Grooming review: Gillette's new Heated Razor

Razor companies must spend hundreds of hours and millions of dollars trying to dream up new innovations for their products. Number of blades, rotating heads, gel strips, and easy-grip handles are all ideas that have seemingly been exhausted so what now? Well, it's time to bring the heat.

Gillette (who else?) is first out of the blocks with its world-first Heated Razor, which has just arrived in the UAE. One click of a button on the handle and the stainless steel warming bar that sits just below the five-blade head warms up to 43C (or 50C with an extra click) to mimic the effect of a hot towel used in a traditional wet shave.

Nice idea. But does it work? EDGAR tried it out and was generally impressed. The heat opened our pores and readied the skin for what turned out to be a smooth, easy shave with zero drag.

The blade heats up instantly and the orange glowing light added a bit of Tron-like drama to our grooming. The razor has Flexdisc Technology, which enabled the blades to hug the contours of our face for a close shave.

Be careful around the lips, though, as the delicate skin here got a little toasty from the razor’s heat. We found we had to keep the blade moving more quickly than we would with a conventional razor because if the warm bar lingered on one patch of skin for too long it felt uncomfortable.

Our only quibble is the clunky handle. Made from aluminium zinc, it does feel luxurious. However, manoeuvring it around our jawline felt like we were driving a heavy dumper truck compared to, say, a Gillette Mach 3, which feels like a Ferrari in comparison.

Designed in Germany and completely waterproof, the handsome razor stands tall in its sleek, wireless magnetic charging dock and provides around five or six shaves per charge. Priced at AED 772 (for one razor and two cartridges), it’s certainly a premium piece of grooming gear, but it’s a lot of fun to use and the heated bar is no gimmick as it works with the shave gel to help the blades glide through your stubble like a hot knife through butter.

Gillette Heated Razor is available at The Art of Shaving stores in the UAE and at theartofshaving.ae