It is a long time since I posted last time here. I am still a wet shaver, and I still use my iKon X3 slant. I mostly stopped posting here, because i lost all interest in trying new razors, because I had found my RAD-killer. However, there are now some situations when I need an electric shaver. I am not going to describe those situations and instead I'll go directly to my problem. Many years ago, maybe around 2010 I tried an entry level Braun electric shaver. I found it to be really inefficient. I went over and over the same spot and still it did not remove the beard. The stubble didn't want to go through the holes of the foil. I am a red head with fewer beard hairs, but each hair is instead much wider and stronger. I suspect they are too wide to go into the tiny holes of the foil. I thew away that Braun shaver and was a 100% wet shaver until recently. About a year ago I tried a Philips rotary shaver. It got wider gaps in its rotary foils and kind of works, but it is irritating my very sensitive neck and it tugs and pulls unpleasantly in my beard. Now I am considering to replace this Philips with either Panasonic Arc 5, or a Braun 9 series shaver. However I am afraid i will have the same problem as in the past with my previous Braun. Which one of these got bigger holes in their foils?
I have a Braun Series 7. I think the foil on the Series 9 will be pretty similar. The holes in the foil seem to be rather small. That's fine for me, as I shave my legs with it, but I don't think it would suit you. I haven't seen the other brands you are considering, so I can't tell you anything about those.
@Engblom, have you considered the Remington foil shavers? https://www.remingtonproducts.com/products/shave-and-groom/electric-shavers/foil-shavers.aspx Some of them have a feature that pre-trims longer hairs, which they claim gives a closer shave. My old Remington TF300 electric shaver has lasted nearly 40 years, although it looks like it is about done. Even so, that is pretty well made to last that long, and it gave good to great shaves.
One thing about the Philips rotaries: In my experience, just brushing out the clipped whiskers isn't enough. I give my Philips a weekly cleaning as follows: 1. Take each cutter out of each comb, and brush them clean. Keep each cutter with the comb it came out of; they're a matched set. 2. Reassemble the head assembly, and then soak it in alcohol, swishing it around a bit 3. Air-dry the head assembly, then apply a spray lubricant such as Wahl Total Care 4. Reinstall the head assembly onto the shaver, put the cap on, and run it for five minutes to take advantage of the self-sharpening feature If that doesn't bring your Philips shave up to par, check on Amazon for some aftermarket heads for your Philips. They might be just different enough from your original Philips heads to work on your beard, and they'll cost less than the Philips heads, too. Failing that, I've found the vintage Remington XLR-600 Micro Screen shavers work great on my thick whiskers. They're easy to find on eBay for under US$20, and you can get replacement ShaverAid foils for these on Amazon for just US$9. I also use Afta Electric Pre-Shave lotion prior to my electric shaves. It does help, and works better for me than Lectric Shave.
