When it comes to personal hygiene, facial hair – or the lack thereof, can play a huge role in how you feel about yourself. That’s why we were pretty excited when we got ahold of the Philips S1301 Shaver for review. Philips has been one of the biggest names when it comes to personal health and hygiene and getting up close and personal with one of their offerings proved to be an interesting experience.

Shaving is a very personal thing for men, especially when it comes to how close it is or even how the final look ends up. Most men are either going for a more manly, rugged look nowadays which usually translates to having a semblance of a stubble. That said, a good percentage of us still default to being clean-shaven. That’s where a shaver – electric or otherwise comes into play.

Packed with Technology

The Philips S1301 shaver is definitely a candidate for a good shaver. It ticks most of the boxes that we would personally look at when it comes to an electric shaver. The first is, like most other electronics – the design. The Philip S1301 shaver is definitely designed well. It feels natural in the hand. It’s ergonomic as well; you won’t be straining your wrist while using it.

It’s also compact, allowing you to simply pack it along with your other toiletries in your bag. However, the one thing that threw us off with the design is the exposed charging port at the bottom. This charging port is also not a standard USB port, instead it’s a proprietary port that requires its own charger – so you’ll need to remember to pack it as well. Speaking of charging, the battery level is indicated by the power button albeit a little counterintuitively. Aside from that, the shaver is sleek and pretty much ticks all the boxes in terms of design.

That said, the true worth of a shaver lies in how well it carries out its function. When it comes to technology, the Philips Series 1000 isn’t lacking much. It’s packed with 27 self-sharpening, mini-blades which Philips guarantees won’t dull for up to 2 years. It has IPX7 certification for use in both wet and dry conditions. This also means that you’ll be able to clean it quickly by simply running water over it.

A Close, Irritating Shave

So the big question is – how does this technology translate when it comes to performance? The gist of it? Not too bad. The small blades are housed within floating heads. These floating heads allow the blades to conform to the contours of your face for a closer shave.

However, when it came to the shaving process, the Series 1000 ended up causing quite a bit of irritation when I used it. It was later pointed out that to get the best experience from the shaver, you needed to use a circular motion. This helped a little bit when it came to irritation. Nonetheless, if your facial hair is on the longer side of things, you may want to avoid doing a dry shave. In my experience using it, it felt as if my facial hair was being plucked more than cut.

Using the Philips S1301 for a wet shave minimised a lot of the irritation I experienced with the dry shave. It seems like the foam provided some much needed lubrication and protection to my skin. That said, the Series 1000 does provide a pretty close shave – something I really appreciated.

A Good Shaver – But We Expected More

With all that in mind, it makes you consider the overall package. The Philips Series 1000 is definitely one of the better, more affordable shavers in the market right now. However, to be very honest, being Philips product, I had higher expectations for the price. This is exacerbated by the options from other brands that come with the same features at a much lower price point.

That said, the Philips Series 1000 shaver is not a bad buy. It’s a shaver which you can travel with and it does what it’s meant to well. You may need to take some extra steps to prevent skin irritation, particularly if you have sensitive skin. However, the Philips S1301 gives you one of the closest shaves that you can get from a shaver in its category. It’s also easy to use out of the box and you can get enough battery life for a shave with just 5 minutes of charging.

All in all, I’d say if you were looking for an affordable shaver with a recognised brand name – you pretty much have it lock, stock and barrel with the Philips Series 1000.