Schick Quattro Titanium Razor Review

Schick Quattro Titanium

Brand: Schick
Model: Quattro Titanium Refillable
Bought at: Giant
Cost: S$10.50 (1 handle, 1 razor)
(my packaging was slightly different than the one pictured)

Schick's current key refillable product offering is the three bladed Hydro 3, Hydro 5, and Quattro Titanium. The standard "Quattro" was introduced in 2003, but has since been phased out. The Titanium version touts a titanium coating that claims to reduce irritation.

The Quattro Titanium has a standard lube strip as compared to the bricks-of-jelly that the Hydro line has. It also has four blades, as would be suggested by the brand name. The razor head is smaller than the Hydro counter parts, but its cutting edges are the same distance from the top. So its compactness doesn't translate into reaching under the nose any better. The blades are wider than the Hydro counter parts as the sides are thin plastic moldings, whereas the Hydro has a small metal skidplate on both sides.

The Quattro Titatnium does not have the smooth lubrication that the Hydro has, but does share its gentle shave qualities. For some, the gentleness is welcome. But Schick's products are proving to be on the far extreme of gentle, often needing several passes to shave hair on the downstroke. And the shave is not close, requiring shaving against the grain (which is normally an invitation for bad things to happen) to get a somewhat normal shave. There is no such thing as a close shave with this razor.

And like its Hydro 3 and 5 cousins, the razors are closely spaced and has a thick plastic backing that blocks cleaning it with a blast of water from the back.

Schick does not boldly advertise it, but the Quattro Titanium comes with micro wires going perpendicular across the razor face. These guard wires ostensibly protect the face from nicks and cuts. For other razor companies, these guard wires were a feature added specifically for those who were removing hair in sensitive areas south of the border. So safety is upped and shave closeness is down.
And when you add the guard wires across the razors, you get a razor that is that much harder to clean as hair easily gets trapped. Again, I was forced to unclog my razor with an old toothbrush.  I shouldn't have to do this. No other razor makes me work as hard as Schick to keep it free of clogging hair.

The handle is medium-weighted, fits well in the hand, and easily ejects/accepts razors. It is good looking and cheaper than Gillette.

I am not sure who this razor would be good for. It is too gentle for most skin/hair types. It not a cheap razor. And it is increasingly hard to find in Singapore. A case in point, the Quattro Titanium handles have been removed from the Cold Storage website and its replacement razors are not longer being offered. It appears that Schick is going to focus on Hydro 3 and Hydro 5 razors.  If you have a hyper sensitive face, go for Hydro 3. If you are anybody else, don't use this razor. For me, I am sticking with the Dorco Pace 4 razor. Best all-around razor for the price that I have found.

Xenon 5 Razor Review

Xenon 5 Razor Review

Brand: Croma

Model: Xenon 5

Bought at: Mustafa's

Cost: S$9.30 for handle and 2 cartridges

The Xenon 5 is not a household name, but perhaps it is best known via its heritage. The Xenon 5 is made by Feintechnik, a 93-year old German manufacturer. Feintechnik is best known for making Croma, a brand that users of double-edged razors know for their sharp, well made blades. In the United States, they are known as the manufacturing source that supplies Harry's - the #2 razors-by-mail company in the US behind Dollar Shave Club.

I did not know who made the Xenon 5 before I tried it, but I had heard of Croma. So I had a fairly open mind.

First, the good news. The blades are indeed very sharp. The hallmark of a sharp razors is the sound it makes when it shaves. A sharp blade will make a zipping sound as it goes through whiskers as the short hair is quickly cut and the uniformly-sized stubble rebounds in quick succession. The Xenon 5 - straight out of the package gives a satisfying "zip, zip, zip" as I shaved with its 5-bladed head. So far, the Croma pedigree continues. 

The handle is slim, with an easy to grip synthetic orange rubberized underbelly. The top is plated with a metal of pretty decent thickness, giving the handle a satisfying heft to it.  In between is a black plastic body. The cartridge head is simple. There is a collar mounted around a metal post that sticks out of the handle. You push on the collar to pop off the old cartridge and manually slide on a new cartridge. It is fairly low tech, but I like simple mechanisms. Less can go wrong.  Overall, the handle seems well designed, has a classic masculine style, and is a pleasure to hold. Germans = engineering, so no surprise there, right?

There is a lubrication strip and a rubberized fins at the bottom, but I could not even perceive the former giving much lubrication. No points for or against on this feature. 

The razor head top is thin, so it is easy to reach underneath your nose. The razor blades are fairly close together, which generally makes for a smoother shave, but perhaps at the trade-off of having a less aggressive shave for those with thick hair. The back of the razor is completely open, making cleaning the head easy even though the blades are closely spaced.  

And I compared the razors to Harry's products online. They are made of different materials, but the design and styling is undeniably the same. 

Now the bad news. The Xenon 5 cartridge head is not mounted on a mechanically pivoting head like nearly every other cartridge. Instead, the cartridge is mounted on two polymer-based mounts. The polymer's elasticity is low, which means that it is fairly stiff compared to most other razors. The stiffness means a nice steady shave on flat spots, but means that it performs poorly at edges. Unlike the Resonna razors that were too loose and bent too early, these razors blades bent too late. This means that they dug into my skin, giving me razor burn. Recall that this manufacturer is also known for it sharp edges. So it gave me plenty of nicks too. So after my shaves, I am left with nice smooth cheeks and horribly burned/cut mouth, jawline, and neck. I have to apply alum because of all the burn/nicks. *sizzle* *ouch*

Now that I know who made this razor, I am quite disappointed. Harry's has positioned themselves as superior to Dollar Shave Club. So I was really looking forward to eventually trying their products out. So as it turns out, I now have indirectly tried their product out.  So comparing Dollar Shave Club's supplier - Dorco - and Harry's supplier - Feintechnik, Dorco is much better.  So for now, I'm sticking to my favorite razor - Dorco Pace 4. 

Schick Hydro 3 Razor Review

Brand: Schick

Model: Hydro 3

Bought at: Giant

Cost: S$10.90 for handle and 1 cartridge

Let's get to the bottom line: bad, but not dangerous.  

Hydro 3 is exceptionally gentle, which means it is suitable only for those that have exceptionally sensitive skin as to proactively avoid having a close shave or for those who prefer having a 5 o’clock shadow early in the day because that's their look.  

Schick Hydro 3's key highlights its moisturizing gel, which are mounted like little bricks above the razor. It is ostensibly the same as the Wilkinson Sword brand Hydro 3 that is sold in other markets. However, I cannot confirm that they are interchangeable. The “hydro gel” laid down in a thick, luxurious carpet that did a great job acting as a lube. Since I use shaving cream, this seems a bit redundant. But for what it was worth, the gel was thick, slick, and left my face soft. 

The bad news is that the Hydro 3 gives an overly gentle shave. It is hard to identify exactly why the shave was so gentle.  Perhaps it was too much lube. But after a few weeks of use and a wearing down of the lube strips, the shave was still bad. Why was it so bad?

The Hydro 3 mounts to the handle into a half-moon track, with a low-resistance spring that pushes the mounting to the bottom as a default. When looking at the razor along the side, one can see that the point-of-pivot axis is the first razor.  As a result, the Hydro 3 did fine along jawlines thanks to that centralized pivot point, but it continued to give unbearably gentle shaves. So it's probably not the mount that gave the bad shave. 

Perhaps the razors are just set far back from the casing so that the edge is not close to the skin. When shaving downward, I had to shave over the same place several times. And when it did shave, it left a 5 o'clock shadow, akin to a half day's worth of growth. 

The shave was so bad that I essentially HAD to shave up against the grain. Normally, shaving against the grain leaves the hair too short as to promote ingrown hairs. But shaving upwards with the Hydro 3 left the shave at a normal shaving length. 

I tried to shave even closer by pushing a bit harder and got what I deserved - razor burn. I am writing this post 4 hours after shaving and it feels like a full day of growth. 

The Hydro 3 cartridge head is one of the largest on the market, with its razors set quite far down from the top. This means that it is tough to get those whiskers closest to your nostrils. 

And the large head and gentle cut also meant it was difficult to trim edges of sideburns. My sideburns are a mess and I have to trim them with another razor. 

Flipping the cartridge around, one sees a lot of plastic on the back. Below is a picture of a Wilkinson Sword version of the same razor. It is difficult to see, but the back of the razor blades themselves have what appear to be plastic supports in the gaps between the razor blades to the left and the right of the pivot slide channels a big support beam in the middle and another fin that goes into between the middle and bottom razors in the middle between the pivot channels. It is not important to understand exactly where all this plastic is, but what is important to notice is that this is a lot of plastic that blocks the way of rinsing the razor out. This was an exceptionally hard razor to clean out. I have been using the razor for a few weeks and it became so clogged that I had to unclog it with an old toothbrush. If I am working that hard to keep a razor clean, that is a major design flaw.  

All in all, I am quite disappointed in this razor. I have gone through many, many different razors throughout this little exercise of trying out different razors and one of my key benchmarks is to see how I feel after using it for a few weeks. The feeling of this one is relief. Thank goodness I get to throw this one away.  

Gillette Mach 3 Razor Review

Gillette Mach 3 Razor Review

Brand: Gillette
Model: Mach 3
Bought at: Cold Storage
Cost: S$16.05 for a replacement pack of 4, S$14.50 for handle + 2 blades, cheaper at Mustafa's

Gillette's Mach 3 is a very good razor. It is also arguably the benchmark for how a razor should be designed. One really gets to appreciate how well it is designed when you have shaved with as many off-brand razors as I have.

The Positives:

Medium sharpness.  There are a lot of people out there who want to have the *sharpest* razor they can. I am not a fan of extremes. Super sharp razors are unforgiving with nicks and cuts. Conversely, dull razors tug and burn. Thus, I believe a good razor is about a 7 on a 1 to 10 scale so it gives a nice smooth shave without cutting up your face.

Smooth shave. The blade alignment/design often determines how smooth of a shave you will have. There are those shavers that have very wide-set blades that give an aggressive shave to cut through very thick hair but are a bit dangerous to catch skin. Blades that are thinly set apart often give smoother shaves, but are not aggressive enough to quickly remove hair in a single or perhaps two passes. Mach 3 seems to have the right medium-distance spacing to give a smooth, plain vanilla shave. Not too aggressive, not too wimpy.

Solid manufacturing tolerances. A well engineered and manufactured head can withstand you misusing it and still not hurt you. These days, people tend to use their cartridges too long and end up needing to press down to get a satisfactory shave. You can even - in a pinch - dry shave without any water or cream with a Mach 3 and it will do the trick. You can really only do this with a well designed razor.

Easy cartridge replacement. The Gillette Mach 3 is idiot proof for removing and installing new cartridges. It even has a satisfying "click" when you lock a new one in. Even the replacement cartridge boxes are well designed, with slots angled diagonally for easily removal.

Swivel. The Mach 3 comes with a "paintbrush" style mounting, where the swivel is at the bottom of the cartridge. This is the riskiest way to mount a cartridge. Too loose and it will miss big swaths of hair at the jawline. Too loose is even worse as it will miss hair and it will burn as you press on the razor to overcompensate for the swivel's floppiness. The Mach 3 has the perfect tension on the swivel. And it works the same every time.

Best flow-through design.  In the old days, razor designs (eg, Atra II, Excel) did not have an open back to allow back flow. You had to swish the razor through water side to side to try and dislodge clogged hair.  An open back allows for back-flow to easily unplug the razor. Mach 3 has a very open back design and it is one of the easiest razors to clean.

Availability.  This is available everywhere, but who know how much longer this will be in the market before it goes like Excel -- stocked less and less until it is effectively discontinued.

The negatives:

Cost. Gillette is the overwhelmingly dominant leader in market share and shelf space. Gillette also prices their second and third tier razors purposely at a modest discount to their top-line razor, which is currently the Gillette Fusion Power line. The simple Mach 3 (not even the Turbo variety) costs S$16.06 at Cold Storage, a Mach 3 Turbo costs S$18.55, the Fusion costs S$21.95, Fusion Power costs S$26.95. So the Mach 3 is significantly less expensive than the Fusion Power, until you consider that even the "lowly" Mach 3 still costs over S$4 per cartridge. It is no wonder that people are using the razors longer and longer to get the per-use cost down.


Light.  The handles have been engineered to remove lots of material, which makes the handles very light. Presumably this saves on material costs and appeals to those who like light devices. This is up to personal preference. I like a bit of heft, like writing with a Parker pen versus a disposable ball point. It feels like smoother and more satisfying. But in terms of weight scale, Mach 3 is about a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Pace 4 Razor Review

Brand: Dorco
Model: Pace 4
Bought at: shaveclubsg.com
Cost: S$2.40/cartridge

Dorco. Horrible name, decent razor. Dorco is a Korean company, but is perhaps best known for being the manufacturer behind the the US-based "Dollar Shave Club" - a mail-based subscription for razors. The Pace brand comes in 2, 3, 4, and 6 bladed varieties with cartridge interchangeability between versions 3, 4, and 6. Each handle is different, but that is just cosmetic.

The Pace 4 handle comes with a chunky white & black rubber-ribbed handle that is fairly large compared to other brands. It has good ergonomics and feels comfortable to hold. is also slightly heavier, but its weight is well distributed. I like a razor to have some substantive heft.  The cartridge ejection button is solid, smooth, and easily clicks in new cartridges.

If I were to summarize Dorco 4, it is balance. It's blades are not aggressively sharp as to invite nicks & cuts. But they are also not so dull that you don't easily whip through thick stubble. The shave is not extra close, which I prefer so that I don't get razor burn, pimples, and in-grown hairs. But the shave quality is good. The lubricating strip is there, but it doesn't lay down a slippery slick like Schick Hydro series or Kai, but does last a long time. The head is a bit larger than most, so I have to be a bit more careful to get those hairs just under my nose and at the edge of my sideburns. The cartridges also mount in the middle on the back, so it is not as easy to clean out as the Mach 3. The swivel has good firmness to it, so you can shave jaw-lines easily. The blades also seem to keep their sharpness reasonably well (two weeks of good usage without much performance drop-off). Also, the lubricating strip is yellow, not the orange that the picture below would have you think.

But the best part of Dorco 4 is that it can be bought for cheap. The best deal that I found in Singapore is Shaveclubsg.com, where I pay S$60 for a free handle and one blade, plus 24 other blades for a full year of blades mailed four at a time every other month. That's S$2.40/blade, plus a free handle, free shipping, and no automatic re-subscriptions. Best of all, if I decide that I was wrong and that I prefer my old razor, shaveclubsg.com will send the balance of my account in Gilette razors (again, free shipping) at the same retail price I'd be paying at Cold Storage anyways.  Seems like a can't-lose proposition. So I'm signed up.  

If you're an optimist, this is the razor you'd like to pick up in the morning, shave, look good, and think nothing more of your shave. You can press hard, shave fast, and shave against the grain. If you're a pessimist, you'll think "meh, others do better at each element" and you'd be right.

Bottom line is that I wanted to find a razor that would do *almost* as good a job as my beloved Gillette Mach 3 (or at least be good enough where I didn't notice) and be happy with the price. Unless you want to sacrifice some shave quality and go to Super Max 3 or fidget with double-edged razors to go extra cheap, this is the razor for you.   This is now my every day razor.

Kai 4 Razor Review

Kai 4

Brand: Kai
Model: Kai 4
Bought at: Mustafa’s
Cost: S$9 for one handle and one razor. Replacement blades not available.

Ratings:
Closeness: 9
Quality: 9
Look: either 1 or 10 depending on your tastes
Value: 4

If a 1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville made sweet beautiful love to a xenomorph from the movie “Aliens”, then their lovechild would have been the Kai 4 razor. This is a funky looking razor, with hammerhead front and an elongated head, fully chromed body, and spiny rubber black belly that is like holding a prehistoric rubber lizard. I am presuming that this is a made-for-Japan product as almost of the text on the packaging was in Japanese, except for “Kai Razor” and “Kai4”.  I shook my head as I popped this out of the packaging. “Oh, Japan, you so crazy”.

I lathered up, gripped this alien love baby, and took the first stroke.

Oh. My. God.

The shave was great. The four blades were super sharp, barely even making a sound as they whipped through my thick facial hair. And the shave was close, leaving the best shave that I have had in years. Most razors claim to have a lubricating strip, which few of us can really tell is making any difference or not given the sea of shaving cream. But Kai 4 has a no-doubt-about-it lubricating strip that leaves a snail trail of slippery smooth lubrication ahead of it.

I used this razor for several weeks and found it was especially good for shaving against the grain of the hair. Normally, this is a no-no, but found that it gave me the extra close shave without burn or ingrown hairs. And as the quality of the shave degraded after the first week, I really had to resort to shaving against the grain to replicate the amazing close shave that I got the first time.

The handle had a satisfying amount of weight to it, so it felt like I was wielding a razor rather than rubbing a plastic spoon on my face. And the swivel mount on the head was smooth, but firm enough to keep a close
shave around tight corners like chins and jawlines.  

The blades are close together and thin, which theoretically should give a smoother shave, which the Kai 4 gave. But the drawback is that it is easier to get clogged up and harder to rinse.

Now the bad news.

Unfortunately, there are several problems that prevent me from wholeheartedly recommending this razor. The lubricating strip lays down such a thick, awesome layer that it is clearly wearing away at a fairly fast pace. Sure enough, the lube volume dropped off significantly after the first few days and is now more of a "normal" strip in the second week. I am not sure if it due to the reduction in lube or razor durability, but the quality of the shave went from awesome to average in the second week.

Another negative is replacing blades. The push-button releases the tension so a cartridge will pop out, but there is no mechanism to quickly mount new blades. I had to manually mount the side pins into the cartridge, rather than the usual press-and-go types of most system razors.

Thirdly, I am concerned about supply constraints.  I have only seen this razor at Mustafa’s and it’s not like they had tons of supplies on hand. I have made a few visits to Mustafa's and they have not had the replacement blades for the razor. Mustafa's often stocks handles without replacement blades and visa-versa (don't ask me why, they just do). I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I am worried about ever getting replacements.

And the cost is not fantastic. Based upon the handle alone, it is about 15-20% cheaper than Gillette Mach 3.

The bottom line is that this razor is great for those who like close shaves and replace their blades pretty often (eg, every week) in those regions where you can get supplies. But until a reliable source can be found in Singapore, this is not a viable option.  Write a memo below if you happen to run into replacement blades in Singapore.

Personna X5 Razor Review

Personna X5

Brand: American Shave Company
Model: X5/M5
Bought at: Mustafa's
Cost: S$5.90 for handle and one razor

Rating: (out of 10)
Closeness: 6
Quality: 3
Look: 8
Value: 5

Personna is a subsidiary of Energizer Corp, the same company that owns Schick and Wilkinson Sword. Schick and Wilkinson Swords are essentially the same products, but different brands. Personna is the private label razor manufacturer for retail chains.

Like its sister companies' products, the Personna X5 looks slick with smooth lines, understated elegance, and easy-to-exchange cartridges.

But Personna does not use the same designs as Schick/Wilkinson Sword. This is not a good thing.
I characterize the X5 as a markedly inferior shave than Gillette or Schick, with more tugging from seemingly duller blade. The worst feature is that the hinge is exceptionally loose and mounted at the very bottom of the razor cartridge, which makes it difficult to put the right amount of pressure on sharp curve like my jawline. So perhaps it needs more pressure? Repeat tries with this razor resulted in the same things, unacceptably long stubble on my neck. So perhaps the floppy head is better used when it was dragged upward? Ugh. No razor burn. And the handle is a bit light, lacking a bit of heft so that one can steer it around your face.

I wanted so badly for the X5 to be good because it was inexpensive at S$2.47/cartridge. For me, this razor gets a failing grade because it simply failed at the basic task of shaving me without hurting me. So cheap or not, it is not for me.

I have an extra razor, which I am going to give away to a friend of mine.  I suspect that this razor will be ok for people with thin hair, non-sensitive skin, and who want to spend less on a razor but could not be bothered to use a DE safety razor. So perhaps I will update this after my friend's review.

And trust me; there are worse out there. An unremarkable shave is certain better than a bad shave.  The razor can be bought at Watson's as the house brand, online at www.americanshaveco.com, or Mustafa’s. Mustafa's is the cheapest.