Ranu's Reviews

I think I’ve been shaving for close to 25 years now as we Italians tend to crack out the razor at a very young age. My five o’clock shadow is more like nightfall at noon and it is as coarse as steel wool. For the better part of my shaving life, I have tried a plethora of razors and never tried using an electric shaver until 10 years ago. That’s when I got a job at Panasonic and had access to a host of Panasonic electric shavers and even some of their competitors. Never been a big fan of electric shavers and felt that I got a better shave with a plain old razor, so I was curious to see if anything has changed in the world of Panasonic men’s shavers since I left the company.

Check Out My Package

At first glance, I could see that the appearance of the shaver has not evolved much. It still has an awkwardly enormous head that can be found on more than one Panasonic shaver. Eh, as long as the shaver works well, who really cares about the aesthetics? Besides, Panasonic gave me the shaver to test out—not to enter it in a beauty pageant.

The shaver conforms comfortably to your hand and is easy to grip. There is also a LED screen right on the handle that displays the battery life and also keeps track of your shaving time (from the time you hit the on button to the time you hit the off button).

The power button is also on the handle above the LED screen which is both a blessing and a curse. I can’t tell you how many times that I inadvertently shut the power off while shaving. That was until I actually read through the manual and discovered the lock button. Then I had no problems.

Need Some Trim?

The one cool thing about this shaver is that it has a pop-up trimmer on the back to assist you with your sideburns, facial hair and even your ears (yes, you eventually will have a need to shave your ears at some point). If you value your sideburns—then don’t use the gigantic shaving head—go with the trimmer! My only gripe with the trimmer is that it does not always pop up that easily. Sometimes it feels like is it going to break when trying to open it.

Adjust This!

Now before you go rubbing that big head all over your face—there is something you should know about electric shavers and razor blades. Panasonic recommends giving yourself 30 days for your face to adjust to your electric shaver and I’ll tell you why. When you shave with a razor blade, you are basically shaving off a thin layer of skin every time, however, when using electric you are shaving just the hair—not the skin. After each shave with a blade, your body produces scar tissue and this does not occur when using electric, so your body needs time to get rid of that built-up scar tissue. I’ve been through this routine several times and I’m not going to sugarcoat it—the first few days with an electric shaver just plain suck! Your face may become irritated and have an unpleasant appearance, but it will be smooth sailing after three or four weeks. Just stick with it and don’t give up on your electric shaver until your face adjusts to it.

Like It Wet or Dry?

This Panasonic shaver allows you to shave in or out of the shower. Personally, this land lubber always shaves outside of the shower, but I had to try shaving in the shower to fairly evaluate this product. It will be the last time I shave in the shower unless my head is on fire. Shaving in the shower was a hot mess. The wet hair that I shaved stuck to my face like a frigging Magna Doodle and it was hard to tell what I shaved because I had little black hairs smeared all over my face. Now, I don’t think this was entirely because of the shaver, but there is only so much I can chalk up to my inexperience of shaving in the shower.

Charge!

This shaver does a superior job of displaying the remaining charge percentage on the LED screen. I would say that I got an average of six to seven shaves in before running the battery dry. And the charging time is not very long at all—I think it took me about 20 or so minutes to get from 0 to 100%. The one negative is that you cannot use the shaver when it is plugged in. If I do remember correctly, this might be done purposely for legal reasons. This way Panasonic can’t get sued by some idiot that electrocutes himself by shaving in the water with the unit plugged in. Some things in this world should be obvious, but I can’t fault the company for protecting themselves.

Electric Avenue

I ditched my disposable razor blades about five months ago and have been shaving faithfully with the Panasonic ES-LA63-S just about every day during the week. Shaving with an electric shaver is definitely a more tedious process than using a razor blade and the Panasonic shaver’s LED screen did a great job of telling me that it took around four minutes per day to do a task that usually takes me 60 seconds. Over time, I was able to get my shaving time down to a respectable two minutes, but shaving with a razor blade is still easier in my book.

I have to admit that the shave itself on my face was spectacular. No doubt it was the closest shave I ever received from an electric shaver, however, the same could not be said for my neck. It did an inconsistent job at best and it seems like the only constant was the hair that was left under my jaw. There is so much to do in the morning before work (like checking my fantasy sports’ teams, Facebook, getting my daughter ready for school, etc.) so the last thing I want to do is check the stump that holds my head up for rogue hairs.

You have to be able to trust your razor to get the job done right the first time. While I believe that this Panasonic electric shaver will take care of my face, I have about as much faith in Tiger Woods not cheating on his wife again as I do in this shaver taking care of business on my neck. Normally, I wouldn’t be as strict on expectations, but when you’re plunking down almost $300 for this bad boy—I expect near perfection!

The End Result

The Panasonic ES-LA63-S is a great electric shaver, but not perfect. After trying a bunch of Panasonic shavers over the years, I can honestly say this is their best offering, but there is always room for improvement. With the rising (and ridiculous) cost of disposable razor blades, you might want to consider giving electric a try because it might prove to be more cost efficient in the long run, however, $300 is a lot of cheddar to put out for a product that does a cheesy job on your neck.

For more information, check out Panasonic's web site.