Personal Care Buying Guides: The Real Running Cost
Personal care devices are bought on features and kept for consumables. The purchase price is rarely the real cost — replacement heads, foils and filters are, and they are the number almost nobody checks before buying.
These guides all lead with total cost of ownership rather than the sticker price, because that is what actually differs between models.
Shaving and grooming
Foil and rotary shavers suit different faces and different hair directions, and neither is universally better. Foil shavers handle straight hair and flat surfaces well; rotary shavers cope better with varied growth directions and contours.
The cost that matters arrives in year two. Replacement foils and cutters run on a schedule — typically every 12 to 18 months — and vary by a wide margin between brands. A cheaper shaver with expensive parts can cost more over three years than a premium one with affordable parts.
- Best electric shavers under $100 — worked through on real three-year cost, not just purchase price
- Braun vs Philips Norelco — the foil-versus-rotary decision above, settled brand by brand, including what each one’s replacement parts cost
Hair
Wattage is the marketed number; what actually matters is airflow and whether the heat is controllable. High heat with low airflow dries hair by damaging it. Ionic and ceramic labels are applied loosely across the price range and are poor predictors of anything.
Hair type genuinely changes the recommendation here — fine hair needs lower heat and gentler airflow, thick and curly hair needs sustained airflow and a diffuser. This is one of the few categories where the right answer really does differ per person.
- Best hair dryers under $50 — separated by fine, thick and curly hair
Dental
The evidence supports powered brushing over manual brushing; it does not strongly support one premium brand’s app-connected pressure sensor over another’s. Most of the price difference above the entry tier buys features rather than cleaning performance.
Brush head cost is the recurring expense, and proprietary heads are where the long-term money goes. Check the price of a multi-pack of replacement heads before choosing the handle.
- Best electric toothbrushes under $50
- Oral-B vs Sonicare — the two dominant handles compared on cleaning action and on what a year of brush heads actually costs
Fitness tracking
Optical heart-rate sensors are reasonably accurate at steady effort and noticeably less so during intervals and weight training, where wrist movement interferes. If your training is mostly intervals, expect the numbers to be indicative rather than precise.
Check whether the features you want require a subscription. Several major platforms put the more useful analysis behind a monthly fee, which changes the comparison entirely.
The question to ask before any purchase here
What do the consumables cost per year, and are they proprietary? For shavers it is foils and cutters; for toothbrushes, brush heads; for trackers, sometimes a subscription. A device that is $30 cheaper with parts that cost $25 more per year is not cheaper.
Second question: is there a genuine health claim being made, and is it supported? Powered brushing has real evidence behind it. Most other claims in this category are comfort and convenience benefits described in medical-sounding language.
Before you buy: the reference
Almost everything in this category meets water mixed with something else — foam, toothpaste, sweat. It is worth knowing what a waterproof rating on the box actually certifies, and what it does not.
How these guides are made
We do not test these products on ourselves and we do not claim hands-on testing. These guides are built from manufacturer-published specifications, verified-buyer reports, independent reviews from outlets that do test, published replacement-part pricing, and current US retail listings. We do not make medical claims. Where a manufacturer does not publish a figure, we say so rather than estimating one. Prices move constantly, so we give bands with a date attached and link to the live listing instead of printing a number that will be wrong next month.
Last updated: 20 August 2026.