New Schick Razors - Hydro 5 and Hydro 3 (2024)

http://www.schickhydro.com/

There's a 3-blade and a 5-blade version, and likely not compatible with anything older. I guess the next phase in shaving isn't more blades, just more variety and features. I think part of the strategy is to take away shelf space from older razors and blades, so it will get harder to find blades for Trac II, Tracer, Sensor Xtreme 3, Atra, DE, injector, etc. (It might make my stash of Sensor razors worth more, IF blades will still be available.)

The "amazing feature" of the Hydro is a lubrication strip with a reservoir for more lubricant. Just what MWF lovers have been clamoring for!

I've just shaved with the Hydro 5 and Trumper's Almond cream. There's no doubt it is comfortable; it just glides over the skin like Dagwood Bumstead's bladeless razor. Having used the 5-blade Fusion daily for more than 4 years, I was very alert to the differences between the two competitors. The Hydro is milder.

It does not, however, shave as close, even with four passes. There are times when it doesn't want to engage the whiskers. Instead, it skips over them. This may be due to an excessive amount of lubricating gel being squeezed out upon the face, or it may be the angle of the blades, or an inability to push the rich lather out of the way. These cartridges, remember, were designed for men who use canned foam and gels, of which, naturally, there is a new Hydro line.

This is only an intial take, however. I'll continue with the Hydro and see if a different technique will help.

John.

I'll think of something clever eventually.

why do we even care ...i dont

let them make twenty blades a cartridge and load it up will turmpers cream and trumpers skin food and i still dont care

now if they started making 5 blade packs of usa quality de blades

then we would have something to talk about

marc

95% wrote:I've just shaved with the Hydro 5

How does the blade fit into the handle? Do you know if the 3 and 5 fit the same?

At any rate, I think this means that Dorco's 6-blade monster is probably the end of the line for number of blades squeezed into a cartridge.

Pauldog wrote:At any rate, I think this means that Dorco's 6-blade monster is probably the end of the line for number of blades squeezed into a cartridge.

If I had been around shaving forums longer I'd be searching frantically for a similar post from you or others around the time of the unveiling of the Sensor3

Nick

Give me Lavender or give me death.

Pauldog wrote:How does the blade fit into the handle? Do you know if the 3 and 5 fit the same?

At any rate, I think this means that Dorco's 6-blade monster is probably the end of the line for number of blades squeezed into a cartridge.

The cartridges, which are in a plastic dispenser, snap into place on the handle exactly like earlier generations of multiblades. I don't know if all cartridges fit all handles, but these things are cheap anyway. I bought the Hydro 5 at Walgreen's for $8, and the package included the handle and two cartridges.

I agree we're not likely to see more blades in a cartridge. The upcoming Fusion ProGlide still has five. From here on out, there's not much left for the razor manufacturers to do. "They've gone about as fur as they can go."

Sodapopjones wrote:Why can't Schick re-release the Injectors

+1 Indeed

Ian

95% wrote:The cartridges, which are in a plastic dispenser, snap into place on the handle exactly like earlier generations of multiblades.

"Exactly like" means to me that the cartridge fits onto all handles you're referring to. But they don't, even though they are "all the same" in a more general way.

I'd still like to know if the Hydro 3 and Hydro 5 handles take both Hydro 3 and 5 blades (possible), and whether they fit any other handles (unlikely).

Someone told me something interesting recently. The Sensor-type cartridges made by American Safety Razor (Acti-Flexx and Tri-Flexx) will fit Gillette Sensor razors, but Sensor blades won't fit handles made by American Safety Razor. (Or at least not all of their Sensor-type handles.) Schick did a similar thing with their band razors relative to the Gillette Techmatic.

bernards66 wrote:Aaron, Yeah, well that's what I wrote on the note I included in the box with the free Quattro that I sent back to them.....never got a reply from them though....imagine that...sigh...
Regards,
Gordon

Gordon, nobody currently employed at Schick knows what an injector is

I tried a '3 the other day (wife was shopping and she got it free). Roughly equal to a Mach3, though the pivot engineering looks more like a Sensor (e.g. symmetrical). *yawn*

Sodapopjones wrote:Gordon, nobody currently employed at Schick knows what an injector is

I know you put a smiley in there but its probably more true that you think.

--Mark

My YouTube Shaving Channel

I gave the Hydro 5 a second go today, this time against a tough 48-hour growth of beard. I used T&H Lavender cream, which is a trip in itself. The results were excellent. Success with this razor depends to some extent upon the angle at which it is held to the face, and that requires experimentation. The pivot action is different from the Fusion to which I am accustomed, and I haven't quite mastered the correct way to hold the razor during south - to - north passes. It still skips over the stubble at times, instead of shaving it.

I could wish the Hydro (I almost wrote "Hydra") head were smaller. Schick could have made it a bit narrower, less bulky, and more manipulable. Nevertheless, I would rate it higher than any Schick or Gillette multiblade so far, except the Fusion, which I still prefer.

Roger

I've been a wet shaver for 56 years!

Walgreens has a deal this week where you get a $5 buy-anything-in-the-store coupon if you buy a Hydro for about $8. So I went to look at them. The fitting of the 3 and 5 cartridges looks very similar, but I couldn't tell for sure if they were interchangeable, and I wasn't that interested in spending the money to find out. And I couldn't tell if the deal required the purchase of cartridges as well as a razor, and getting the deal on both razors probably involved going to two different stores to get two separate coupons.

All of that running around would be well worth it to me for injector razors, but not for yet another multi-blade "shaving system."

One think I noted on both Hydros was the blocky-looking "lubrication reservoir" at the top of the cartridges. I'm reminded of an old Saturday Night Live sketch where guest host Eric Idle talked about someone who had a vast infrastructure dedicated to dealing with his drooling.