Review – Braun CoolTec CT2s Electric Shaver

The nice folk at Braun sent me one of their CoolTec shavers – the CT2s Model to be precise.

I’ve never owned an Electric Shaver before, I’ve often thought about purchasing one to use every-so-often in between shaves or when away from home.

In the box you’ve got the Braun CoolTec CT2s Electric Shaver itself, and a charging cradle that comes in two parts that click together. If you’re not planning on charging this in a shaving socket in the bathroom, you’ll need a shaving adapter to plug it in to a ‘normal’ socket.

The thing that sets the Braun CoolTec CT2s apart from other Electric Shavers is the ‘Active Cooling Technology’ – this is a metal strip in the shaving head that ‘cools’ when you switch it on. The switch is the button with the snowflake symbol on on the shaver, press it and it glows an ice blue and the Active Cooling Technology strip kicks in. The idea behind the cooling is that the ‘ice cold’ strip soothes the skin and lessens irritation, which for someone with sensitive skin like me sounds great.

So that’s the theory, how does it work in practice?

Well – despite saying in the instructions the cooling effect might vary, I did find that yes indeed, it certainly works for me, the shaving head has a pleasant ‘cold’ feeling when the Cooling Technology is switched on. It felt good as the shaver went across my face and I didn’t feel much, if any irritation, during or afterwards. Good news!

Ish.

The Braun CoolTec CT2s didn’t do the BEST job at shaving my face – I needed several passes across my face to get all the hairs, and even then, it wasn’t the cleanest of shaves. Where it did get the hairs, it gave a very close shave, there wasn’t a ‘Homer Simpson’ stubble left, but unfortunately, it took a bit of effort to get them ALL. Also after a few days of growth, it was a little ‘ouch’ shaving – there was a little pulling of the hairs, not even the Cooling Technology could stop that.

I am used to a ‘manual’ shave and am still loving the Cornerstone Razor I was sent before Christmas, but a manual razor, whilst does offer excellent results, is a bit of a faff. The Braun CoolTec CT2s offers convenience by the shed load, and the charging cradle offers allows a quick battery top up after a shave, although it would be sufficient for a few days shave away from the mains.

In short, the Active Cooling Technology works brilliantly, I think the shaving element could be better, but it’s certainly not bad, plus it’s completely waterproof too so you can shave and shower (although the manual recommends you DON’T wash your face first!)