After reading and seeing all the hype by Mr King ‘The King Of Shaves’, I bought in to the idea that there is a cheaper, better alternative to the big two names in shaving. How wrong was I?
It appears I was very, very wrong.
The Azor (from now on I’ll drop the uppercase ‘A’ due to my disappointment) is the razor developed by The king Of Shaves dubbed as ‘The Future Of Shaving’.
After purchasing an azor at the weekend and using it once I have the following to say.
My initial view on the design of the azor is that it looks quite nice and that the twin arm cradle that holds the blade unit looks quite good. However I feel that there are problems with the design. The two main faults I have found with the design are:
- The self/easy cleaning blades don’t work
- The head of the razor is fixed and does not move, adjust or swivel.
If you read through the propaganda from the King of Shaves you will be be sold the idea that the reason why making the azor took five years to develop and market was down to, on some parts, to patents belonging to Gillette and Wilkinson Sword. One such patent is with regards to the self cleaning blades which has now expired, paving the way for the azor. Well, the patent may be expired, but the technology to make the blades clean easily was obviously not used correctly as I experienced this morning with the blades all bunged up after about two seconds of use. My initial thought as the razor glided across my face was ‘mmm qute smooth’ followed by the disappointment of trying to clean the blades. No amount of tapping cleared the debris effectively. This is not a problem that I can remember coming across in the past.
Next, onto the fixed head of the azor. I’m straining my brain trying to think back to the last time I used a razor in which the head was entirely fixed. Maybe the last time I used a Bic disposable razor, the ones that cost less than a pound for ten. I can remember the Gillette Sensor, the two blade razor from the 1990’s had a head that moved. (From a quick look on Wikipedia, it was back in 1977 that the first razor with a pivot point was introduced)
Onto other problems.
The shaving experience was so bad that I ended up with three cuts and a shaving rash. Even my badger brush and sandlewood shaving cream could not fix the poor performance of this razor.
The cost of the azor is only slightly cheaper that the competitors brands. It comes with no stand/tray.
I am loosing my will to type and will end with a straight forward conclusion.
Do not even think about trying the azor. Stick to the razor you have and ignore all this hype. I guess I now understand why there are only two big players in the razor market. Research and development is important. Copying does not guarantee success (just remember trying to use a cheap ink jet cartridge).
Yes, this is the worst razor, in my opinion since the 1970s.
Hello,
I felt compelled to write a response to your comments as I’m the Customer Care Manager for King of Shaves. One comment in particular concerns me - the Azor is most definitely not a fixed head razor! The twin arm cradle you describe is where the hinge for the Azor is located. If you pull the head back gently, you will see the hinge move. The head should flex to around 90 degrees.
My concern is that your hinge hasn’t been activated or that you have a faulty product.
Would you mind trying again and let me know if the head moves? You can contact me on nicky.springle@kingofshaves.com. I would love to show you that the Azor really isn’t the worst razor ever!
Hope to hear from you soon!
Hello Nicky,
Thanks for your comment. I am quite flattered that within ten hours of my post, that you responded with a comment. I am even more amazed that the post was indexed by search engines so quickly.
I have just tried to flex the head of the azor back by pulling gently and to my surprise it did not move. When I applied more force the head did move, but nothing that I would call gentle. Over the next day or so I’ll put together a short video clip demonstrating the flexibility of the azor in comparison to any other razor I have in the house.
I appreciate your comments and will try to be fair in my assessment of the azor. However I still feel that this is not the worst razor ever, but as I say in my post ‘Yes, this is the worst razor, in my opinion since the 1970s’.