The grooming industry always keeps on growing, and the journey from manual razors to the modern day electric shavers show how much transformation men’s shaving has gone through.
Both of these shaving methods have large numbers of consumers who are reliant on their unique system for a daily grooming job.
Therefore, the debate is often heard at different parts of the internet or barbershops at your locality: electric shaver vs manual razor – which is better than the other?
In today’s article, you’re going to find out that answer. I will even compare a few shaving products to help you understand the differences in a more practical manner!
Contents
The Basics: Electric Shaver vs Manual Razor
Let’s discuss the basic differences between an electric shaver and a manual razor in this section. This should help you form a knowledge foundation which you’ll need to understand further.
Electric Shavers
There are quite a few types of electric shavers on the current market, each with their unique properties and features that consumers find desirable to satisfy their needs.
In short, I can categorize the devices as foil, rotary, hybrid and trimming shavers. All of these are run by a motor, powered using a battery these days. Time to highlight what each stands for!
Foil Electric Shavers
Foil shavers generally refer to an electric shaving tool consisting of foil rollers with holes in them. These holes guide your hair inside to be removed by the blades underneath.
It’s one of the safest methods to avoid direct skin to blade contact and get a very close shaving result in the shortest possible time.
There are numerous variants of foil shavers, ranging between single-foil designs up to five-foil devices. Whether more foils is better, it’s still up for debate.
But one thing is certain – none of the electric razors can cut so close to the skin as foil shavers do! Some of the most prominent foil electric shavers are as follows:
Braun Series 9 here has two foil units with two cassettes sitting down the middle. The Panasonic ARC5 has four foil elements and a cutting trimmer unit. These two electric razors are arguably the finest of them all in the present era!
BaBylissPRO FoilFX02 is quite minimalist in the cutting department – two double-offset foils covered with hypoallergenic alloy. It’s ideal for heavy-duty shaving and even to be carried around inside your pocket!
Rotary Electric Shavers
When it comes to rotary electric razors, the only thing you need to know about is comfort over skin during and after shaving.
These shavers generally cater to sensitive skins, therefore the irritation, ingrown hair or burning sensations are kept at a very minimal level.
Rotary razors place three circular rings in the shape of a triangle. You need to circularly animate the device on your shaving area to generate cutting actions.
Such devices have lower motor power to soothe your skin and trim off your beard at the same time. There are advanced features to guide your shaving animation and additional aspects to satisfy consumer needs.
Let’s take a look at some of the most prominent rotary shavers you could buy from the market:
Norelco 7200 is a perfect balance between price and performance. While there are newer models in the line, I found the 7200 to perform almost equally.
Norelco 5400 has similar shaving comfort and efficiency as the 7200 but doesn’t come with the advanced AI features.
Norelco 3800 is a very basic form of rotary shavers in the line that gets the job done within a very limited budget.
Hybrid/ Trimming Electric Razor
Hybrid shavers can be of different varieties, some with dual-ended design while others merge different elements of electric razors.
A lot of these electric razors or trimmers can be used for different grooming needs like body grooming, shaving your testicle and so on.
Such dynamic razors are crafted by various prominent brands, some of the products need to be highlighted for a closer inspection:
OneBladePro is a masterclass in electric shaving with its flat blade head able to trim off hair of any length. The closeness is acceptable, although not as refined as a foil razor.
The Bodygroom hosts a foil shaving head on one end and a trimmer on the other. While this device is generally used for body grooming, you may also shave your face using it.
Manscaped’s famous Lawn Mower 4.0 is the body grooming icon which extends its courtesy beyond your belt region.
Manual Razors
As per the manual razor category goes, there are tons of products on the market to choose from and most of them are very similar in terms of shaving outcomes.
These devices do cost less than electric razors during the first-time purchase, but the recurrent costs tend to compete with electric shaving, so that’s worth checking out.
If I must categorize, I can divide manual shaving into three unique types: Cartridge Razors, Safety Razors and Straight Razors.
Cartridge Razors
These types of manual shavers are the ones that look more premium than the regular ones. Cartridge razors are priced a little higher than regular manual tools because of the reusable handle.
You’ll only need to buy blade replacements and throw away the old ones. It causes less waste and allows you to familiarize yourself with one handle.
Also, some products let you swap between cartridges while using the same handle. Cartridge refills contain combo offers if you want to experiment with different blade or lubestrip types.
Here are a few revered cartridge razors from Gillette that are adored by their worldwide consumers:
- Gillette Mach3
- Gillette Fusion5
- Gillette ProGlide
Gillette Mach3 is the most basic variant among cartridge razors with three fine blades and thin lubrastrips. This is relatively more affordable than the rest of the two.
Gillette Fusion5 extends the three blade system up to five and renders a more efficient shaving experience.
Gillette ProGlide’s FlexBall technology allows the razor’s neck to move around more dynamically to better adapt to your contour, delivering a much closer shave.
Safety Razors
Safety razors are your old-school manual tools that are permanent grooming kits in your washroom closet.
These razors let you use a one-time blade to shave your beard, which generally requires a pre-shave routine and application of gel, foam or shaving lotion.
Such safety razors are going out-dated in the modern era, but quite a handful of consumers keep these as a pet peeve to uphold the traditional way.
Straight Razor
If you’ve been to a barbershop, you’ll know exactly what straight razors are. These too incorporate one-time blades for shaving your beard or neck area.
Due to the design, straight razors are meant to be used by someone else. The unique shape and grip allows the barbers to perform shaving actions on your face.
While straight razors produce the closest shaves, these are very risky and aren’t a solution for self-grooming individuals.
Pros and Cons: Electric vs Traditional Shaving
To grant ourselves deeper insight into the electric vs manual razor debate, we have to weigh the pros and cons.
Electric Razor and Shaving: Positives and Negatives
I’ll begin with electric razors, tell you why they’re so great as well as address the limitations which you should be clearly aware of.
Pros of Electric Shaving
Here are the positive sides of electric shavers:
- Time-Efficient: Electric shavers save a lot of time, from preparation, shaving action to the post-shave cleaning.
- Risk-Free: Good electric razors don’t cause cuts, tugs or pulls. These are risk-free and should allow you a bloodless grooming activity.
- Sensitive Skin-Friendly: Those with sensitive skin, electric shavers could be your best friend. Such tools are usually coated with anti-allergenic alloy and the design elements keep the skin separated from the blade’s vigorous cutting actions.
- Versatile: Not only electric razors can be used in both wet or dry modes, some models can even be used for your body grooming needs.
- Convenient: You won’t have to create a huge mess while using electric shaving tools. It’s fast, easy to use and can be utilized within minutes at any given location!
These are the most important positive aspects of electric shavers. I hope you can imagine the level of comfort you’re going to gain from using one such tool.
Cons of Electric Razor Shaving
For everything that is good, there’s bound to be things that are limiting. Therefore, let’s find out what are the downsides of electric razors and shaving with them.
- High Cost: You could already tell that electric razors are quite costly. It’s worth noting that most of that expense is staged at the buying phase.
- Requires Maintenance: Electric razors can demand maintenance tasks like thorough cleaning, lubrication and safe storage. However, some shavers are capable of self-cleaning, but the cleaning kit may cost extra.
- Less Close than Manual Razor: Yes, electric shavers do cut very close to the skin, but that sadly comes a little shy of manual shaving.
- Needs Recharge or Battery Replacement: Since electric razors need to run the motor, the source of power is a must. You may have to recharge the tool or change the battery depending on your model.
I don’t think these negative remarks on electric shaving are extravagant except for the primary investment part. But if you know how to pick the right electric razor for you, that could minimize all these downsides!
Manual Razor and Shaving: Upsides and Downsides
Since we’ve discussed the goods and the bads about electric shaving, I feel obligated to dissect manual shaving in the same manner in this section.
Upsides of Manual Shaving
Some electric shaving fans might not believe it, but there actually are some great benefits of using a manual razor. Want to learn what those are?
- Closer and More Precise Shave: Manual shaving does provide you with a very close shave, probably the closest. The cutting actions are precise and there’s little need for extra glides at each section.
- Cheaper Initial Investment: You already know that manual razors are very affordable, ranging between $1-$20, based on your preference.
- Available Everywhere: You may find a manual razor almost at any part of the world, inside local stores or online.
- Easy to Replace: To replace a manual razor, all you need is a replacement razor to throw the old one away. For cartridge razors, simply dispose of the blade head.
- Refined Control: Manual razors allow you a higher degree of control over your shaving actions. Barbers therefore use straight razors for more intricate cuts or refined designs.
These positives are certainly missing on electric shavers for the most part.
Downsides of Manual Shaving
Sadly, manual shaving has a long list of negative aspects as well, including risk factors or overall experience. We should investigate this more!
- Time-Consuming: Shaving with your manual razor isn’t a straightforward affair. You’ll need to invest your time at every occasion and that might be a problem for those in a hurry.
- Skin Risk: It’s very common for manual shaving to cause tugs or nicks at different parts of your face, especially around your neck. If not, irritation, burning sensation or ingrown hair are common phenomena grooming enthusiasts experience on a regular basis.
- Recurring Cost: Although the initial investment for manual razors is low, the recurring cost of replacement razor, cartridge, foam, gel or soap can be a lot to bear.
- Needs Extra Effort: You may have to situate yourself in an ideal location, apply a pre-shave routine before proceeding to shave with a manual razor. Also, this should be followed by a post-shave routine for your skin safety – quite a lot of effort if you ask me.
- Not Eco-Friendly: Lastly, manual razors aren’t eco-friendly. These products don’t decompose and not every country puts them through a recycling process, contributing to the harm of the environment in the long run.
So, the downsides of manual shaving are burdening to a large extent and these are some of the major reasons consumers are rapidly shifting toward electric shaving day by day.
Comparing the Key Factors: Electric vs Manual Shaving
Before we move toward the end, I am going to put the key factors of electric and manual razors side by side for a comparative understanding in one section!
| Factor | Electric Razor | Manual Razor |
|---|---|---|
| Time Efficiency | More efficient | Less efficient |
| Skin Sensitivity | Caters to sensitive skin | Not friendly for sensitive skin |
| Cost over Time | Less cost over time | Higher cost over time |
| Portability | Bulky, but don’t require additional accessories | Lightweight, but requires extra foam, gel, soap etc. |
| Maintenance and Durability | Durable, but higher maintenance | Not durable, but easy to replace |
To begin with, you can already see that electric razors save more time with fast-action grooming features than the strenuous scrubbing of manual razors. But manual shaving is more precise I must admit that.
But this one is unbeatable – electric shaving protects sensitive skin by a long shot over manual shaving, the latter being renowned for accidental shaving cuts.
Although electric shavers do cost a lot, at least compared to manual razors, did you know that over time manual shaving costs more?
Manual razors are tiny and easy to carry around, but you’ll have to bring along the pre-shave routine products, aftershave care utilities and additional accessories with you.
As per electric shavers, you may get away with just the device if it has a long battery, even surviving without the charger won’t be a problem!
Lastly, electric razors are durable and last a long time, but you must go through certain maintenance practices. These aren’t lengthy for all devices, so pick one that caters to your needs the best.
In this regard, manual razors are straightforward – shave, wash and store. And when the blades are dull, you can simply throw away the razor or the blade (if it’s a cartridge system) and bring on a new one.
Electric Shaver vs Manual Razor: Which One to Pick?
Still confused between which one to pick between these two types of razors? Let me break down the categories for you, it should help you make up your mind.
Pick an Electric Shaver if You:
- Have a busy schedule
- Prefer shaving convenience
- Are a beginner in grooming
- Have sensitive skin
- Travel very frequently
If any of the above categories describe your needs the best, then my friend, you’re in need of an electric shaver.
Pick a Manual Razor if You:
- Prefer a very close shave
- Like shaving the old way
- Have dense and thick-textured facial hair
- Are on a tight budget (short-term solution)
The above criteria will help you make up your mind whether a manual razor will fulfil your requirements more effectively!
Final Thoughts
We’ve covered a broad area regarding our electric shaver vs manual razor discussion. From the article, I hope you could learn the basic differences between these two modes of shaving.
On top of that, a few different shavers from each category have been brought to light to showcase their strong suits.
From the side by side analysis to the pros and cons dissection, I don’t think there’s anything more to add that’ll help you reach a verdict.
No matter what you pick – be that manual razor or electric shaver – make sure it’s the best for your skin’s health. Then you can prioritize the rest of the factors.