Electric Shaver Maintenance: Your DIY Guide

Properly maintaining your electric shaver is crucial for ensuring optimal performance and extending its lifespan. From regular cleaning to battery care, adopting simple maintenance habits can help prevent damage, reduce wear, and keep your shaver running smoothly for years.

This comprehensive guide covers key electric shaver maintenance tips that every owner should know. Read on to learn how to clean, lubricate, handle, and care for your razor to maximize its longevity.

The Importance of Maintenance

Electric shavers contain delicate mechanical parts like sharp blades, thin foils, and small motors. With frequent use, these components accumulate debris, dirt, oil, hairs, and dead skin cells. Over time, buildup can accelerate wear, dull the blades, or even clog or jam the motor.

Neglecting maintenance severely shortens an electric shaver’s lifespan. On the other hand, following proper care guidelines ensures:

• Optimal performance: Well-maintained blades stay sharp, foils remain smooth, and motors run efficiently for consistently smooth, irritation-free shaves.
• Enhanced durability: Regular cleaning and lubrication prevents corrosion and mechanical wear-and-tear, extending your shaver’s working life.
• Cost savings: Taking good care of your razor reduces the need for repairs or early replacement, saving you money.
• Safety: Clean, well-lubricated blades with sharp edges are safer and help prevent painful cuts, nicks, skin irritation and infection.

Now let’s explore 5 key maintenance areas to target for prolonging your electric shaver’s lifespan.

1. Regular Cleaning

Regularly removing built-up debris is imperative for keeping your shaver’s cutting assembly functioning properly. Hair clippings, dead skin cells, soap scum and mineral deposits from tap water can gradually accumulate in and around the foils and blades. This not only blocks the cutting mechanism but the debris also traps moisture against the metal blades leading to oxidation and dulling over time.

How Often to Clean

• Daily: Quick dry cleaning by removing the cutter housing and tapping out loose hairs.
• Weekly: Thorough wet cleaning with cleaning solution to remove hidden debris and sanitise.
• Monthly: Deep clean hard-to-reach areas with a toothbrush and compressed air.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Cleaning Your Shaver

You don’t need fancy tools or equipment to keep your shaver clean. Here is a simple process to follow:

1. Remove the shaver head
   The first step is to detach the cutter assembly that holds the foils and blades. Reversible shavers have cutters on both sides so make sure to clean thoroughly under both. Refer to your model’s manual for proper removal technique.
2. Tap out loose hairs
   Gently tap or blow into the cutter housing and foils to dislodge any trapped debris.
3. Rinse under tap water
   Run both the shaver head and cutter assembly under lukewarm water to help rinse off surface-level gunk.
4. Use cleaning solution
   Spray or soak the components in an alcohol-based cleaning solution designed specifically for electric shavers. This dissolves oily residue, removes hidden debris and sanitises the parts.
5. Scrub with brush
   For periodic deep cleaning, use an old toothbrush, cotton swabs, or pipe cleaners to gently dislodge stubborn buildup in hard-to-reach crevices. Pay special attention to the underside of foils.
6. Rinse and air dry
   Rinse all components again thoroughly with water and leave to air dry completely before reattaching the shaver head. Make sure no moisture remains before using or charging your shaver.
7. Reattach cutter housing
   Once fully dried, carefully realign and reattach the cleaned cutter assembly back onto the electric shaver body and click into place.

Recommended Cleaning Solutions

• Alcohol-based shaver cleaning sprays
• Diluted white vinegar (1:1 ratio with water)
• Unscented dish soap and water
• Hydrogen peroxide 3% solution
• Electronic contact cleaner sprays

Avoid bleach, multi-surface cleaners, acetone, and harsh chemical solvents as these can damage blades and degrade plastic components over repetitive use.

Signs It’s Time to Replace Shaver Head

With regular maintenance, most modern electric shavers last upwards of 5 years before needing replacement. However, the cutting assemblies – especially the blades and foil – experience more wear and may need earlier changing.

Some signs that signal declining performance and indicate the need for replacement include:

• Irritation, redness or frequent nicks and cuts during shaving
• Overheating, loud noise or unusual vibration from motor
• Visibly blunted, bent or broken blades
• Punctures, creases or other damage to foil
• Reduced cutting efficiency requiring more passes

If you experience any of the above or notice a gradual decline in closeness and comfort, don’t continue to use a deteriorated shaver head as doing so risks skin damage. Check your model’s manual for the optimal replacement schedule. Mid-range and premium shavers often come with enhanced steel blades optimized for extended longevity of 4-5 years with proper care.

2. Proper Lubrication

In addition to clearing away debris, regularly applying lubricant helps maintain your shaver’s performance. Just as with manual razors, lubrication minimises friction allowing the internal cutters to glide smoothly across the protective foils and your skin. This prevents unnecessary heat, wear and strain which preserves sharpness.

How Often to Lubricate

• 1-2 drops of oil every 2 weeks for regular use
• 1 drop for cordless shavers after every full discharge and recharge cycle

Avoid over-lubricating. Excess oil attracts more dirt and gunk buildup. It can also leak into the motor housing or damage the rechargeable batteries of cordless models.

Suitable Lubricants

The most suitable lubricants include:

• Light machine oil or sewing machine oil
• Specialty clipper oil
• Mineral oil

Alternatively, if your model didn’t come bundled with its own oil, check your manual as certain brands specify other lubricants like silicone or synthetic oils for their shavers.

How to Lubricate Your Shaver

Lubricating is quick and straightforward:

1. Turn shaver power OFF and detach the cutter housing.
2. Open alcohol-based cleaner spray and insert the thin red applicator straw fully into the underside of the shaver head. Spray 2-3 times while continuously rotating the cutter assembly to distribute cleaner everywhere.
3. Next, insert your preferred lubricating oil’s thin applicator tube into the same opening, or use a needle applicator. Apply 1-2 small drops while rotating again.
4. Carefully reattach the shaver head, wipe away any excess external oil with a dry cloth, turn ON and run for 30 seconds to evenly spread the lubricant around the internal mechanism before use.

3. Battery Care

Rechargeable battery performance also significantly impacts electric shaver longevity. All modern shavers come with powerful lithium-ion batteries boasting 3-5 years of lifespan with adequate care.

However, incorrect usage and storage habits can quickly cause permanent damage leading to weak, inconsistent power or abruptly short working times per charge. Prevent this by following these battery care tips:

Charge Properly

• Use only the original charging stand and power adapter that came with your shaver to prevent overcharging.
• Unless specified otherwise, fully charge batteries before first use.
• Avoid leaving on charge overnight or for over 2 hours after indication of full charge (light indicator turns green or starts blinking).
• Don’t charge while shaver is wet or dirty to lower risk of short circuiting.

Discharge and Recharge Cycles

• Cordless shavers’ internal batteries experience no memory effect so need no complete periodic discharge. However for optimal performance, allow full drain once every 5-8 regular shaves before recharging again normally.
• For mains-powered models, run till automatically powers off at low charge about once monthly.

Usage & Storage

• Switch off shaver when not in use rather than just placing in the stand which keeps slowly trickle charging the batteries.
• If shaver isn’t to be used for over a month, give a full recharge before storing in a cool, moisture-free place.
• For air travel, take out any detachable battery packs rather than check-in the whole shaver to prevent accidental activation that completely drains batteries.

Following sound battery maintenance guidelines ensures your shaver retains robust, long-lasting charging capacity. However, after 400-500 full usage cycles, all lithium batteries experience gradual decline in maximum capacity. At 70-80% lower optimal runtime per charge versus when brand new, battery replacement becomes necessary. Consult your model’s user guide for the recommended replacement schedule; premium shavers often come with enhanced lithium cells lasting 5 years or more.

4. Safe Handling

Vigorous motor vibration accompanies using an electric shaver at over 10,000 RPM! Couple that with delicate moving blades and slots and it’s evident why cautious handling is a must to prevent damage. The common points of failure include:

• Screen foils puncture, bend or become misaligned
• Ultra-sharp cutter blades get dislodged or broken
• Plastic housing develops cracks from drops
• Water seeps in when submerged or cleaned recklessly

Practicing these precautions when using or cleaning your razor prevents accidental damage:

Shavers In Use

• Avoid pressing down hard or forcefully shaving against the grain
• Go slowly using gentle, circular motions around hard edges like jawline and chin
• Use the precision pop-up trimmer minimally only for mustache and sideburns
• Keep sensor foils of smart shaver models dry and clean for consistency
• When done, carefully wipe and immediately place back into included safety cap

During Cleaning

• Always detach the shaver head assembly before wet cleaning
• Gently tap out debris rather than vigorously shaking or brushing
• Use only light pressure with brushes getting into crevices
• Ensure no moisture remains internally before reattaching head
• Avoid submerging the entire electric shaver unit or getting water near the charging pins

Accidents happen, but following cautious usage and cleaning practices minimises chances of physical or liquid damage significantly; saving you from difficult-to-repair and expensive issues down the line.

5. Replacement Schedule

While current generation shavers are built to higher standards of durability, certain components still undergo natural material wear-and-tear with repeated use:

• The motor’s carbon brushes slowly erode and require replacement every 3-5 years
• Blade edges soon lose their extra sharp geometry and gradually blunt
• Foil perforations slowly stretch wider than optimal cutting size

As such, adhering to the manufacturer’s replacement schedule for disposable parts ensures consistently safe and comfortable shaves. Check your shaver’s manual for specific timelines and order authentic replacement components either from the brand directly or via authorised retailers only.

Here is the average replacement timeframe for common shaver parts:

However, hard water residue, frequent travelling or heavy daily usage can accelerate wear necessitating more frequent replacement. Carefully inspect blades, foils and trimmer for:

• Dull blades: Grey, dark areas and loss of shine indicates blunt edges
• Spread foil holes: Holes wider than pinprick size reduces cutting efficiency
• Misformed or bent trimmer: Can chafe rather than neatly trim hair

Replace damaged parts immediately for safety and to retain optimal performance. Investing a small amount into replacement components on schedule rather than purchasing whole new shavers frequently is well worth it in the long run.

Read More: Your Bathroom Cleaning Chemical Guide

Maintaining Your Electric Shaver is Easy

Caring for your electric shaver need not be complicated, tedious or time-consuming. By proactively incorporating the easy best practices outlined throughout this guide, you can ensure your shaver gives you many years of smooth comfortable service.

To summarize, a well-maintained electric shaver:

• Has routinely cleaned and sanitized cutting blades and foils
• Gets regularly lubricated with proper clipper oil
• Has carefully recharged lithium batteries
• Gets handled gently and cautiously
• Has worn parts replaced as recommended

Implementing consistent maintenance starting from day one helps prevent issues cropping up. But it’s never too late to adopt these habits. With some occasional TLC as outlined in this comprehensive guide, your trusty shaver can continue delighting you with velvety smooth shaves morning after morning.