How to shave with an electric razor
Almost everybody arrives here from a blade and brings the blade habits with them. Three of those habits are actively wrong.
By Sawyer V. · Published
We have not tested any of this. Everything below is compiled from published manufacturer specifications, and the arithmetic is printed so you can check it. This page carries affiliate links: if you buy through one we earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and it does not change the order of the picks. Full disclosure.
The short version
Dry, flat against the skin, against the grain, no pressure. Three of those four are the opposite of what a blade wants, which is why people arriving from wet shaving get poor results and blame the machine. A foil needs short back-and-forth strokes; a rotary needs slow overlapping circles. And the pressure point is not a nuance - pressing is the cause of most electric-shaving irritation and it does not improve the cut at all.
| # | Pick | Lasts | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Braun Series 9 PRO+ The closest electric shave | 1,300 shaves* | 7.4/10 | $429.64 - view on Amazon |
| 2 | Panasonic Arc5 ES-LV67 Speed on a dense beard | 1,300 shaves* | 7.2/10 | $199.97 - view on Amazon |
| 3 | Philips Norelco 9000 Prestige Contoured faces and coarse, curly hair | 1,300 shaves* | 6.9/10 | $149.99 - view on Amazon |
Prices last verified September 24, 2026. They move constantly; the figure on Amazon when you click is the real one.
Three habits to unlearn
Blade technique and electric technique agree on almost nothing, which is why somebody who shaves well with a safety razor often shaves badly with an electric for the first month.
| Decision | Safety razor | Electric |
|---|---|---|
| Hair state | Softened - hot water, lather | Dry and stiff |
| Direction | With the grain first | Against the grain |
| Angle | About 30 degrees | Flat, 90 degrees to the skin |
| Pressure | None | None |
| When | After a shower | Before one |
The reason is mechanical. A blade slices through a hair, so a softer hair is easier to cut. A foil shears the hair between the foil and an oscillating cutter beneath it - so the hair has to stand up and feed into a slot first, and a stiff hair does that better than a soft one.
Foil strokes and rotary circles
These are different machines and they want different motions, which almost no packaging explains.
- A foil shaver cuts in straight lines. The cutter oscillates back-and-forth under a perforated sheet, so the shaver wants short back-and-forth strokes along the same axis. Braun and Panasonic are both foil.
- A rotary shaver cuts in every direction at once. Three or more circular heads spinning independently, so it wants slow overlapping circles rather than lines. Philips is rotary, and so is every head shaver on the head shaver roundup.
Using circles on a foil or straight lines on a rotary is not catastrophic, but it is noticeably less efficient - which means more passes over the same skin, which is where irritation comes from. The comparison covers which suits which face.
A working order
- Cheeks first, going up from the jaw. Flat surface, easy to stretch, and it warms up the motor and your hand.
- Jawline next, with the head tilted back so the skin over the bone is taut.
- Neck last, and slowly. Chin up, skin pulled tight with the free hand, and following the grain map rather than assuming downward - the neck mapping applies identically here.
- Upper lip and chin at the end, using the trimmer or a corner of the head for the awkward angles.
Free hand doing something useful throughout. Stretching skin matters as much here as it does with a blade, because a foil rides over a hollow rather than following it.
If you have just switched over
Expect two to four weeks before it settles. That is not marketing - the skin and the beard genuinely adjust to a different cutting mechanism, and the first fortnight is frequently the worst it will be.
The switching guide covers the transition properly, including the useful advice not to judge the machine in week one. What will not help during that period is pressing harder, which is the instinct.
Afterwards, in thirty seconds
Clean the head immediately. Compacted stubble and sebum inside a head is what makes the motor labor, shortens foil life and eventually causes the pulling people blame on a worn blade - the cleaning guide is a two-minute routine.
Then a fragrance-free moisturizer or balm. An electric shave abrades less than a blade but it is still friction on skin, and the same aftercare logic applies - the balm question is covered separately.
Every pick, with the working
Each entry shows the published specifications, the axis scores they produce and what you give up. The order is the computed order, not a commercial one, and the arithmetic is open underneath every score.
Our pickThe closest electric shave
Braun Series 9 PRO+
Five synchronized shaving elements — two gliding foils, a SkinGuard, a Direct & Cut blade and a Lift & Cut blade — plus a titanium-coated ProLift blade, 60 minutes of runtime, a five-minute charge for one shave, and it is fully waterproof. If the requirement is 'as close as an electric gets', this is the answer and there is not much argument about it.
- Runtime
- 60 min
- Charge time
- Not published
- Cutting elements
- 5
- Head replacement
- Every 18 months
- Waterproof
- Yes
- Made in
- Not published
- Refill
- Proprietary to the maker
- Warranty
- Not published
- Assumed service life
- 1,300 uses
The arithmetic: 260 uses a year x 5 years of assumed service life = 1300 uses.
What it gets right
- Five published cutting elements, each with a stated job, plus the ProLift blade
- 60-minute Li-Ion runtime, the longest of the shavers here
- 5-minute quick charge for a full shave
- 100% waterproof; usable wet with lather
Flaws
- Replacement head cassettes are proprietary and are the real long-run cost
- Braun's published 18-month replacement interval is guidance on its parts pages rather than a figure on the product specification, so it is easy to miss before you buy
- The most expensive way to remove hair in this ledger
The working behind the 7.4
- How long it lasts: not scored
- Not scored. This is a durable item, not a consumable, so how long it lasts is an assumption about service life rather than something the pack size tells us.
- Ease of switching: 9.0
- Wet-and-dry with 60 minutes of runtime and a 5-minute quick charge; nothing about daily use requires a decision (++). Braun publishes an 18-month foil-and-cutter replacement interval, which at least makes the running cost plannable (+), but the cassettes are proprietary so the price of it is Braun's to set (-).
- Refill economics: 4.0
- Only this maker's refill fits, so the ongoing price is set by the maker rather than by a market. This is where the real cost of ownership hides.
- What the maker publishes: 8.0
- 4 of 5 specifications a buyer would expect are published: runtimeMin, cuttingElements, waterproof, headReplacementMonths. Not published: chargeMin. 4 / 5 x 10 = 8.0.
Axes with no published input are dropped and the remaining weights re-normalized, so a product is not punished for a category where an axis does not apply. Specifications compiled 3 September 2026 from Braun Series 9 PRO+ published specifications.
2Speed on a dense beard
Panasonic Arc5 ES-LV67
A 14,000 CPM linear motor producing up to 70,000 cross-cuts a minute across five blades, a head that flexes in 16 directions, and a beard sensor taking 220 readings a second. It is the fastest shaver here on dense growth. The trade is 45 minutes of runtime, the shortest of the three.
- Runtime
- 45 min
- Charge time
- 60 min
- Cutting elements
- 5
- Waterproof
- Yes
- Made in
- Not published
- Refill
- Proprietary to the maker
- Warranty
- Not published
- Assumed service life
- 1,300 uses
The arithmetic: 260 uses a year x 5 years of assumed service life = 1300 uses.
What it gets right
- Published 14,000 CPM linear motor and up to 70,000 cross-cuts per minute
- Five blades and a 16-direction flexing head
- Beard sensor with a published 220 detections per second and 14 power adjustments per second
- 3-minute quick charge for one shave; wet and dry
Flaws
- 45 minutes of runtime, the shortest of the shavers here
- Proprietary foil and cutter assemblies
- Louder than the Braun units, which is a real daily consideration
The working behind the 7.2
- How long it lasts: not scored
- Not scored. This is a durable item, not a consumable, so how long it lasts is an assumption about service life rather than something the pack size tells us.
- Ease of switching: 8.5
- The most completely specified shaver here — motor speed, cross-cut rate, sensor rate and head articulation are all published figures (++). 45-minute runtime is the shortest of the three (-).
- Refill economics: 4.0
- Only this maker's refill fits, so the ongoing price is set by the maker rather than by a market. This is where the real cost of ownership hides.
- What the maker publishes: 8.0
- 4 of 5 specifications a buyer would expect are published: runtimeMin, chargeMin, cuttingElements, waterproof. Not published: headReplacementMonths. 4 / 5 x 10 = 8.0.
Axes with no published input are dropped and the remaining weights re-normalized, so a product is not punished for a category where an axis does not apply. Specifications compiled 3 September 2026 from Panasonic Arc5 ES-LV67-K published specifications.
3Contoured faces and coarse, curly hair
Philips Norelco 9000 Prestige
The rotary flagship. Three circular heads that cut in circles rather than straight lines, 60 minutes of published runtime, wet and dry, with a Qi charging pad. If your face is contoured or your hair is curly and grows in several directions at once, a rotary handles that better than any foil does.
- Runtime
- 60 min
- Charge time
- 180 min
- Cutting elements
- 3
- Head replacement
- Not published
- Waterproof
- Yes
- Made in
- Not published
- Refill
- Proprietary to the maker
- Warranty
- Not published
- Assumed service life
- 1,300 uses
The arithmetic: 260 uses a year x 5 years of assumed service life = 1300 uses.
What it gets right
- Rotary heads follow contours in a way a flat foil cannot
- Published 60-minute runtime with an 18-minute quick charge
- Wet and dry, with a Qi charging pad rather than a socket
- Cuts hair growing in mixed directions, which is where foils struggle
Flaws
- Three-hour full charge on the Qi pad is the slowest here
- Rotary shavers suit every-few-days growth better than daily shaving
- Philips does not publish a head replacement interval for this line
The working behind the 6.9
- How long it lasts: not scored
- Not scored. This is a durable item, not a consumable, so how long it lasts is an assumption about service life rather than something the pack size tells us.
- Ease of switching: 8.0
- 60 minutes of published runtime and an 18-minute quick charge (+), wet and dry (+), rotary heads handle mixed growth directions without technique (+), but a three-hour full charge and no published head replacement interval both count against it (--).
- Refill economics: 4.0
- Only this maker's refill fits, so the ongoing price is set by the maker rather than by a market. This is where the real cost of ownership hides.
- What the maker publishes: 8.0
- 4 of 5 specifications a buyer would expect are published: runtimeMin, chargeMin, cuttingElements, waterproof. Not published: headReplacementMonths. 4 / 5 x 10 = 8.0.
Axes with no published input are dropped and the remaining weights re-normalized, so a product is not punished for a category where an axis does not apply. Specifications compiled 3 September 2026 from Philips Norelco S9000 Prestige published specifications.
Prices last verified September 24, 2026. They move constantly; the figure on Amazon when you click is the real one.
Questions people actually ask
Should you shave with or against the grain with an electric?
Against. A foil or rotary head lifts the hair and shears it against an inner cutter, so it needs the hair standing up into the slots - which means moving opposite to the growth direction. This is genuinely the reverse of blade technique and it is the single most common mistake made by people switching over.
Should I shave before or after a shower?
Before, if you are shaving dry. Water softens hair, which is what a blade wants and what a foil does not - soft hair bends away rather than standing into the slots. If you are wet shaving with a rated shaver that changes; that comparison covers both.
Why does my electric shaver pull my hair?
Three usual causes in order: a worn head, a clogged head, or too much pressure. A head past its interval tugs rather than cuts - Braun publishes about eighteen months and Philips four for the OneBlade. Clean it before you conclude it is worn.
How long should an electric shave take?
Two to three minutes dry. If it is taking five or more and you are going over the same areas repeatedly, that is a worn head or a technique problem rather than a normal shave - and repeated passes over the same skin is exactly what produces irritation.
Will an electric ever be as close as a blade?
No, and any page claiming otherwise is selling something. A good foil gets close enough that most people cannot tell by the afternoon. The head-to-head is honest about the gap, and about why for some skin that gap is a feature.