HFCS: effika’s blog

I love receiving free things in the mail. Recently I’ve received a couple of free razors: a Bic Mach-3 knockoff (for Jay), a Schick Quattro, and a Schick Intuition Plus. I can’t speak of the quality of the Bic, as I don’t believe Jay has used it yet. The Quattro, spoken of in a previous entry, is good enough that it might replace my (so old it’s no longer made) Venus. This afternoon I gave the Intuition a run.

The Intuition is a razor that comes with a “Skin Conditioning Solid ™” that is supposed to be a replacement for your normal shaving lubricant. Not having to use a separate lather should save shavers time and money.

I’m all about saving money. I barely spend anything on toiletries, except for shaving. A box of eight Venus blades is $15 and will last me 8 months, and on top of that I end up buying shave gel for $3 that will last me three months per can. I’m spending about $2.88 a month just to have comfortable legs that I’m not afraid to show off. Buying a box of 6 Intuition cartridges, assuming the same usage rate as normal blades, would only amount to approximately $2.83 a month. However, saving this nickel isn’t worth it.

The razor itself is extremely awkward to hold. The handle is gigantic in order to flow nicely into the huge Skin Conditioning Solid ™ that surrounds the blade. The rubber insets on the handle did very little in helping me control the razor. Usually it’s only water between my hand and the handle, but the soap-like Skin Conditioning Solid ™ worked its way onto the handle early on and was a menace for the rest of the shaving experience. Awkardly-sized handle + poor gripping surface + slippery substances = a rather slow shave.

The resulting shave itself wasn’t even that good. I’ve had closer shaves from razors I’ve been using for a month. I think the poor performance can mostly be blamed on the huge Skin Conditioning Solid ™. Because of its gigantic size, the blade can barely pivot at all. This lead to a number of nicks on my knees, and a poor shave on the rest of my legs. I also usually rely on the shaving gel to help lift my hair off the skin, but the design of this razor flattens it, making it harder to get a close shave.

The Skin Conditioning Solid ™ is not a very good lubricant. The first few strokes were not very easy to perform, but after the Skin Conditioning Solid ™ had been exposed to enough water it became smoother. An angle was also worn in the surface, which makes me wonder just how long this cartridge will last until the Skin Conditioning Solid ™ wears too low to be useful. As mentioned earlier, the Skin Conditioning Solid ™ eventually lathered up so much as to make it hard to hold the razor. The Skin Conditioning Solid ™ also dried my skin out like soap and left my legs stinging and itching while I shaved. I received the dry skin version; perhaps I would have had better luck with the sensitive skin formulation.

The one area where this failure of a razor succeeds is in the armpits. I really expected it to fail miserably, but here the Intuition made quick and easy work of a delicate area.

I don’t think I’ll be buying any replacement cartridges for this razor. Its supposed convenience is off-set by how poor a shave it gives.