A few times each year, I shave off my short beard. It’s usually a special occasion—likely Halloween or Movember. So when it came time to kick off Movember this year, I faced the task head on. You might laugh, but it’s no easy task. As any guy with facial hair will tell you, a clean shave after months of sporting a beard can be traumatic. For a few days, you won’t recognize yourself. You might even avoid looking in the mirror entirely and when you catch an odd glimpse, you expect to see your trusty beard…but it’s not there. Instead, there’s some younger-looking, clean-shaven guy staring back at you.

My friends at Philips Norelco happened to call me at the right time. They asked me to test drive their latest and greatest electric razor, the Philips Norelco SensoTouch 3D. Having just grown back my beard after testing some shaving creams, I asked if they could wait until November 1st. All parties agreed, and they sent a razor my way.

Aside from my hesitation to shave off my whiskers, I was loathe to test another rotary razor after multiple experiences of having my face chewed up by them in the past. But in the spirit of journalism, I kept my mind open and was prepared to eat my words.

The reason that I’ve always preferred foil razors to rotary ones is because the circular cutting areas cut in circular motions—meaning with and against the grain of the whisker. Foil razors typically have blades that run side-to-side thereby reducing the chances of shaving against the direction of the whisker growth. Make sense? So, I’ll admit that I’m a little biased.

The Razor: The SensoTouch 3D is one sexy looking razor. It’s black lacquer finish and silver blades really give it some pop. The LED screen to show you battery level is also concealed behind the black finish until your turn it on. A nice touch!

The razor features 3 rotary blade heads that feature a foil-like ring to shave stubble, some larger channels to catch the slightly whiskers and some even larger gaps to catch long hairs. Each blade sits on it’s own independent part of the head to allow all 3 pieces to flex and adjust to the contours of your face. The entire razor head also offers flexibility to increase it’s adaptability even more.

One of the benefits of this fine piece of machinery is that it can also be used wet or dry. Use your favorite shaving cream or use it dry if you’re on the go. I can imagine a lot of guys using this in their cars while sitting in traffic (please don’t.).

The Shave: Before using the razor, I decided to trim my whiskers as short as possible to avoid any tugging. I knew the razor offered some gaps to accommodate long whiskers but I wasn’t about to test that part out. I used my trust Philips Norelco facial hair trimmer, then soaked my face with a hot towel to soften up my beard. I then applied Biotherm Homme Sensitive Shaving Foam and got down to business.

Firing up this bad boy, you can hear the tiny blades working their way around the razor. There’s something pleasing about the sound. The instructions suggest moving the razor in circular motions and moving with the grain of the hair. At first pass, the razor did a great job. It didn’t get clogged with whiskers and shaving cream too quickly and seemed to power through my facial hair without a problem.

The Pros:

• The shave was impressively close! It’s rare to get such a close shave from an electric razor.
• Using shaving cream and warm water with an electric razor makes a huge difference in the quality of the shave. The warm water can really soften up your beard and make it a much more comfortable experience.
• Cleaning the razor was simple. Just rinse it under running water, then place it in the self-cleaning station.

The Cons:

• Shaving with a razor this big sometimes feels like you’re using a spatula. The 3 rotary blades make for one big honker of a razor and reaching some areas (like around the nostrils and chin) were difficult because the blades couldn’t reach.
• I found that I had to go over the same areas multiple times because it wasn’t removing all the whiskers. Even after going over the areas two to three times, I still had to go in with my manual razor to clean up some areas.
• My neck was very irritated in the end. After rinsing off the cream and applying an aftershave, my neck was incredibly red and it looked scraped up. In the razor’s defense, it can take up to three weeks for your skin to get used to shaving with new equipment, so some irritation is expected for sensitive skin like mine.

The cleaning station was nice looking but I worry that the cleaning liquid could easily spill from the container in the bottom if you’re clumsy like me.

Philips Norelco SensoTouch 3D (Model 1250XCC), $250, Philips.com