Scraping a metal blade is one of those activities that men have to put up with, rather than look forward to. For at least hundreds of years a metal blade scraped across the face has been how it was done.

Things have moved on since then, of course, and you can now find new types of electric shavers that are very smooth. When you have less irritation on your skin, you feel better. You look better too.

And for most of us, there’s something pleasant about the feeling of a really close shave, after you’ve shaved. While shaving itself may not be fun, the feeling afterwards is generally a pleasant thing. Unfortunately, traditionally electric shavers have not given as good a shave as the old-fashioned ‘wet shave’.

There are various ranges of electric shavers now, like the Philips RQ1051 Arcitec Rotary Shaver, which has an ergonomic and slim body. Using Flex and Pivot it can provide a perfectly close shave, even on the neck area. Traditionally, as most men will know, that’s one of the harder areas to shave properly.

It also has stainless steel blades to lift the hair to shave. The benefit of a system like that is that you end up shaving below skin level – talk about a close shave!

Of course the RQ1051 isn’t the only electric shaver that offers a close shave. For example the HS8060 offers shaving with a built-in moisturising system. There is an almost bewildering array on offer in every department store.

In most cases it pays you to research as much as you can online before making a decision, because you’re not usually allowed to try them out and return them. For hygiene reasons that’s a very good thing. After all, would you want the one that somebody else had returned the day before?