Being an old-fashioned sort of a person, I don't really get on with electric razors and prefer to use the traditional manual kind. For the most part I stick to Wilkinson's own brand of twin-blade razors, which give me a decent shave at a low price. However, the other day I found that my local branch had entirely sold out of them, and I wasn't particularly keen to pay a substantial premium for the next model up. So, I walked the short distance to the nearest supermarket and picked up a packet of Bic razors instead. These were marked as "sensitive" (so I'll try not to upset them here...) and came in a pack of 10 for a mere 99p.

The packet is... orange. So are the razors, though the head is in a contrasting white. This has of course been Bic's signature colour for decades, and it's certainly distinctive, but it also looks rather less than modern and upmarket these days. Admittedly nobody who is obsessed with the appearance and form of their personal grooming products (as they probably call them) is likely to be buying such basic razors in the first place, but even I have a marked preference for the calm navy blue of my usual Wilkinson's examples. However you look at these Bic razors, they're just not terribly attractive to behold.

More importantly, they're single-bladed razors, something that only really registered when I took the first one out of the (very plasticky) bag. Although I have little patience for the increasingly silly game of one-upmanship played by some of the large companies when it comes to blade count - I'm looking at you, Gilette - I do genuinely feel that twin-bladed razors give a nicer, closer and more comfortable shave than those with just one cutting edge. These Bics therefore seemed to hark back to an older time when it was almost thought to be "unmanly" for a gentleman to consider such things as whether his razor might feel *nice* on his skin.

All that said, if you're careful and appreciate that you need to apply a slightly different amount of pressure on your skin to that which you would with a multi-bladed razor - because the Bics naturally cut slightly less closely - you can still get reasonable results from these things. As their "sensitive" label suggests, those who suffer from lumps and bumps with other razors might give these a try; after all, at least some of those problems can be caused by *too* close a shave! However, I do think it's a bit of a shame, though entirely expected at this low price, that the head is fixed, as a swivel head that follows the contours of your face can be a real boon.

Assuming Wilkinson go back to selling my usual type of razor, I don't intend to switch to the Bic model for good. The twin-blade setup suits me more than the Bics' single blades do, and I also find them more comfortable in the hand than the terribly light Bics. However, they do work and for those who have skin irritation caused by too-close shaving (although a genuine possibility, this is not something razor manufacturers like to talk about!) they could be just what you're looking for. Just don't try to shave dry with one of these, as I did as a naïve young teenager. You'll only do it once, but my goodness you'll know about it!