Best electric shavers for men UK 2021: performance electric razors from Remington, Philips, Braun and Boots
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Whether you think shaving’s a chore or you enjoy sculpting your facial fuzz, the right electric shaver could make for a neater shave and better skin condition.
These clever tools use motorised blades to cut facial hair, often without the need to add shaving foam or water. All the user needs to do is switch the shaver on, and move it carefully across their face and neck.
What is a foil-type shaver, and what is a rotary?
Most modern electric shavers belong to one of two types: foil or rotary.
Foil-type shavers have straight heads designed for shaving with a back-and-forth motion. Their oscillating blades are covered with a protective foil, which should prevent the user’s skin from getting caught by the blades.
Meanwhile, rotary-type shavers use a trio of circular heads, each of which has its own spinning cutter(s) and protective surface.
As a rule, foil shavers tend to provide a slightly closer shave, while rotary shavers are usually better at following the contours of the face. Picking between the two types is largely a matter of personal taste.
Wireless or battery-powered?
Most electric shavers these days are wireless, running off in-built batteries, which can be recharged by either plugging the shaver into a charging dock or connecting it directly to the mains.
For this article, we tested a selection of electric shavers across a range of price points, and chose a selection of our seven favourites. We've including foil models, rotary models, and one unique wildcard option.
The Remington F7 offers the key benefits of some of the best foil shavers in a very reasonably priced package. With two regular foils sandwiching an intercept trimmer designed to catch longer hairs, it’s well equipped to give a really thorough shave.
We found that this shaver could work just as quickly over a wide area of facial hair as some of its much costlier rivals. The shave is not quite as clean as you’d get with one of the Braun foil shavers also featured in this guide, but it still does an excellent job and is convenient to use.
A particularly useful feature of the F7 is its precision trimmer, which pops out of the near side of the shaver to provide an easier way to shave craggier parts of the face and neck.
Cordless. 50 minutes run-time once charged (2 hour charge time)
Rotary-style shavers were invented by a Philips engineer, Alexandre Horowitz, in the 1930s – and the Dutch brand has remained unbeatable at making this type of electric shaver to this day.
True to its maker’s heritage, the Philips Prestige is an incredible rotary shaver, offering exceptional user-friendliness and shaving performance.
Our reviewer rated it as one of the easiest shavers to use, producing a really clean shave in just one or two passes over the skin. The three rotary heads of the shaver are impressively flexible – we found they could make their way into craggier areas like the sides of the Adam’s apple and under the nose far more easily than most other models we tested.
Cordless. 60 minutes run time when charged (180 minutes charge time)
This powerful shaver did an excellent job of giving our reviewer a clean, close shave, performing brilliantly even on areas with thicker hairs, such as the chin.
It’s not quite as delicate as the likes of the Philips Series 9000 or Braun Series 9, but it certainly gets the job done fast and well.
Perhaps the most impressive feature of the Series 7 is its head, which can flex in every direction to follow the contours of the face. This brilliantly designed component made the Series 7 the most maneuverable of all the foil shavers reviewed for this article.
Cordless. 50 minutes run-time when charged (100 minutes charge time).
Here’s a wildcard option that could be a perfect fit for shoppers who can’t decide whether they’d prefer an electric shaver or a traditional razor.
The GilletteLabs Heated Razor is a handheld razor with a difference. Just above the blades, there’s a heated strip that warms the skin before the razor passes over it. This unique feature provides a lovely, consistent warmth, much like a barber’s hot towel. It makes for a pleasant and comfortable shave.
Unlike the electric shavers featured in this article, the GilletteLabs Heated Razor is only intended for wet shaves. It's perfect if you want to turn shaving into a luxury experience (but it's not the time-saver on this list).
Cordless. 50 minutes run time when charged (2 hour charge time)
Offering good shaving performance at an amazing price, the Philips Series 3000 is our top pick for shoppers on a sensible budget.
In our testing, the Series 3000 proved itself capable of giving an impressively close shave. The three circular shaving heads were able to catch hairs short and long with equal aplomb, and the head itself proved maneuverable enough to get into tight spaces such as the area just under the nose.
One of the great things about this shaver is its ease of maintenance. The head pops open at the push of the button, allowing the user to easily rinse out any hairs which have been gathered by the three shaving contacts.
Cordless. 60 minutes run time when charged (2 hours charge time).
We were blown away by the performance of this top-of-the-line shaver from Braun. Quite simply, it gave the closest shave of any foil shaver we tested.
The foil head of the Series 9 worked wonders on our reviewer’s facial hair, neatly shaving even stubborn patches around the jawline. The precision trimmer on the back proved extremely handy for neatening up sideburns and nipping off stray hairs.
Another big advantage of the Series 9 is its Clean & Charge Station, which handily combines cleaning, charging and storage functions in a single dock.
Cordless. 60 minutes run-time when charged (100 minute charge time)
This effective, affordable rotary shaver from Remington gives a good shave considering its mid-market price. Our reviewer found that it took just a few runs over the skin to shave the hair close, though it wasn't as fast or as smooth as the Braun Series 9.
The R7 is easy-to-use, comfortable on the skin, and perfectly simple to maintain. The pop-up precision trimmer built into the shaver is great for tidying up fiddly areas like the sideburns.
The major downside to this shaver is the relatively lengthy charging time: 4 hours will get you about 50 minutes of charge. So long as you can remember to charge it a little in advance of when you need it, this won’t be a major problem.
Coredless. 50 minutes run-time when charged (4 hours charge time).