The following is my personal view and experience of the new Schick Hydro 5 vs the King of Shaves Azor M.
Firstly I will point out that it would be obvious to all that my preference would be the Azor M – however I did try to be as objective as possible.
Packaging: Although Schick have tried to reduce the size of the packaging (adopting the same pack as had been recently introduced to the older Quatro) You still cannot recycle the plastic and it takes a chainsaw to open – good luck trying to find something in the bathroom to open it with – As I found out. The Azor M wins this battle hands down.
The Hydro comes with a large handle white holder and a blue and clear plastic cartridge holder with a replacement cartridge – the Azor M simply has a clear tray and cartridge (up to you who wins on the ‘extras’ battle – I personally wouldn’t use the holder as I hang my razor in the shower).
Both handles have a similar feel weight wise but the Hydro
has gone for the shinny blue metal and grey rubber look whereas the Azor M has opted for the hand finished Alloy – again, personal preference will prevail here.
The Shave: The most important part of this exercise for me was how would they both perform. I used the King of Shaves Sensitive canned gel as my shave prep and shaved one side with the Hydro the other with the Azor M.
1st up the Hydro – The Blades were sharp and cut through the 3 day growth with ease. The shave felt a little rigid (very little give) and I felt myself pushing harder on the face. It negotiated the contours of my face well without drag. I’m from the ‘Bond’ generation and the new ‘Flip trimmer’ on the cartridge I actually liked – much prefer it to an additional blade on the back – however, I do feel that for me it’s a bit unnecessary – I don’t have sculptured bristles.
All in all a decent shave.
The Azor M – the living hinge felt a lot more comfortable. Less push and felt a lot less mechanical. The thinner topped V2 blades meant that I could get into the ‘German dictators’ whiskers under my nose, without looking like a gaping black holed nostril monster.
Again, all in all – a great shave.
Post shave – as I patted my face dry, I could already start to feel a little tingling on the Schick side of my face – after an hour the tell tale signs of red razor burn had appeared on the Schick side. Thankfully it didn’t last too long – but still it was there! I would assume that this would be down to the lack of ‘give’ in the shave – will have to investigate this further.
The final test:
As a final shave test I asked my partner Silvana to give her ‘touch test’ on which side had the closest shave….
Azor M – victorious! Phew
From Dave Mcleod

Just received the latest supermarket salea data – What a week. Record sales in Foodtown, Countdown and Woolworths (in fact sales doubled) and we are now #3 selling razor nationally in PnS and New Worlds (and we’re only in around 40% of their stores)
If your local store doesn’t stock the King of Shaves Azor then it’s time for you to ask them WHY!
Go the All Whites!

On his tour of Australasia, King of Shaves founder Will King voiced that his mission was to break the overpriced duoploly in the shaver market. He wants ‘Fair priced shaving for all’.

In what we believe is a world first – this has happened on NZ supermarket shelves - genius

What a fantastic 10 days it has been. Will King (KoS founder) has been on a down under visit, helping launch the Azor in Aus and Shaveolution in NZ. I have to say, the reception by the press and the Ausiwis has been incredible.TV, Radio, Web, Mags…. even the guy at passport control in NZ told Will that he uses King of Shaves.
Stories came in thick and fast – Kiwi Shaver, The king of shaves in town for a short sharp visit plus many more.
Google King of Shaves nz or have a look at the Azor by King of Shaves facebook wall for a raft of links.
Will blog more soon