Schick Hydro Silk Razor Review

This is the razor that made me decides disposies are the way to go.

I've tried cartridge razors on and off over the years and never been that satisfied with them. Too bulky, too fiddly, too not-lasting-long-enough-for-the-price-y. But as this was a freebie I thought, why not give it a go. Prove me wrong Hydro Silk, I dare you!!

But it didn't. Yes, it gave a nice shave to my legs. It fair swooped up them, like an eagle spotting its prey and diving in for the kill. But it just didn't cut the mustard, or the hair, in the more difficult to reach spots (underarms and other IYKWIM). On top of that the gel strip went crazy after the first use and kind of bulged up and out, spilling gel all over the shower tray and went all long and goopy when I picked it up and tried to use it again. And once I managed to clean the gel off, it felt like it had lost its point of difference, its raison d'etre.

So here endeth my attempts at cartridge razors. I have disposed of this one and picked up my old beloved old disposable again . The old smoothy.

Was horribly disappointed with this razor. During the first couple of uses the "hydro strip" slides off and goes all over the blades. This has happened with every blade replacement I've tried.

Part of the component of the razor is clear which due to being kept in the shower has filled with mould and looks gross (although I believe this component may now be white which solves this issue). I can't wait til I've used all the blades I stupidly purchased so I can toss it for good.

I was given this razor as a freebie when I made a purchase at Wild Pair a couple of months ago. I saved it to take on holiday since it said it had a built in moisturising strip etc and was so disappointed. I used a shaving cream but it still felt like it was taking skin off my underarms, and left a big red rash. The damage wasn't quite so bad on my legs, but the moisture strip bit went all gloopy and basically fell off the razor anyway. I'm going back to stealing my husbands Mach 3 razors again! Glad I didn't pay for this one.

I really hate shaving my legs so I like the process to be as quick and easy as humanly possible! However with the Schick Hydro Silk Razor that promised to hydrate my skin and give a close shave, it was a difficult shaving experience. The razor proclaims to hydrate your skin for up to 2 hours after shaving, whilst my skin felt a bit nicer than my other razor, I still felt the need to moisturize. I do like the motion and grip on the handle of the razor, however I am not a fan of the "moisturizing serum". This was the biggest turn off for me. The serum, that activates when wet, decided to go everywhere on the first use! I found it difficult to shave my legs as the serum would clog up the blades and I would have to go over the same spot on my legs a few times. I also feel that the razor promises to leave skin feeling silky smooth, however my legs just felt slimy. So the moisturizing serum, not only clogged up the blades, but it made my legs slimy and it lingered on the skin a bit too long.

Overall, whilst I admire innovation, and am always up for new ways to adapt my beauty routine, this one failed for me. The serum clogged the blades too much for my liking, making the process of shaving my legs a lot longer than it needed to be. I like the shape, colours, style and 5 blade system of the razor, but I would have preferred it if schick ditched that serum!

My mum brought these for me, she's truly terrible at picking up the razors I look for. The handle is pretty cool, nice and chunky with grip so you don't drop it, but that's about it. I think that is fine for underarms, with soap. But even though it has some sort of serum in it, I still use soap on my legs because I find the serum to not be useful. I doesn't give the closest shave. My legs do feel slightly smoother and moisturized after but I presume that is just because they are hair-less.

I was quite excited to try this because of the moisturising serum strip, but its not for me. I found it super slimy and it skids all over the skin while shaving which equals nicks and cuts! I found the serum prevented me from getting a close shave. My skin was quite bumpy and a wee bit irritated after using. I wont be using it again. I found the Schick disposable razors better than this!

Having been a shick intuition user for years, I was excited to give this a go being that it is much cheaper than my usual razor, however was left feeling slightly disappointed. I felt it dragged on my skin, and left it feeling slight raw and sore after use. I used conditioner with it for my legs (way less drying than soap!) and it still felt a bit rough on my skin - maybe it would work better with shaving cream? I will use this again in case of emergencies, but won't rush off to buy it.

So basically I asked my mother to bring me a razor one time when she visited at the end of winter and she chose this one because she figured it'd save me cash to buy the blades instead of disposable razors all of the time. First of all, the blades are freakin' expensive. I definitely think this product is effective, however and REALLY good for my underarms. I have a skin condition that reacts quite badly when I use disposable razors but I find with the way this one curves it's pretty easy to get to the hair without touching my condition. But for legs, this for me is a no no. No irritation? Um, yes irritation. My skin gets quite red and weird after using this on my legs. I also find that rather than preventing nicks and cuts, I get more cuts with this than past disposable razors. It does get close to the skin and it does effectively remove hair, I won't deny that. Also I find one blade can do both of my underarms and both of my legs, but then again I have never used this on full on leg hair (that's what my hair removal cream is for). Overall it works to remove hair, but I definitely wouldn't use it on my legs ever again. I also want to say that I really love the designs on my razor and the little case thing that sticks to the inside of my shower wall is super convenient.

The main advantage to this razor, as far as I can tell, is that it's virtually impossible to nick yourself with it. That contributes to its main disadvantage, again as far as I can tell, which is that it's not as close a shave as I'd like/am used to. I don't normally notice re-growth until at least two days (I have fair hair) - with this it was the next morning and even straight after the shave, I knew it wasn't the smooth I was used to (I sound like a C-grade ad now). Further, it doesn't cope with that level of re-growth (ie one or two days for me) - simply doesn't get to it.

Whilst the serum helps a little bit with dryness (so gets a bit for 'soft') it by no means removed the need for moisturiser for me. Given that it doesn't meet the mark for smooth, I'd rather save the extra money on this razor, and just use more moisturiser. I'll be shaving less so probably evens out on skin damage in the end.