Braun cruZer Electric Shaver

by Carl
(PermanentHairRemovalTips.com)

I bought the Braun cruZer 3-in-1 electric shaver to replace a Philips 3 rotary head electric shaver which had worn out. My old Philips shaver wasn't charging well anymore and the 3-head attachment was falling apart. Rather than buying a new shaver attachment I figured I might as well buy a brand new shaver.

Plus because I have a goatee, I figured that I'd get a model that could not only shave my face but had a built in beard trimmer and goatee trimmer. That's why I picked the Braun cruZer.

After using this product for about 6 weeks, I'm reminded of why I switched to a Philips rotary head shaver about 10 years ago and I now wish I'd stuck with a Philips product instead of getting this Braun product.

Philips shavers have 3 flexible rotating heads which work independently of each other and each help to cut the whiskers. The rotating heads move in an entire circle at a very high speed to cut the hair.

Braun utilizes a single foil with their shavers. The mechanism underneath the shaving head vibrates back and forth to cut the hair.

What I'm now reminded about is how bad the single foil products are on my neck. I routinely miss hairs and find myself spending a lot more time with this Braun product than I ever did with my old Philips shaver trying to go over the parts on my neck over and over again until I get them.

I used to have a Braun single foil shaver back in high school and apparently I'd forgotten how many hairs these products missed on my neck otherwise I'd stuck with the Philips brand.

Plus, the Braun beard trimmer has proven to be virtually useless for me. It comes with an adjustable length trimmer but I've yet to actually figure out how this is possible. It trims off some of my goatee's length, but if I move too quickly it feels like my whiskers are being ripped out of my face. I changed the adjustment to leave the goatee hairs as long as possible and nothing got shaved off.

It also comes with a short beard attachment trimmer so I've tried using this and although it does cut the hairs painlessly, it still isn't that great for me.

I have a $10 beard trimmer that I've used for a couple of years that was supposed to be replaced by the cruZer and it does a better job than the cruZer does.

So now I'm stuck with a shaver that doesn't do a very good job on the neck and a worse job on my goatee. Which were the two body parts I'd bought this shaver for in the first place!

I'm not quite sure what to do because I now find myself using my disposable razor (which I normally use just to shave my head) to manually touch up the parts of my neck that the cruZer missed.

The single foil shavers like this one are widely known to often perform poorly on the neck area and in my experience, I can see this first hand.

One thing I have noticed is that if I use the cruZer first thing in the morning before washing my face or having a shower, it seems to perform better and gets more of the neck hairs. The cruZer can be rinsed over running water and I suspect there are some guys who use it in the shower (it's a cordless model so no power cords to worry about!!) but I've never done this. Braun does recommend on their website videos to shave before washing or showering but I always used to use my Philips shaver after showering with absolutely no trouble.

All in all, I'm not very happy that I bought the cruZer and wish I'd stuck with a Philips product. No doubt I'll be going back to that brand when the cruZer wears out.

UPDATE FROM CARL: After I wrote this entry, I checked my shaver manual and found that Braun offers a 60 day money back guarantee so I decided to take them up on their offer. Yesterday, I mailed them the cruZer and all parts back to them as requested and should have a refund within 6-8 weeks. I'll update this entry when the refund is processed. I plan on waiting to get the refund and will then buy a Philips 3-rotary head shaver which I should have done in the first place.

UPDATE #2: Today I received a refund in the mail for the cruZer from Braun. Although the guarantee suggested it could take up to 8 weeks for the refund to be processed, they had the refund to me within 2 weeks so I give them credit for not only honoring their guarantee but being very speedy with it, too.