Removing unwanted body hair has been a part of human hygiene since the dawn of history. Over the centuries, this practice has served to denote everything from high-ranking social status to acts of contrition. And as the tradition of shaving has evolved in step with global culture, so too have the tools of the trade.
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In the competitive electric razor market it’s more than just the number of blades that makes one model better than another. For example, Panasonic’s new ES-LV65-S packs a five-blade cutting system, but that’s not why those of us with impossibly thick beards will want one. The razor’s also got a built-in sensor that detects the density of stubble on your face and automatically adjusts the motor’s speed so the blades easily hack their way through.
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I was at a friend’s house the other day and I noticed that she and her roommates all use electric toothbrushes. There were three of them charging in a row on the windowsill. With all the electric razors, bathroom scales, hairdryers and weird electric face cleansing scrubby things out there I started wondering if I should be smart-primping too. What are the advantages to plugging in? Go through your morning routine below.
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If you’re absolutely fanatical about keeping the lines of your beard or goatee clean and symmetrical, you probably tossed your old razor after seeing that Philips is introducing a trimmer with a built-in laser-projected guide. The StyleXpert Beardtrimmer 9000 takes your obsessive grooming routine to the next level; you’ll just want to be careful trimming your eyebrows.
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If you’re taking your first steps out into that brave new world of electric razors, with all the various features and price points, it can all be a bit bewildering. The Philips Norelco Click & Style is for newbies, with everything you could need to start, and nothing more confusing than that. More »
The Bonsai is gadget with a soul, one that hopes to make a global difference by changing the way we go about an activity many do on a daily basis. It’s a shaving accessory, and it’s being funded via Indiegogo right now, with creator Craig Battin and his team looking for $125,000 to turn their final prototype into a production shipping device.
The Bonsai is a razor rinsing device, one that can save up to 99 percent of the water the average person uses rinsing out their blade under a running tap. It’s essentially a cup, one that you fill with a set amount of water at the beginning of your shave, which then creates a spray via high-pressure circulation of water. It also filters out hair and other debris, which you can then dump when you’re done.
Battin explained via email that growing up in Las Vegas, the need to conserve water was ever-present, hence his fascination with this problem in particular.
“I can remember driving over Hoover Dam with my family on the way to Arizona and seeing the “bathtub ring” of Lake Mead grow and grow, and it was very alarming to me,” he explained. ” At the most severe point in the ongoing drought, I believe the lake level had dropped by 120 feet. When I joined the workforce after college, I was forced to shave frequently, and I was always bothered by how much water I wasted each day. That was the genesis.”
While the water conservation aspect drove the Bonsai’s initial development, Battin and his team quickly turned their attention to other areas of concern. These prompted the design of the filter to get rid of gunk that can clog drains, especially with daily shaving, and also the way the Bonsai actually blends your shaving cream with the rinse water as you go to create a solution that’s easier on your face since it’s oiling your razor as you go. The project will also offer an oil that you can use in combination with the Bonzai to enhance that effect. Battin explained that too much attention has been focused on razors, hence the lack of forward movement in terms of changes to the way we actually shave.
“It seems like we’ve been riding this trajectory where the only feasible innovations involve the physical razor or the blades, so you end up with things like vibrating handles and lethal 6-blade cartridges,” he said. “I think the lack of disruption has everything to do with where the focus has been, and the fact that consumers really don’t have many alternatives.”
Of course, the Bonzai also saves money by saving water, and Battin claims, by extending the life of your razor blades. It’s powered by a rechargeable battery and works both in and out of the shower. The gadget is available during the Indiegogo campaign for a pledge starting at $79, and the team estimates they’ll begin shipping devices by July 2013. If you’re a slave to the shave, as most of us likely are, you could do worse than to back this project and its aspirational goal of cutting down on the environmental toll it takes for us to clean up our ape-like faces and bodies.
Just because winter’s coming on doesn’t mean you have to go full-blown Grizzly Adams simply to keep your face warm (they have scarves for that). But if shaving foam and water are too much of a hassle every morning and the thought of having a stranger flick a six-inch long blade about your jugular area leaves you squeamish, a more modern approach to your manscaping needs is required. But with hundreds of varieties of electric razors on the market, which do you choose? More »
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