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.
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.
