Review on 🪒 Panasonic ES8103S Arc3 Electric Shaver and Trimmer for Men - Wet/Dry, 3 Nanotech Blades, Flexible Pivoting Head by Leslie Smith

It's been many years since I've exclusively used an electric shaver and the last one I had, a late 90's Norelco, was a real workhorse. It was the electric razor that I chose as a Christmas present when I was almost 18 years old. I used this razor until the batteries ran out and it stayed in the closet when I started switching between a regular razor and my dad's cheap electric rotary razor. To be honest they both ripped my face off when I was using them. After a while I finally found a three blade razor that did the job perfectly and I stuck with it. Almost 2 decades later I've tried several razors including a 65 year old safety razor that did the job perfectly but was hard on my skin when I was in a hurry. After a few more experiments, I settled on a relatively cheap shaving system that worked well. You see, I find that anything that has more than three blades in a regular razor irritates my skin and causes unwanted ingrown hairs on my face. With razors with 3-blade cartridges seemingly giving way to razors with 4, 5 and even 6 blades, I needed an alternative. That's when I started getting interested in electric razors again. I knew I wanted a foil razor as experience has shown that a foil razor works well on my face/skin without irritating it. But when you start reading reviews, most say you need to go for Braun razors with foil, but for that kind of money I just didn't see the point. I'm sure a $100-$300 foil shaver is good and very advanced, but I just cut my hair and all I need is something that can handle it. So I sat down and made a list of .1. It should be a razor with foil2. It must be powered by lithium-ion3. It was necessary to use more than 30 minutes without charging4. Some kind of battery indicator. Good reviews from people using it.6. Less than $1007. Wet/Dry Use After a lot of research I came across this Panasonic Arc series. They all have good overall reviews, and the reviews meta-analysis shows very few paid reviews for these razors, meaning people actually liked the razor enough to log on and write about it. This met requirement #5. For the price I paid for mine about 60.00 it met my requirement #6 and the other parts of the razor covered #7, #4, #3, #. 2 and of course No. 1 off. So I bought it. Day #1. The first day it took about 20 minutes to charge it to 60% before I used it. I have about 2 days of growth so it wasn't a beard, but it wasn't just stubble either. The total shaving time is about 4.5 minutes and I had to go over 2 small spots again because I shaved without a mirror. After the aftershave and some time to calm down, my face is as smooth as a safety razor and smoother than a razor. On day 1 I give this razor a 9/10. The 2 point deduction is due to having to do the jawline twice as I didn't manage to cut the radius of the jawbone without skipping a few hairs. I suspect this is due to my lack of experience with this razor. All in all, the shave went really well. Day 5. I shaved 3 times this week, which is significantly more than usual when I shave 1-2 times a week. The razor does a great job. One thing I noticed is that the longer the razor is used, the foil heats up, which is obviously a side effect of the slight rubbing. Because of this, I find it much better to shave the more sensitive areas of the face first and then move on to other areas. Also, it's very loud! Do not wake the baby loudly, but very clearly to those around you. Day 10. Today I have the Arc 3's wet/dry wash feature. After dousing my face with hot water, I applied the average $1-2 shaving cream and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then I applied a second coat of shaving cream and started shaving. The extra lubrication was nice and made the razor glide much better than when I dry shaved. However, the vibration of the cutting head splashed water everywhere while I shaved. Another downside is that with shaving cream it's hard to see where you're shaving or what you've missed. Overall, for my face at least, the result was no better or worse than a dry shave. Perhaps a longer soak to soften the stubble, or maybe a shave after a shower would give better results, but I doubt it would make much of a difference. Another test I plan to try later is using a product specifically designed for pre-shave use with an electric razor. Overall I have to say that the Arc 3 is the best shaver I have ever used. It cuts clean and close, which says a lot with barbed wire, which I call facial hair. For the price, I think this is a clear winner and a good compromise between cheap razors that cripple your face and ones that cost a few hundred dollars.