A newcomer to the shaving market, and one I had been meaning to write about for a while now is the Azor razor by King of Shaves. As a long time user of KOS products I was interested in the new design razor, claiming to offer a much better shave than the leading competitors – Gillette.

The razor looks more like a disposable at first glance, being all single colour plastic rather than the chrome effect I have become more accustomed to with Mach3 and Fusion shavers from Gillette. It does have replaceable heads in much the same was – with 4 blades with an Endurium coating claiming to keep the blades sharper for longer. In use I found the blades typically stayed sharp for around the same length of time as the 5 bladed fusion heads I normally use.

The actual shave it produced was very good once I had got used to a different shaving technique (mainly because the head doesn’t pivot on the handle as I am used to). It provided a smooth shave and I didn’t get any of those annoying cuts which I always seem to get when I use Wilkinson Sword Quattro razors. The end result was also about as close as I am used to getting with any competing product.

The biggest let down was the lack of holder for the razor. I am used to having a holder which holds the handle with head attached as well as some replacement heads, but KOS chose not to provide this with the Azor.

Cost wise the Azor razor are excellent value for money with the blades retailing for around £5 with 3 blades (a few quid cheaper than the Gillette Fusion range when not on offer). Heads are a comparative bargain though, also retailing for around £5 for 4 and £9 for 8. This compares to around £8 for 4 and £15 for 8 Fusion heads. There is still a huge markup on these heads though. Reports have put the costs of making a Fusion head at being around 5p so it should not be costing KOS too much more too make heads for the Azor.

Along with the new razor, KOS have also introduced some new shaving gels with the Azor branding. These are typical quality products as I would expect from KOS and I place them above the standard KOS gels and very close to the higher Kinexium products. There are 2 different gels in the range – the white pack standard and black pack menthol. I have actually now moved away from the Kinexium products to Azor gels because for the price I believe nothing helps provide a better shave.

Recently KOS have also introduced a range of razors for women which are styled on the Azor range called Azure. At first glance the appear to be the same as Azor but with different colours to appeal to women not men.