The KING OF SHAVES! No nicks, no cuts, and these will last you an age!!!!!!!!!! (King of Shaves Azor Razor Warp)

Member Name: luigi0778

Product:	King of Shaves Azor Razor Warp
Date:	16/07/09 (217 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great value for money, shaves comfortably

Disadvantages: Overly complicated blade change, no base unit,

--Background--
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Rather unusually for this type of purchase, the thing that first attracted me to the King Of Shaves - Azor razor, was the price of the replacement blade cartridges. My ususal Gillette Razor the M3 Power, (which im in all honesty fairly satisfied with other than cost of blades), cost around £1.95 per blade, and the Azor's come in at around £1.22 per blade. Which is quite a considerable price difference.

That, and the fact the Azor head unit im reviewing here (with 3 blades) cost only £4.88 (at time of writing) made this package seem an absolute bargain.

I have to admit, that I was slightly nervous making this purchase, my only other experience of King Of Shaves, has been with the shave gels and oils, and not all of those have agreed with me. However the Azor shave gel, (the black one) did seem to work best for me, so I was hoping that using it in combination with the Azor razor as recommended (obviously I suppose) would be a winning one.



--First Impression--
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Well its actually very cleverly packaged, and marketed in my opinion. It looks pretty sophisticated in it's black colour scheme, and the design of the head part of the razor looks quite innovative and impressive with its sweeping arch. Pinnafarina would probably be proud of those design lines.

However, this illusion of quality and sophistication, soon vanished when I opened the packet.

OK, I absolutely hate over packaging, its a real bug bear of mine in fact. This however, was just far too minimal it lead to a huge anti-climax.

After opening the flimsy package, the whole Azor excitement wore thin immediately. I was just left holding a flimsy looking, razor. It just didn't have the quality or solid feel that something like a Gillette or Wilkinson Sword razor has. Also hello King Of Shaves, what am I supposed to do with the razor when im done shaving with it? Gillette provide a nice stand for their Razors, as do most of the others. What exactly did King Of Shaves provide? Absolutely nothing. Ziltch. A big Zero!

The next disappointment came with the blade cartridge. Now I am used to a very cleverly designed unit, which would allow me to change cartridge blades easily, maybe even with wet hands. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Azor razor is definitely not that beast. Its quite a fiddly, preposterous hit-an-miss affair. You have to somehow press down on a flimsy plastic node, whilst maneuvering with your other hand, the cartridge out and away from the head unit, all without slicing your fingers open on the blade.

Well I managed it, but not what I would call well designed or a slick operation.


--Shaving with the Azor--
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As most Razors do, the manufacturers kindly provide a written instruction on how to shave, and how to change the cartridge blades (although that bit is unclear).
An apparently the word "wetted" exists. "Make sure the beard is wetted well" or words to that affect. Oh well, live and learn I do.

The instructions also give out the usual, useful, but pointless advice of :
- Do not shave first thing in the morning.
When do they expect me to shave? at night? mid-morning? Do they expect me to come home from work and shave, because we can't first thing?

Personally I also, always ignore the shave with the grain advice. Although you do risk increasing any irritation, shaving against the grain does improve the end result.

Anyway, aside from my petty complaints and gripes, this razor actually does perform well. Actually not just well, its pretty damm good. Although it feels cheap in the hand, it does actually glide beautifully and effortlessly.

Its very comfortable to hold, its easily rinsed clean while shaving, and even on the "with the grain" strokes, it was noticeably biting into the stubble growth and leaving a smooth finish. Five or so minutes passed, and I still had no appearance of red or sore skin, despite shaving against the grain.

I used the cartridge blade about 5 times, before swapping over to a new one. I expect though I could have got a few more comfortable shaves out of it. An certainly if you do not have thick stubble, you could be looking at as many 8-10 shaves from each blade.

All in all I was quite impressed with its performance.


--Summary--
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This is probably not the best razor in the world, in terms of the effort which has gone into designing the attachment for the cartridge blades. It is definitely a "must do better" verdict.

Also its fair to say, it does feel like a cheap razor, and it does not come with any kind of stand for keeping it out of harms way.

However, it does do a job, and it is great value. In my opinion with a few design tweaks this would be a serious contender, and would live up to its manufacturer's name of the "King Of Shaves".


****UPDATED 4 WEEKS LATER!!!****

Since I have now been using these for over a month, I felt an update was in order. Actually alot of my earlier miss-givings have gone. I have got used to the flimsy feel, I actually now appreciate the light weight design.

The blades are easily changed, if you "click" them in straight from the cartridge holder. Still fiddly if you man handle them in, as I was trying. However, still slightly an imperfect design in my view. It is usable though, and easy to become accustomed too.

The most impressive feature though, and has resulted in me changing this to a 5 STAR rating, is the blades durability. I initially was changing blades after about 5-8 usages, what a mistake! I have found I can comfortably use them for at little over two weeks, which is over 12 shaves!

Given that these are also cheaper than Gillette blades which I previously used, AND last longer, these are outstanding!!!!

Summary: A cheap feel, takes a while to get used too, but an otherwise excellent razor!