Gillette's new razor will give you a kinder, gentler shave

SkinGuard Sensitive ditches the toxic, 57-blade arms race for men who are ‘sensitive’

Duncan Bell
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It's a tough time to be a traditional razor maker. As well as the rise of men having beards, and disruptive subscription razor services, Gillette has spent the last decade bogged down in a willy-waving facial arms race with Wilkinson Sword to see who can pack the most blades and mechanical gizmos into its razors. 

However, Gillette is now appealing to more sensitive customers with its adverts, and more sensitive skin with its new razor, aptly named SkinGuard Sensitive. We've been using one for the last month, and we are seriously impressed.

Just two blades… and a whole lotta lube

As you can see, there a few obvious differences between this and previous Gillette razors. There's only two blades, and they're separated by a 'SkinGuard bar'. 

This 'gently smooths and flattens the skin away, taking the pressure off the blades during the shave,' according to Gillette, whose research is 'certified by the British Skin Foundation (BSF)' and 'clinically proven to stop shaving irritation.'

The other obvious change is that the lubricating strip usually found on Gillette and other razors is now a lubricating rectangle, positioned above and below the blade array.

A third of British men consider themselves to have sensitive skin, but even if you don't, the SkinGuard Sensitive undoubtedly gives a very comfortable shave. 

 Kristina Vanoosthuyze, Senior Scientific Communications Manager at Gillette says, 'We challenged ourselves to rebuild the traditional razor from the ground-up, optimizing for comfort above all else because we believe all men, including those who have sensitive skin, deserve to look and feel their best.'

To this end, the pair of sharp blades are coated for 'low cutting force', and positioned so that hair is only pulled and cut twice in each stroke, reducing tug and pull. 

The result is a shave that's at skin level only, whereas butch, multi-blade razors actually cut below the level of the skin, which is what causes irritation to those with sensitive skin.

We found that, used daily or every couple of days, SkinGuard Sensitive gave a smooth shave without any soreness or redness. The design does slightly resemble a body shaver, and it is indeed excellent for manscaping, removal of bodily hair you don't want and 'tidying your downstairs'.

However, we would not recommend trying to shave a week's worth of beard with this, as you'll be there for hours. We tried just this on one occasion, so we know what we're talking about. 

It's also important to store this razor somewhere dry, or that over-sized lube-strip will degrade rapidly. That aside, if you have sensitive skin or just want an easier, less severe shave, SkinGuard comes highly recommended from T3.

Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years. 

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."

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