Best rotary-style electric razor?

April 13, 2012 4:04 PM

Dear face-shaving persons of MetaFilter, what is your preferred electric rotary razor? Mr. Sidhedevil has a tough beard and tender skin, and insists on using a rotary-head-style electric. The most recent AskMe on this was from 2010, so hoping there are some new good models out there. We're in the US, so it has to be available here.

He has tried a non-rotary foil style electric razor and hated it, and (this will probably surprise nobody considering that he is my husband) he is somewhat set in his ways and resistant to change, so if folks could stick to the rotary models only that would be a great help.

posted by Sidhedevil to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (4 answers total)

Best answer: I am a guy with a lot of straight (no curl or kink), coarse facial hair. I have to use a rotary electric when I'm in a "shave every day" phase because everything else tears up my face to a greater degree. I use a Philips Norelco 7310XL and it seems to work pretty well. It barfs on 2-day growth but I can skip a day here and there and still get the heads to cut ~95% of hair without too much pressure on my face. I still get occasional ingrown hairs given the tendency of electrics to cut hairs to a sharp tip.

If a look slightly closer to a 5 o'clock shadow were acceptable, I would use nothing but the cheapest Andis device with a T-blade. Glides well, cuts shorter than 1-day stubble, cuts hairs to a blunt tip, and is excellent for shaping sideburns/neckline.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 7:46 PM on April 13, 2012

Why doesn't he use a depilatory spray? He would benefit from not shaving as much and have a clean face for several days.
posted by parmanparman at 6:52 AM on April 14, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks for the excellent suggestion, parmanparman, but see above about "set in his ways." He has been shaving with an electric rotary razor for almost 40 years and just isn't going to make that dramatic a change at this point.
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:12 AM on April 14, 2012

Best answer: My husband also has the Philips mentioned above and I can vouch that it's a good one.
posted by cooker girl at 11:57 AM on April 14, 2012