Philips OneBlade Pro 360 review: close enough to retire your razor?

Seven red bumps. That's how many I counted on my husband Tom's neck the morning after a wedding he'd shaved for with a five-blade razor. He looked great in the photos, from the chin up.

Tom has the kind of skin that punishes a close shave. Coarse hair, a neck where the hair grows in three directions, and razor bumps that last longer than the compliments. So when we planned a review of the Philips Norelco OneBlade Pro 360, he volunteered before I finished the sentence.

I didn't want only one face in the test, though. So our outdoor tester Randall Plunkett, who has a beard you could lose a spatula in, used it for trimming. And I used the body attachments on my legs and underarms, because the box says "Face + Body" and I wanted to know if that's true. Eight weeks later, here's the verdict.

What makes the OneBlade different

The OneBlade isn't a razor and it isn't a normal trimmer. It sits in between. A small cutter moves side to side 12,000 times a minute behind a guard, so it cuts hair just above the skin instead of scraping across it. That's why it can't get as close as a razor, and also why it's so gentle.

The Pro 360 version adds three things over the basic model. The blade head pivots in every direction, so it follows the jaw and the curve under the chin. The comb has 20 length settings, from 0.4 to 10 mm, set with a dial instead of swapping clip-on combs. And there's a small display showing battery. The Face + Body box we bought also comes with a body comb and a skin guard for sensitive areas.

It's waterproof, so you can use it dry at the sink or with gel in the shower. Which, as it turns out, is the setting that saved a small domestic dispute.

How we tested it

We bought the Face + Body set at retail and used it from April 20 to June 15. Tom shaved or trimmed with it four times a week, Randall trimmed twice a week, and I used the body comb and skin guard on legs and underarms roughly every five days. Each of us kept a short log: minutes, passes, any redness at 1 hour and the next morning, and a fingertip closeness score from 1 to 5.

We also compared it head to head with a five-blade razor and a foil shaver on alternate days, and ran the battery down twice from full. Our full process is on the how we test page.

Tom's neck: the result that matters most

Here's the number I care about. After a razor shave, Tom's neck had 5 to 7 visible bumps the next day, every time. After a OneBlade shave, the count was 0 or 1 on 27 of the 31 shaves in his log. By week three, the redness that usually hung around his collar line was simply gone.

The shave itself took longer. From three-day stubble to clean, he averaged 6 minutes 20 seconds with the OneBlade against about 4 minutes with a razor. Short strokes against the grain worked best. Long, fast strokes left patches under the jaw where the hair grows sideways.

"It's the first time I've shaved on a Monday and still had a neck I could show people on Wednesday." Tom, who is now in charge of reminding everyone to rinse the blade

So the comfort part is a clear yes. The obvious next question is how close "close" really is.

How close does it actually shave?

Not razor close, and Philips doesn't pretend otherwise. On our fingertip test, the razor scored 5 out of 5 right after shaving, the foil shaver 4.5, the OneBlade 3.5 to 4. Run your hand up the neck against the grain and you'll feel a very fine sandpaper, not a smooth surface.

The stubble also comes back sooner. Tom's razor shaves looked clean until about 9 p.m. His OneBlade shaves showed a faint shadow by around 5 p.m. For most days that was fine. For a wedding or an interview, he'd still pick the razor and accept the bumps, or shave the night before.

The shower routine also ended the sink argument. Dry trimming leaves a fine layer of hair in the basin that nobody wants to clean, and for the first two weeks that nobody was, somehow, always me. Shower shaving washed it all away. Peace was restored.

Trimming and edging: where it really shines

If the OneBlade is only average as a shaver, it's excellent as an edger. The blade has teeth on both sides and you can see exactly where it cuts, so shaping a cheek line or a neckline is precise and quick. Tom's neckline took under a minute, and it was the cleanest line he'd managed at home.

The 20-length comb is the upgrade we liked most. You twist a dial, it clicks at each setting, and it doesn't slip while you trim. Tom kept a 3 mm stubble for two weeks using the 3 mm setting every third day, and the length stayed even across his whole face.

Randall's beard was the stress test. At about 1.5 inches, it's longer than the comb's maximum of 10 mm, so he used it to tidy the edges and take the bulk down. On long hair the cutter needed three passes in places and pulled twice. His verdict was blunt: "Great for the edges, but I'm keeping my big trimmer for the bulk." That's fair. It isn't built for full beards.

Legs, underarms and the body kit

Since the box says Face + Body, I tried it. With the skin guard clipped on, underarms took about 2 minutes with no redness at all, which never happens to me with a razor. Legs took 9 minutes dry or 7 in the shower, compared with 5 minutes with a razor.

The finish is like the face: smooth to look at, a little rough to the touch, and visible stubble on day two instead of day three. For summer shorts days I still used a razor. For the in-between days and sensitive areas, I reached for the OneBlade and never once had to look for a bandage. After years of little ankle nicks, I'll take that.

Battery, blades and running costs

Philips rates the Pro models at up to 90 minutes of use. We got 84 and 87 minutes in our two run-downs. For Tom, four sessions a week, that meant charging about once a month. The display counts down the battery so it never died mid-shave.

The blade is the running cost. Philips recommends a new one about every four months for the best results. Tom's blade started tugging slightly under the jaw around week seven, but he uses it more than most. A two-pack of 360 blades costs about $30 to $35, so budget roughly $50 a year. Rinse it after every use and it lasts noticeably longer.

Four mistakes we made in week one

Every one of these cost us a worse shave before we figured it out. Learn them from us instead.

• Pressing too hard. With a razor you press. With the OneBlade you let it glide. Pressing flattens the hair and the cutter skips over it, so you end up doing more passes, not fewer.
• Going with the grain only. Fine for trimming, useless for shaving. Against the grain, in short strokes, is what gets the neck clean.
• Using the comb on wet, flat hair. Tom's 3 mm trims came out uneven twice when he trimmed right after a shower. Dry hair stands up and gets cut evenly.
• Forgetting to rinse. Hair packed into the blade makes it pull. A 5-second rinse under the tap after each use kept ours cutting smoothly until week seven.

Randall added a fifth, which I'll pass on in his words: "Don't trim your beard next to a lit grill." He didn't elaborate, and we didn't ask. With those lessons out of the way, here are the numbers.

OneBlade Pro 360 specs

Spec	OneBlade Pro 360 Face + Body
Price at the time of writing	$89.99 list, often $60 to $70 on sale
Cutter speed	12,000 cuts per minute
Blade	360 Blade, pivots in all directions
Length settings	20, from 0.4 to 10 mm, dial comb
In the box	Handle, 360 blade, 20-length comb, body comb, skin guard, charger
Battery claimed / measured	Up to 90 min / 84 and 87 min
Wet and dry	Yes, shower-safe
Replacement blades	About $30 to $35 per two-pack, one every 4 months

Who should buy it, and who shouldn't

Alternatives worth a look

OneBlade Face (basic model): around $40, same blade idea without the pivoting head, with a few clip-on combs. A good trial if you're not sure the concept suits you.

A foil shaver, like the Braun Series 9: closer than the OneBlade and still gentler than a razor, but several times the price and no good for edging.

A dedicated beard trimmer: if your beard is long, a trimmer with a wider blade and a stronger motor will get the bulk down faster, and you can keep a OneBlade for the edges.

For the other side of the bathroom mirror, there's our Dyson Airwrap Co-anda 2x review. Our current picks across grooming and beauty are on the reviews page.

Questions people ask about the OneBlade Pro 360