Not all that long ago, I wrote that I was fine with a cheap electric shaver and a bottle of Lectric Shave for those days I couldn’t muster the time needed to break out the straight razor (most days). I’ve had a change of heart, or rather, a change of face. I just got tired of running my cheap Braun Series 3 over the same patch of skin over and over to get it smooth. It was beginning to irritate the hell out of my neck and leave me (literally) red-faced in the mornings.Then I upgraded to the Braun Series 8 Electric Shaver. It wasn’t cheap at $250, but it was a huge leap in shaving quality. No longer did my neck scream out from irritation every morning. I prefer a good wet shave with a manual razor; I just use electric shavers out of convenience when I need to. But with the Series 8, I found myself not cursing my lack of time when I reached for it on mornings where I just needed a clean, smooth shave fast.the hairy details you need to knowBraun Series 8 Electric Shaver charging – Credit: Matt JancerThe Braun Series 8 is Braun’s second-best electric shaver, after the Braun Series 9 PRO and Braun Series 9 PRO+. Yeah, I’m counting them as one line, since they’re two versions of the same basic Series 9 shaver. The Braun Series 8 Electric Shaver offers the closest, smoothest shave of any electric shaver I’ve ever used, and I’ve used a bunch over the last 20 years. Is it worth the high cost of entry? Yeah, I’d say so. You can get as close of a shave with a can of shaving cream and a safety razor, but it won’t be as quick and mess-free as with the Braun.(opens in a new window)BraunSeries 8 Electric Shaver(opens in a new window)Available at AmazonBuy Now(opens in a new window)pros & consPros:Close, gentle shaveLong battery lifeVery quick chargingCons:Travel case has no room for attachmentsFlimsy pop-out edge trimmerhow i tested the braun series 8 electric shaverTo keep everything on an even playing field, I kept to the same routine every morning. I’d shower first, because the steam from the warm water would open up the pores on my face and allow my beard hairs to stand up straighter, making them easier to cut. Then after toweling off and making sure my face was reasonably dry, but neither waiting a terribly long time (perhaps 10 minutes), I’d go to work.Because I’ve kept a beard ever since I was 17, for which I’m now using the excellent Braun Series 9 Pro Beard Trimmer (read my review here), I don’t shave over my cheeks and jawline. I do, though, trim the cheekbone lines straight and shave underneath the fade beneath my jaw so that I don’t end up a neckbeard. That’s plenty of real estate, for which I need a decent shaver. Luckily for us, my face keeps growing this stuff all day long, every day, so I could test it out over and over (and over).what it was like to run the braun series 8 electric shaver over my face (repeatedly)the detachable head removed – Credit: Matt JancerMany years ago in the mid-2010s, I used a Braun Series 7 electric shaver to lawnmower my prodigious beard growth each morning. Why I had such a nice shaver in my early-mid 20s, I don’t know. I’m sure I had a suitably dumb reason. But you know? It wasn’t all that great. It was fine, but hardly worth the price, and so when it came time to replace it, I just went with a Braun Series 3, the cheapest electric shaver in Braun’s quiver.This was an old Series 7. Braun has redesigned and replaced the Series 7 several times over since then. At some point between then and now, Braun’s pricier electric shavers became worth their asking price. The new Braun Series 8, which sits one slot higher in Braun’s lineup than the Series 7, is every bit the smooth operator that my old Braun wanted to be.Given the forces of offshoring, I’ve been waiting for the day Braun outsources production of its electric shavers. That day still hasn’t come, as the Series 8 Electric Shaver is still made in Germany. As always, it has a solid build quality. Who’s to say how it’ll last over the long run, but I’ve been using it daily for the last four months with no hiccups. My Braun electric shavers and beard trimmers, over the past 20 years, have tended to last me seven or eight years of daily use.Such a Smooth Shave, DaddioBraun Series 8 Electric Shaver in its case – Credit: Matt JancerFor as long as I remember, I’ve preferred Braun’s roughly rectangular “cassette” shaver heads to Philips Norelco’s multiple rotary blades, which are circular blades clustered together like grapes on the vine. I’ve always gotten a closer shave out of the cassette type, and it’s been easier to draw sharp, straight lines between beard and clean-shaven parts of my face and neck.The Braun Series 8 can achieve a very close, non-irritating shave. Nearly as close as my straight razors. Poking at my own skin, I can tell where the simple razor could get a bit closer to the skin, as any decent manual blade will, but it was a closer contest between it and the Braun than I’d expected. Nobody else would notice the difference unless you pointed it out to them.the pop-out trimmer deployed – Credit: Matt JancerThere’s a pop-out trimmer on the back of the shaver for cleaning up straight edges and sideburns, but it’s flimsy, as they all are on Braun shavers going back to the early 2010s, at least. If you use it, be careful with it. If you want to do anything more than the bare minimum in shaping your beard, buy a dedicated trimmer that’s built for that, like the Braun Series 9 Pro Beard Trimmer. It’s more robust and offers a closer shave in a more maneuverable form.Battery Life for WeeksThe Series 8 uses an internal, rechargeable lithium-ion battery. I charge it perhaps once a month, and that’s not even because it runs out of battery by then. I just get impatient and stick it on its charging stand to bring it back up to 100% charge.the water-resistant charger – Credit: Matt JancerRather than an old nickel-metal hydride battery, like the Braun Series 3, the Series 8’s li-on recharges in hardly any time at all. Think an hour or two, and not overnight. The charger functions as a stand that you can leave plugged into a bathroom wall outlet all the time. It’s water resistant enough to live on your countertop without worrying about shorting out the device, as long as you don’t get water near the wall outlet plug. But having such a long battery life and quick recharge time is great for people like me who can’t leave it plugged in all the time.alternatives to the braun series 8 electric shaver(opens in a new window)BraunSeries 3 Electric Shaver(opens in a new window)Available at AmazonBuy Now(opens in a new window)Available at WalmartBuy Now(opens in a new window)I spent at least two years using the Braun Series 3 Electric Shaver. Except for the very odd and occasional day, I used it each and every morning. For $65, it’s the best electric shaver you’ll find, but I noticed a definite upgrade when I swapped it out for the Braun Series 8. The latter required fewer passes over the same stretch of face to get it baby smooth, which meant a lot less irritation. That’s what eventually drove me to stick my Series 3 in a drawer. I was tired of looking and feeling like I’d be strangled by a medieval knight wearing metal gauntlets.(opens in a new window)Philips NorelcoElectric Shaver i9000(opens in a new window)Available at AmazonBuy Now(opens in a new window)Despite what I said about preferring Braun’s cassette shaver heads to Philips Norelco’s rotary heads, I’d be neglectful if I didn’t include a Philips Norelco shaver. It is, after all, Braun’s main competition. The Philips Norelco Shaver i9000 Electric Shaver is a different experience because of those blades. Some people prefer rotary blades because they follow the contours of a jawbone more closely than a cassette shaver.do I have to use aftershave?Nah, you don’t have to. Aftershave is meant to do a couple of things. One, it soothes and moisturizes skin irritated by the act of dragging a razor blade over it. Two, the alcohol in it is an antiseptic that treats the scrapes you might’ve inflicted on yourself while shaving. But it burns, although little Kevin McAlister in Home Alone drastically oversold it for laughs. Try shaving without it. If you find your face irritated and dry, then shop for an aftershave with a scent you like. Bay Rum is the old-time classic.can i just use an all-in-one beard trimmer?You can. I wouldn’t recommend it. Even with a very good beard trimmer, such as the Braun Series 9 Pro Beard Trimmer (read my review here), the bare shaving head isn’t going to cut nearly as close of a shave as an electric shaver. It’ll also irritate the hell out of your skin. How do I know? Because I tried it, all for you guys.Running the bare trimmer head over skin in the hopes of getting it smooth is a waste of time. It took down some of my whiskers to a five-o’clock stubble, but no closer, and I had to run the bare trimmer over the same parts of my face over and over to get to that point, which left it irritated. Nicking myself with the shaver hardly ever happened, but little bloody abrasions when trying to force the bare trimmer into that task were common.the bottom lineLook, it’s a hard pill to swallow when an electric shaver costs over $200. I know it, because I bought this shaver myself and I’d historically cheaped out on electric shavers. But here’s the way I look at it: How much use am I going to get out of the thing? Years, and I’ll be using it every day. The cost per use, then, sinks way below $1 and becomes pocket change.Is it worth paying a premium to not have a neck that feels and looks like a prop in a Friday the 13th film every day? Worth not spending minutes longer going over the same patches of skin over and over to get a close-enough shave? Yes. Easily.(opens in a new window)BraunSeries 8 Electric Shaver(opens in a new window)Available at AmazonBuy Now(opens in a new window)The post Smooth Operator: The Braun Series 8 Electric Shaver Treated My Face Like Royalty appeared first on VICE.