Panasonic MultiShape Modular Personal Care System review: the ultimate all-in-one grooming tool?
If you’re looking to streamline your grooming routine, Panasonic’s MultiShape Modular Personal Care System could be the answer. Instead of cluttering your bathroom with cupboards full of bulky grooming devices, this simple system allows you to swap out different attachments for beard trimming, shaving, body grooming, and even pummeling the dry skin that unfortunately accumulates on some folk’s feet.
Panasonic claims this approach reduces tech waste by eliminating the need for multiple powered grooming tools. However, while the most basic shaving packages appear good value for money, the budget starts to get out of control when you start optioning all manner of different interchangeable heads.
So, does this modular system provide the same performance as dedicated devices? Let’s find out.
Panasonic MultiShape Modular Personal Care System review: price and availability
As you need to buy each attachment for the Panasonic MultiShape Modular Personal Care, there’s a few different prices knocking about. For the unit alone, it costs £54.99, but you can also buy sets, so the main unit with the body and beard hair trimmer, which is £99.99.
For the electric toothbrush attachment, you’d be looking to spend £89.98 and the nose trimmer costs £74.98. The different combinations are available to buy at Panasonic and select retailers like Amazon.
(Image credit: Leon Poultney)
Panasonic MultiShape Modular Personal Care System review: design and features
At its core, the Panasonic MultiShape consists of a relatively long, cylindrical base unit that powers a variety of interchangeable attachments. It looks like the hilt of a mini lightsaber, but unfortunately it doesn’t wield Jedi powers.
Depending on the kit you purchase, you can start with a basic beard/body hair trimmer, or go all-in with extras like a three-blade shaver head, nose and ear trimmer, a toothbrush (yes, a toothbrush), and even a pumice stone for exfoliating skin. Additional attachments can be bought separately, allowing you to customise your setup.
The design is clever but not without its drawbacks. The base unit with a shaving head attached is noticeably larger than a standard electric shaver or trimmer, and depending on the attachment in use, it can feel awkward to maneuver, especially for precise shaving or shaping duties.
That said, the system does allow for wet and dry use, meaning you can use it in the shower or with shaving cream for a more comfortable, rash-free experience.
For this test, I paired it up with multiple different head attachments, trialing the main beard trimmer T-blade attachment. Without the guards, this will scythe through a few day’s worth of stubble with ease, although the quick adjustments for length and included guards are really designed for longer facial hair.
In addition to this, Panasonic provided a set of fine detail blades, as well as some facial exfoliating brushes, a nose and eyebrow trimmer and the aforementioned dry skin pumice stone.
(Image credit: Leon Poultney)
Panasonic MultiShape Modular Personal Care System review: performance
As a beard trimmer, the MultiShape works well. The trimmer head attachment and adjustable guards allow for easy length control, making it great for shaping and detailing. However, if you’re looking for a very close shave, you’ll need to purchase the dedicated three-blade foil shaver head, which is sold separately.
The trimmer blade (minus a guard) does a decent job cutting through coarse stubble, but it requires multiple passes to achieve a truly smooth finish. Plus, the lengthy base unit can feel unwieldy when trying to reach awkward areas like under the jawline. This is exacerbated when you add extra heads and the required adaptors.
For body hair grooming, the system excels, offering 39 incremental lengths and dedicated guards and attachments that make it easy to maintain different hair lengths. The detail shave/trim set includes a nose and ear trimmer attachment, which is great at hitting those often hard-to-reach areas – it actually became one of my favourite aspects of this package.
Swapping out the main shaving head for the more specific beard shaping tools from this additional kit also proved a boon for creating really sharp lines around the upper cheeks, jawline and side burns.
But I didn’t really get the same feeling for the exfoliating facial brushes and the pumice stone attachment, which seemed to have limited effect. Although not tested, I also can’t imagine the electric toothbrush head is as good as a dedicated electric toothbrush, either.
What’s more, if your primary concern is getting the closest, most comfortable shave, dedicated electric shavers like Braun’s Series 9 Pro and Panasonic’s own Series 900S will perform better than the dual foil shaver head that’s available.
(Image credit: Leon Poultney)
Panasonic MultiShape Modular Personal Care System review: battery life and charging
Annoyingly, Panasonic sells the Multi-Shape base unit with either a Li-Ion battery or a cheaper Nickel–metal hydride (Ni-MH). The former is only marginally more expensive but offers a lengthier battery life.
In this guise, the Multi-Shape offers a 70-minute runtime from a 60-minute charge, which is solid but not class-leading. However, considering that this device powers multiple grooming functions, the battery performance is respectable. There’s also a handy LED indicator that flashes when it’s time to recharge.
Charging is taken care of by a dedicated three-pin plug in UK models, which is a bit frustrating if you want to top up the batteries in the bathroom or on the move. Many rivals now offer simpler USB-C set-up to combat this.
(Image credit: Leon Poultney)
Panasonic MultiShape Modular Personal Care System review: maintenance and cleaning
Cleaning the MultiShape is straightforward, as most attachments are fully washable under running water. The system is designed to be low-maintenance, with simple pop-off heads that allow for quick cleaning.
However, since you may be swapping attachments frequently, keeping everything organized might be a bit of a challenge. It’s designed to reduce bathroom tech waste, but I found keeping on top of all of the attachments a bit of a chore, as many of them are small and easy to lose in a cupboard or drawer.
Maintenance is really down to using the provided brush to keep the blades free of hair, while Panasonic also provides a small bottle of oil for lubricating the trimmer heads. This is particularly important if you are using it a lot in the shower.
(Image credit: Leon Poultney)
Panasonic MultiShape Modular Personal Care System review: verdict
Panasonic’s reasoning with the MultiShape system is solid and this kit, with a couple of additional attachments, will suit those with longer facial hair that also want to do a spot of solo barbering.
It’s just about powerful enough to cut through longer head hair, although a dedicated shaver will be more adept at this. The ability to change attachments and tackle other body areas make it a good option for those who enjoy longer self-care sessions.
That said, I personally feel there are better devices out there for body hair (particularly intimate areas) and a dedicated foil shaver is much better at achieving an extremely close shave without the irritation.
Plus, adding lots of additional accessories quickly sees the price mount up and, while it does reduce tech waste to an extent, you still have to find a suitable place to store it all.
In summary, the quirky modular self-care system is great for those that want to tame longer beards and trim hair-dos, but the usefulness of the additional accessories is questionable.
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