You never really expect your shaver to have an opinion about you. And yet here I was, receiving a failing grade from Philips Norelco’s new i9000 Prestige Ultra shaver, released this spring.
According to a phone app paired to the device, I had apparently been using my shaver wrong. I’d pressed too daintily, whispering along my skin too lightly for an optimal shave. My stats were, in fact, downright abysmal. I had applied optimal pressure just 30 percent of the time. By extension, I had probably been using any number of shavers wrong for years, without knowing.
“Let’s try again!” the app admonished me, with hope in its robot heart.
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
The i9000 Prestige Ultra is, on the face of it, something I would not have expected. It is an AI-trained shaver, offering real-time feedback to guide each user to their ideal shave—both through an app and via a light-ring collar that glows orange, green, or purple depending on how well you’re doing. Just as a great book teaches you how to read it, this shaver apparently teaches you how to shave with it.
My editor was skeptical. ”No shaver even needs an app, let alone one with metrics and judgment,” she wrote when I described it.
Except, the funny thing is, I apparently needed the help. Within a few days, I hadn’t just received a hearty congratulations from my shaver for my “perfect” motion and pressure. I also had achieved some of the closest shaves I’ve ever gotten from an electric device.
I’m not even sure whether I want to be in a relationship with a human barber, let alone an AI shaver. But to paraphrase the immortal Rasheed Wallace, skin don’t lie. And mine was unbothered and smooth to the touch.
The Head Philips
Courtesy of Philips
The i9000 Prestige Ultra, as its lengthy name implies, is Philips Norelco’s current premium shaver. It offers the grip, heft, and balance of any well-made tool, and combines every bit of technology Philips can throw at it. It’s priced accordingly, north of $300.