry, at your bathroom sink or in the shower, whichever you prefer. When using at the bathroom sink, I prefer to wet the skin on my face first, and then apply some lotion to the area I am going to start with. Instructions indicate to apply lubricant frequently as you shave. It takes a small amount of getting used to learning to press the lubricant dispensing button and continue shaving all in one fluid motion, but I'm getting the hang of it.

After my first few shaves, there was a small amount of irritation on my neck. This irritation has lessened with each shave and now after only one week is almost non-existent. As far as shave quality, I can honestly say that this electric shaver is almost as good as a blade. I can't say that it matches blade shave quality 100%, but, the instruction manual also says that your skin may require up to 3 weeks to adjust to an electric shaver. When shaving with a blade, I used to shave with the grain, and then against the grain, which gave a super close shave. So there's some big shoes to fill.

Comfort, other than the initial neck irritation mentioned before, is excellent. The shaver works fine on dry skin with lubricant, but wet skin combined with the lubricant allows the 3 shaving heads to glide over your skin effortlessly, and the individually floating heads contour to my face perfectly. My wife noted that my facial skin seemed less irritated overall after using the Cool Skin shaver as opposed to my "old" blades.

Cleaning after a shave is easy. Just rinse the head under hot tap water for about 30 seconds after each shave, and once a week, pop the top open and rinse out inside as well, then place back on the stand with the lid open and allow to air dry. The instruction manual recommends replacing the shaving heads once a year, and from my pricing these run about $28.00. That's only about 2 8-packs of razor blades which I would easily go through in much less time than that!

So far, the only real cons I have noticed about this razor is that the L.E.D. above the power button is hard to see in a well lit bathroom. When plugged in to an electrical outlet, the L.E.D. glows green to show that it is charging. It is difficult to see unless you turn the lights off. The same L.E.D. blinks red when battery power is low. It would be nice if it were brighter and easier to see. This is an older model of the Cool Skin line, so maybe they've fixed this with the newer models.