Bananarama Would Have Loved it! (Gillette Venus)

Member Name: eca99ajm

Product:	Gillette Venus
Date:	14/07/01 (204 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Close Shave, Good Grip

Disadvantages: Expensive

Now, I must warn you, I have a bit of a thing about leg hair. To put it bluntly, I hate it and I hate the enormous amounts of time I devote to ridding myself of it. After a disastrous leg waxing debacle I immediately went out and purchased the Venus razor from Gillette as well as a tube of Nair Hair Removing Cream – an extreme reaction yes, but that should tell you how fed up I was! In the end, I haven’t even tried the Nair, because I’ve been so impressed with the razor…

I had always thought that there was no point in buying a ‘proper’ razor because they were exactly the same as disposable ones, just more expensive. Added to this the fact that I hated shaving (mainly because I usually took the top layer of skin off my legs as well as the hair) and I didn’t see the point. Well, I was wrong – there is a big difference and it is worth it…

I chose the Venus razor because (unlike a lot of the other razors in Boots) you could get the replacement blades with your Advantage Points. I trotted along to the counter, razor in hand and clutching my card only to discover that I would be able to get free Shaving Gel – I was a very happy bunny. My razor cost me £5.99 (or more accurately 599 advantage points) but it was on offer at 50p less in Superdrug.

There have been large amounts of publicity for this razor and it’s been touted as the super models favourite razor in the Sunday Time (not sure how they know or who they asked, but I’ll believe them!). It’s the one with the advert where (to quote my boyfriend) “all those women are waving their legs in the air”. It seems to have been the recipient of a huge marketing campaign, but is it worth it?

What do you get for your money…

You get the razor itself, along with two blades and a rather nifty storage device. The razor is supposedly designed especially for women (indicated by the funky blue
colour scheme – I give them two months before the start selling them in all the I-Mac shades!) and has a rubbery, ridged grip so you don’t drop it when your hands are slippery in the shower or bath. It does feel very comfortable to hold and I’ve found I have a lot more control over it that I used to have over disposables.

The heads have three separate blades supposedly to get a closer shave with less work (and therefore less irritation) and have cushioned edges so it’s harder to cut yourself. Unlike a lot of razors (especially men’s) it doesn’t have wire protection bits (sorry – don’t know the technical term!) but that doesn’t seem to make any difference to me. I have found that I get a very close shave but never cut myself like I used to with disposables. They also have a blue moisturising strip with Aloe and Vitamin E which fades when your razor is getting blunt. I’m not two impressed with this as I can’t see much of a difference in moisturising and I think you know when your razor blade needs changing without having to rely on a blue strip changing colour.

The case that the razor comes sat on can be fixed to your shower or bath titles with the included widget and inside you can store a maximum of 4 new heads for your razor. Swapping the blades is actually very easy when you get used to it. I had a bit of trouble changing the heads at first – on top of the razor there is a darker blue bit for you to push and it seems a bit stiff at first – I didn’t want to push too hard in case I broke it! Also when it does finally come off, the head of the razor moves at a fair speed so make sure you are changing it over a table!

The blades are very expensive in comparison to other disposable razors though at £5.99 for 4 blades. My biggest tip is to wait for friends or family to go to France. When they are picking up their wine at 95p a bottle, get them to pick up so
me blades for you. Just like in England they seem to be price fixed, but instead of being fixed at £5.99 theirs are fixed at 47.50 francs, which works out at about £4.50 for 4 blades. They are exactly the same, just with French packaging, and are a bit of a bargain. I imagine that they are sold at similar prices all over mainland Europe so keep an eye out for them on your holidays!

So why pick this razor?

Well I get a really close shave and the blades seem to last for ages unlike disposables (which I used to blunt on their third or fourth use). They aren’t messy like creams or wax and you get really smooth legs at the end of it. Obviously you still have put a bit of effort in, but much less that with razors with one or two blades, and I have found shaving much less of a chore that I used to because I don’t keep having to go over the same bits again and again. I am impressed and I will keep buying the blades (despite the expense) because it is far superior to disposables…

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