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Reviews
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Gillette Fusion Razor – The Mainstream Media Mocks; Bloggers Give Objective Reviews
Adding another blade is "just coming up with gadgets to outdo the other guys," [marketing strategist Pete Dodd] says. "But I think they've gone past the usefulness of the razor." Gillette could add neon lights to it, he says, or a hand massager to the handle. Perhaps it could be an adjunct to your Blackberry, so you could receive email in the shower, he laughs. "To the buyer, it's not really going to make any difference."
Or the Wilmington Advocate (no longer online):
Advertising and merchandising will make this new five-bladed razor ("system", sorry!) a very profitable line, just as the two-blade, three-blade, and four-blade were in their time, I predict. More power to King Gillette and his descendants. If you can make people spend their-hard-earned money on this, perhaps you deserve to be rich.
It also illustrates one more axiom of media and advertising that we too-seldom realize. It's a saying attributed to P.T. Barnum: "There's a sucker born every minute."
Multiple-blade shaving systems rest on this simple concept, and for that reason, they'll flourish.
Or the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (no longer online):
Once liberated from its plastic container -- really more of a razor sarcophagus -- Fusion's futuristic design didn't exactly strike me as a feat of engineering. And what exactly is the purpose of the aerodynamic Y cutout in the middle of the razor's shaft? Perhaps it's there to cut down on bathroom wind-drag as I shave across my great savannah of cheek.
...Setting up my seven-day thicket of beard with great dollops of Edge shaving cream (Gillette also markets a special Fusion gel), I passed the armada of Fusion blades over my thickened beard. Fusion's shifting head, with its wider wheelbase and Elvis-like swivel, navigated over the San Andreas fault of my jawline and swooped down into the valley of my neck, hugging my Adam's apple, curling up into the cul-de-sac between my ear lobe and face…
…etc, etc…
But bloggers tried it too, and they wrote real analysis, not sarcasm. Many were impressed. A lengthy and objective commentary came from The Wild Duck blog. Here’s an excerpt:
After pressing the better placed switch, we held the razor to assess the changes in vibration frequency. We’d say the Fusion vibrates slightly faster and smoother than the Mach 3 Power, and a lot smoother than our Oral B battery operated toothbrush.
The smoother vibration was noticeable on the face, as well, though so much so that we really wondered if this razor was getting all the stubble on our face. We obviously swiped over previously cleared face a few extra times this morning, so it is difficult to express the relative closeness of the shave on the long flat runs on the cheek & jowls.
….May we quack/whine about price? Nah, that’s what razors are all about…charging way too much for a few doodads we don’t really need.
Overall, we’re happy with the Fusion Power, and recommend it.
Doogie of Eureka Iron Works also liked it:
Ok, men. Here's the razor for you. The Gillette Fusion.
I've grown up shaving with Gillette technology: Trac II, Atra, Sensor, Mach 3 and now Fusion. Each time, the latest razor system was significantly better than its predecessor. The Fusion does not disappoint.
I was a bit skeptical...5 blades, how could that be better? Whats the deal here? All I can say is that it works, and works marvelously. VERY smooth. Little or no irritation. And it leaves much less 5 o'clock shadow than anything I have ever used. One tip: the blades are much closer together, so rinse often to avoid clogging.
And Mrs. Iron Works has pronounced the results excellent.
Get one. Try it. Believe it.
So did blogger king Professor “Instapundit” Glenn Reynolds:
Hey, it's a steep $9.99, but no sacrifice is too great for you guys so I picked one up. Actually, it's even better than the other one, and the scientific Insta-wife hand-on-the-cheek test confirms that. You want to make fun of this stuff (er, at least, I do), but it actually works.
But Shaveblog wasn’t impressed. He explained in an excellent report. Here’s just a short excerpt:
As for the Fusion's 5-blade shave, I'll give it this -- it's surprisingly comfortable, even a bit more so than the Mach3's shave. After tearing my face up with the free 4-blade Quattro Schick sent me awhile back, I was leery of shaving with a razor with yet another blade added to the mix. But the Fusion is actually a very comfortable razor to shave with -- razor drag is practically nil, and even against the grain the Fusion simply glides across the face as if it were hovering. Of course, my prep was better than the typical scenario this razor's going to find itself in -- I took a hot shower beforehand and used Nancy Boy shaving cream and a Simpson Wee Scot badger brush -- but even so, the Fusion was a bit more comfortable to shave with than the Mach3.
That's the good news. The bad news is, the quality of the shave just wasn't any better than a Mach3's. Rubbing my fingers against the grain, I could still feel stubble, despite three full passes -- with-grain, against-grain, and then a second against-grain because I still felt stubble all over. Yet even this extra against-grain pass didn't leave my skin as glass-smooth as Gillette's 66 years-older Super Speed DE safety razor does every morning. What I got was the typical Mach3 shave -- quick, easy, requiring no thought, technique, or concentration, and looking good enough for the office even though if you rub your face you'll still feel some stubble.
And the conclusion?
Well, regarding the Gillette Fusion, some men clearly will like it and
others won’t. But concerning objective commentary, once again bloggers show
why so many people now turn to them in preference to the mainstream media.
* Get the Latest
Price on the Gillette Fusion Shaving System.
February 24th,
2006 |
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Gillette’s
new Fusion shaving system – a razor with no fewer than five blades –
attracted de rigueur cynicism in much of the mainstream media. Here’s
Canada’s
Toronto Star (no longer online):