Review – Azor M Alloy System Razor
Posted by Dil · 3 Comments
I’m a convert.
If you’re familiar with my posts you’ll know how much I HATED the regular Azor, the ‘Hybrid Synergy System Razor’ (rolls of your tongue, right?). I thought it was flimsy, cheap and worse of all it completely shredded up my face. I was certain I’d never use an Azor razor again.
Now call me a sadist but as soon as I heard the buzz surrounding their latest Azor M Alloy System razor, I knew I had to give the Azor another shot. Thankfully my gamble paid off and I now have a new favourite razor!
Read on to find out why.
Here’s what King of Shaves have to say about it:
The Azor M Alloy System Razor utilises our new M technology Alloy handle. Developed to deliver perfect balance in the hand, it combines optimum control with ease-of-use whilst shaving, ensuring our unique flexible head maintains constant contact between the blades and your skin for a superb shave. With 2 long-lasting Endurium cartridges.
The razor
The first thing I noticed about the new Azor was the weight. Where the older one felt plastic, light and cheap – this one feels heavy and metallic. It feels durable in your hand and it just looks far more expensive (which belies its very reasonable price tag of around £6).
This sturdier handle really allows you to benefit from the bendy tip of the razor to the fullest. The strong handle gives you good purchase and control whilst the head of the blade glides along your face and bends around the contours of your chin/neck. Unlike some razors where the blades pivot slightly, the head of the Azor bends completely and gives you really good control for a comfortable shave.
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The blades
The blades themselves are very good. They’re sharp and they feel very densely packed for a close shave. They’re durable too. I’ve used mine about 5 times now and the blade is still sharp. Obviously you’re going to need to change the blades with this razor as you would with any other but this one seems to stay sharper for longer than the rest. They’re not amazing enough to be named ‘Endurium’ (Unobtanium, anyone?) but they’re still better than the competition.
The shave
I only shave going with the grain and this isn’t always the best method when you’re trying to get a really close shave. The way I remedy that is by pulling at the skin a bit to expose more hair and shave them closer, two passes usually does it – occasionally once more on certain spots. With the Azor I can apply slight pressure to the blade and that bendy head will get really close to the base of each hair and slice it off. With one pass I can get a nice, close shave and with two passes it’s perfect (for when I need to look extra smooth!). I’ve never used a razor that’s that good at shaving with the grain and yet still doesn’t irritate my skin – it’s fantastic.
The bad bits
A few words of warning, it feels as though the blades are so densely packed that they’re unwilling to shave against the grain. When I tried shaving against the grain with this – for the sake of testing – I found it to be uncomfortable and clumsy. It seems to have trouble shaving against hairs and protests the whole way through, nothing smooth about it. If I had progressed I imagine my face would have been pretty torn up. Secondly, the head of the blade is quite chunky. This serves it well for the most part but when you get to precision bits like shaving around your sideburns, it can get a bit tricky because it’s hard to see exactly where the blades are going shave hair on either side of the razor. I haven’t found a way to solve that problem other than going verrrry slowly when I get to that bit, shaving off a little at a time.
Final thoughts
In conclusion though, I think this is a fantastic razor. It looks cool, it’s economical, it’s durable and most importantly it gives me the best shave I’ve ever had shaving solely with the grain. You may not like this if you’re someone who shaves against but I say give shaving with the grain a shot with this. It works very well and you’ll probably see reduction in ingrown hairs and irritation for your troubles! Definately a keeper.
Blackheads.
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Wonder if this would work a treat upon my underarms?? lol
@Old Cow – I *think* they're releasing a women's version too.
My feeling are opposite to you, I love the lightness of the original Azor, I received an M from KoS before launch and had to return it to them for testing as it resulted in razor burn, something I have never suffered since moving to KoS products about 15 years ago. I say each to their own, I'm sticking to the light plastic original. The M certainly felt nice to hold but I prefer the greener credentials of the original.