Vollco Replacement Shaver Heads VSH-2 Black - Compatible with HQ167, HQ177, HQ5, HQ55 & More Philips Norelco Razors

I bought these as a "what the hell" purchase, after I bought a set of replacement heads from Amazon last year (for considerably more than these sharpeners cost) and they turned out to be counterfeit and useless. So I thought I'd give these sharpeners a try, write a review saying that they didn't work, and probably by another set of heads from Philips/Norelco direct like last year. But - they work! The material in the cups looks and feels like my old carborundum oilstone, so I popped some light mineral oil in there and gave them 20 seconds. "Thank you," said my face, "for buying new heads." I was stunned! These little things really are remarkable. I sharpen the heads every month, and I'm always surprised by how much smoother and less irritating the shaver is afterward. I guess Philips doesn't sell these because they like the revenue from the head sales, but I'm really not a big fan of sending stuff to landfill just to make a company profitable. I guess eventually these will wear the heads down enough that I have to buy a new set, but any wear so far is minimal, so I'm hoping for several years of life yet. Amazing, would totally recommend. Save yourself a bundle and buy these!

After using these on another razor I ordered these for a razor that had a different head design. When I went to drop the sharpening stones into the head, one would not fit. I ended up having to shave quite a bit of plastic off the edges to get it to drop into the head. A bit of a hassle, but eventually managed to get it to fit. Overall these did a great job of sharpening the blades, so am very pleased with that. Will keep using these!

I ordered the Vollco Sharpening Heads at the same time that I ordered a new set of heads for my Philips Norelco electric razor, because, frankly, I was skeptical that the sharpening heads could do what I needed. Here's why: the razor was more than four years old and the heads had never been changed. Maintenance consisted of dusting out the heads daily, rinsing with water weekly, and spraying with head lubricant after the rinse. The shaver was pulling hairs and pinching to an unacceptable degree. The new brand-name heads arrived first and I tried them. No surprise, I was reminded of why I purchased a new shaver in the first place. But I still saved my old heads and waited for the Vollco product. Days later, when the Vollco Sharpening Heads arrived I tried them out for the first time. I read a review suggesting that a little bit of use is all that's needed--somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds. Fortunately, I listened to that advice and took a conservative approach. I gave the old heads 5 seconds with the sharpening heads, figuring I could give them a longer spin if that wasn't enough. I replaced the treated shaving heads and gave the shaver a try. Your experience may of course be different than mine, but I could not tell the difference between the re-sharpened heads and the new ones. I put the new heads away in a safe place and have been re-sharpening the old ones and re-using them since then. I expect they may not continue a whole lot longer to respond as well as they are now to this procedure, but who cares? I'm pleasantly surprised at how well these sharpening heads worked for me. I've now added a 5-second spin with the sharpening heads to my weekly razor maintenance. I'm very happy with this product and would recommend it based on my experience.

My shaver was a little over a year old when it began to be to dull to use. I bought this and ran it for 8 seconds. This is 3 seconds longer than the 3 to 5 seconds recommend, but felt it necessary because of how extra dull it was. After sharpening it shaved close and comfortable again. It probably was not as good as it felt when brand new, BUT it was about 90% as good, or as it might have felt a month or 2 after it was brand new. The instructions said sharpen every 30 to 45 days. I hesitated to sharpen after 45 days because it still felt very sharp and I was still getting a close comfortable shave! Since I have 3 extra heads left over from other broken Norelco shavers used over the past many years, I decided to sharpen ALL 3 sets at once and just rotate them every few months. I just used the first of my extra rotary blade set yesterday, and again got a great shave with that one. I would estimate that I will probably get a good shave for at least 3 or 4 months per set based on my first 1 1/2 month experience so far. I shave every day with a medium to heavy beard. These shavers usually last me about 2 or 3 years before a battery fails. I have gotten two fixed under warranty or extended warranty. This sharpener definitely works, and is easily worth the price, especially if you end up getting another Norelco later that may also be able to use this sharpener.

Not as happy with this, I did like the directions said, one day later I did it again but a longer cycle maybe 10 seconds, maybe I'm expecting it to shave like new blades, it does better after doing this after doing the second one but still not the best, I still spend about the same time shaving after doing the blade sharpening, I will keep these instead sending them back, my blades that I sharpen are over a year old, maybe blades are to far gone, don't know

Having failed to quickly find a replacement for my HQ4 (later HQ56) corded shaver blades, and reading the reviews here, I thought I would give these sharpening heads a try. The bottom line is, they are about as good as new. (Actually, it's been so long since they were new, I've forgotten what new was like.) If anything, it might take just a bit more time than when new. But they shave close enough for me. The big improvement was in comfort -- no more pulling or tugging, no more going over places three-four times, a lot smoother glide over the face and neck. No longer have to be afraid of painful tugging on longer hairs. And a much better result. I've only used them once, so can't say how long between sharpenings they will now last. Also, I did follow the guidance to keep the blades paired with their cutting combs. To make this easier, I followed these steps: (a) set the sharpener head tray on the counter, with one of the corners pointing up (away) corresponding to the "top" of the shaver head. (b) put a piece of tape or something on the shaver head to mark the "top" corner of the shaver-head (c) when you remove the "top" comb/blade combo, put the comb in the "top" recess of the plastic tray. (d) put the sharpener head in the "top" position in the shaver and put the "top" blade in that spot. (e) repeat for the other head/blade positions. After you sharpen, then reverse the process -- you'll know which comb belongs to which blade.

These seemed interesting so I thought I'd give them a try. Unfortunately, I can't say that they made a notable difference to me. I tested with two razors that both use the HQ8 heads. I think one big consideration is the condition of the razor in general. My skin and whiskers are very dry (non-oily) and not very coarse. This makes general daily cleaning of my razor very easy. The other user & razor has exact opposite. The person has oily skin and coarse whiskers. And they don't empty their razor after each use. So their razor blades are extremely cruddy. When I removed the blades, I first cleaned all of them with an old, retired ultransonic toothbrush. I then ran both sets of blades through my ultrasonic jewelery cleaner using a solution of 3 parts hot water water : 1 part isopropyl alcohol. I let it run for 4 minutes. I then rinsed the blades and inspected them using a medium power magnifying glass. The two sets of blades looked nearly identical now. Next up, I placed just one razor head into the sharpening head. I ran it for ~6 seconds as instructed. I took that blade out and using the magnifying glass, compared it to the two remaining heads. I can't say I noticed a difference. Next, I ran another head on a different sharpener. This time I let it run for ~12 seconds. Then repeated the inspection process against the previously sharpened razor and the remaining unsharpened razor. Again, I could not visibly discern a noticable ("any"?) difference. Let's sharpen the remaining razor with the remaining sharpening head. Done. Repeat inspection. Done. Same results. Let's put the razor heads back into the same carrier head from which they came out. "Have a shave!" I didn't notice any difference in the quality of the shave. My skin felt the same way it always does after a shave...relatively smooth, even when testing against the grain using the sensitive skin on the underside of my wrist. Conclusions... 1) It would seem that the most benefit is derived from simply using my cleaning procedure if you want to get your blades really clean. Dealing with the really small blade edge (thousandths of an inch?), unless there's critical damage to the blade, I don't think these sharpeners really accomplish much. 2) The sharpening compound appears to be nothing but a very fine plastic/polymer disc with a very subtle grit... maybe something like a 2000 grit sandpaper. It's quite possible that these 'might' work better if you attempted a wet-sanding. As I recall from my days in the shop, when polishing items with very fine surfaces, wet sanding is a better option. Because really, at this point, you're polishing the blades more than sharpening. So I'm thinking a literal few drops of distilled water in the head 'may' actually give better results during the sharpening process. Or maybe not! I didn't test this since I decided to send them back for Amazon credit. 3) Both sets of blades were likely much older than 1 year. It's possible that at this age, they can't successfully be sharpened. The writing on the package recommends every 40-60 days. I obviously went way beyond that. All I can say is that my shave before and after wasn't noticably different nor improved. I think because of my skin & hair type and cleaning regimine, my blades maintan acceptable performance longer than normal. 4) As mentioned at the beginning, how you generally maintain your razor may have a significant impact on how well this product appears to function. If you don't have an ultransonic jewlery cleaner and the blades are relatively clean, you might have good results since you'll more or less be removing some of the built up oils and crud. However, if your blades are really cruddy, I wouldn't expect these to work more than once because all that crud will simply be transferred to the abrasive surface of the sharpener, subsequently decreasing the effectiveness. Or maybe I'm completely backwards in my logic. *shrugging* All I know is that when sandpaper develops a coating of the material that you're sanding, the sandpaper doesn't work anymore. If they are inexpensive enough for you to throw away if they don't work, then have at it! Your mileage may vary. Give 'em a shot! Or return 'em if you don't mind the easy returns for Prime items.

They work fine. I used it for 4 seconds on my shaver heads that are about 8 years old. Maybe older. The difference in my shave is certainly better. I used these sharpeners about 2 months ago and i can still see the shiny, newly-sharpened surfaces on my blades. I'm a little skeptical on how many times i will be able to sue them before the blades become too short, but even using it ONCE was certainly wortt buying them, as a new set of heads was more than 2x as much. super-easy to use: pop off your head assembly, disassemble the whole head including blade retainer, blades, and blade covers, and give it all a good brushing/cleaning while your at it. At the VERY least, brush off your blades. Be sure to not drop your blades or damage the edges. So, drop the sharpeners into teh top pert of the head assembly, place the blades in, put it back together and run your shaver WITHOUT pressing it to anything for "3-5 seconds". Then take it apart again and put it all back together. Including the cleaning, it took me about 2 minutes. The price is a bit steep considering it's just three metal discs with a small, thin piece of ceramic inside, but I assume the manufacturing numbers are kinda low. But as said, still cheaper than replacing the heads. I found these while looking for a method to sharpen heads. If you're too cheap to buy these, many folks reported success from using the the shavers' weight and holding the bare blades against the bottom of a ceramic plate or cup and running it for a couple seconds. Ceramic cups DO work great for sharpening kitchen knives, but i was too paranoid to use it on delicate shaver blades. For teh record, i used it on my Philishave using HQ5801 blades.