PRODUCT REVIEW: Kibiy Electric Shaving System

(Infernal Destroyer - El Huervo)

Men and women have been looking for a better way to peel themselves for years now.  We're typically looking for three things:

- Something that's inexpensive.
- Something that's quick.
- Something that's effective.

As with many things, you can typically only have two of those at once.

One of the solutions that has been readily embraced is the electric razor, sometimes called an electric shaver.  They come in a variety of form factors and most of them have worked in the same fashion for decades now.  The good news is, modern manufacturing processes have made it easier to find an effective tool without it costing as much money.  Kibiy is touting all three with its grooming system though, which begs further inspection.

Do they deliver?

THE SHORT VERSION is...not so short, actually.  This is one of those areas that isn't as cut and dry as you might think it should be.  I shall extrapolate.

When it comes to electric razors, their toughest competition is a shaving method older than history itself: The blade.  Men -- and possibly women? -- have been using sharply edged implements to shave various parts of their bodies for a very long time now.  If you want something to get 'Baby Butt Smooth', you reach for a blade.  Period.  End of discussion.

I am not going to debate that at all here.  It is known.

What's important for you to understand is that systems like the Kibiy aren't designed to give a perfect BBS shave, regardless of what the marketing and sales folks would ask you to believe.  They're designed to get you 'close enough' as long as you use them properly and put in the effort.

No, the question should be, "Does it work as designed?"

The answer is, "Yes, with a few caveats."  Again with the extrapolating.

Let's talk about what, precisely the Kibiy -is- designed to do, because that plays a huge part in what I'm going to say next.  Here's a picture of it:

Image Credit: Amazon

Right away, anyone who has ever used an electric razor is going to look at that and go, "That's...an odd shape."  This shape is a huge clue to what the Kibiy was actually designed for, first and foremost: Shaving your head.  While this might not be as much of a surprise for anyone ordering one online -- practically every listing for a Kibiy system is found under 'head shaving tools' -- the box that the system comes in doesn't say word one about shaving your head.  Even the picture of the rugged male model on the back of the box is a closeup of the face, not the head.  Make no mistake though, this unit was designed with the head in mind.  Once you consider it in that context, its shape begins to make a great deal of sense.  It's designed to fit in the hand in such a way that running it over the head feels comfortable, something you can do for an extended period of time without fatiguing your arm or wrist.  It sits in the hand well and feels well-machined while there, if somewhat inexpensive.  The Kibiy is mostly made of plastic, though its various attachments have metal on them.

Beyond that, it's very much just a vanilla electric razor. The circular heads work the same as most circular heads have for years now.  Like many electric razors, it comes with a handy series of attachments to make trimming the hair on your head and face easy if you aren't exactly after the Mr. Clean look.  It even comes with a nose and ear hair trimming attachment that admittedly works better on the ears than the nose due to the sheer size of the base unit.  It also comes with a scrubbing/exfoliating tool that you can use on either your face or pate, though I haven't been brave enough to try that yet.

It's water-resistant so you can use it with shaving cream, use it in the shower, and rinse the heads under a running tap if you wish.  The heads clean out the same way every other razor like this does.  Simply slip a fingernail under one of the inside edges and pop the four outside heads up on a hinge.  Just be sure to do this over a sink or a trashcan so that you don't lose the fuzz inside of it.

"Okay, we've been reading for two pages now.  Does it work?"

A fair question, and the answer is, 'Yes'

As mentioned above, the Kibiy is first and foremost designed to shave a head, and it does this shockingly well, if I may say so.  A bladed shave typically takes me 15-20 minutes to be sure my head is smooth and knick-free.  There's an established level of 'smooth-ish' that you can expect a decent electric razor to get you to, and the Kibiy did just that.

In about three minutes.

That is just STUPID fast. No, it's not a BBS shave. It's a smooth-ish shave.  It's what I expected.  I just didn't expect it to get there so damned quickly.  Want to get on a video call and not look like a scruffy nerf herder?  Boom.  Three minutes.  Another minute or two to clean your face up, and then a few quick swipes with a blade if you need to make things really neat around a beard.

Actually, let's talk about your face real quick.  The Kibiy comes with all manner of attachments that make you think it's designed to be an all-over shaving solution, but let's be very real here: This thing is designed for your head, and it's not designed for detail work.  It's designed for total destruction.  The same goes for your face.  Run around clean-shaven?  The Kibiy will work well enough.  Wear a beard or a goatee? You're going to end up cleaning your edges up with a blade in order to keep them looking sharp.  This isn't because the Kibiy can't cut the hair, it's because of the perspective you'll be working with in the mirror.  The thing is designed to be held a certain way, which ensures your hand will be RIGHT THERE next to what you're trying to trim.  Between that and the thickness of the bezels on each head, you can get close...just not perfect.  I'd qualify that this isn't a problem unique to the Kibiy.  All electric razors have this issue to a certain extent. The Kibiy just has it a little...more.

It runs on an internal, rechargeable battery.  The box touts that it charges via USB, so I was hoping to find a Micro USB port on the device.  Instead, there was a proprietary charging port, and a cable that fit it on one end and a normal USB-A jack on the other.  This felt like a bit of a cheap bait and switch on Kibiy's part.  This only became more irritating when I realized that the system comes with a cable...but no USB charging brick.  Yes, I have TONS of them laying around and you probably do too, but that's not the point.  I have a fundamental issue with people sending me powered devices but only providing HALF of the solution to power them.

Further irritating in the face of such exclusions is the fact that the Kibiy shows up on almost every 'Best Of' list for head shavers, including sites like GQ.  How is something that feels cheap and behaves cheap going to end up on GQ's list?!

That's when the other shoe drops and you realize that it's only $35.

It feels a little cheap because it's VERY cheap.  This is a pretty well-equipped shaving system that comes with clippers, guards, a nose and ear attachment, an exfoliating attachment, has cleanable heads, a cleaning brush, a shaving head cover, and is rechargeable.  And it works pretty damn good.

...And it's $35.

It's fairly well accepted that the best head shaver out there right now in the U.S. market is the Pitbull Skull Shaver.  The 'Silver' variant of that is $100.  The 'Gold' variant is $120.  The 'Platinum' variant? $220.  You know what they don't come with?  All of the attachments that the Kibiy comes with.

Folks, the Kibiy isn't perfect, but it's pretty bonkers for $35, and it cut my 'maintenance' shaving routine down from 35 minutes to about 5.

Check, please.

P.S.  Like any electric razor, you are essentially running a rough metal surface over your face and head.  Invest in some good aftershave or lotion.  I use the Rodan + Fields Active Hydrating Body Replenish lotion on my head and their #3 Soothe Moisture Replenishing lotion on my face.  Believe me, if you're gonna go electric, you're gonna want lotion.