With Movember now officially something of the past, Philips’ latest Series 5000 and 7000 shavers come at a most opportune time. There is much to be said for the benefits of electric shavers, particularly as the Philips Series 7000 adds to the list with a unique selling point - microbeads.

Miniscule beads are not the first thing that come to mind thinking about a smooth shaving experience, but according to Jeroen Kremer, senior project manager of Male Grooming at Philips Consumer Lifestyle, this is exactly what’s needed to reduce friction on the skin. “We were looking for a technology to introduce some kind of roughness on the shaving unit area to make gliding on your skin better in such a way that it reduces skin irritation,” notes Kremer. Philips found its solution by including microbeads into the coating of the rings around the razor units. The company dubbed these “comfort rings” and it should come as a saving grace for those who have struggled with irritated skin and razor burn after shaving. 

According to Kremer the time it took to get this new technology on the shelves – from starting research and development, through internal and external testing, up to final product – was about two and a half years.

While providing a smoother shaving experience is high up on the list of the company’s male grooming priorities, when pressed about the future of shaving, Kremer’s answer is much aligned to the forces driving many other consumer products - that of creating connected devices. He mentioned a Philips shaver (also in the Series 7000, but not available yet) created with built-in Bluetooth that connects to a mobile device. “When you have connected devices, you can more easily support your users directly. Based on their usage you can also advise them on the best ways to use the product,” Kremer said.

More on the Series 7000

Apart from 5-directional DynamicFlex heads that follow the curves of your face more easily, the Series 7000 wet and dry shaver also includes 50 minutes’ worth of shaving time per one hour charge, about 16 shaves if one goes on a three minute average per shave. Another feature set to help reduce skin problems, according to Philips, is the blade system’s ability to pick up flat-lying hairs – usually the ones accounting for in-grown hairs. 

The models in the 7000 range (S7510 and S7530) are identical and comes boxed with the SmartClick Beard Styler with five length settings. The S7510/41 goes for a recommended retail price of R2 400, while the S7530/50 retails for R200 dearer since it also includes a cleansing brush for skin that clicks onto the shaver.

A sportier Series 5000

The Series 5000 does not offer microbead tech, but offers sportier models which include the S5510 dry shaver with a special turbo mode. This Turbo+ button boosts the shaving head speed by a solid 20%, which is intended to cut through denser parts of the beard. Although it drains the battery faster, it seems like a quicker way to get rid of weekend stubble. 

There are different configurations available in the Series 5000, starting with S5510/45 that includes a trimmer plus a nose and ear hair trimmer for about R2 000.  The S5510/37 also includes the SmartClean system to clean, charge and lubricate the shaver, and goes for R2 900. The S5420/06 is a wet shaver which does not include the Turbo mode and comes with only a trimmer for R1 400.

The Philips Series 5000 and 7000 shavers are available at select Dischem and Clicks stores.