RoutineScout Buying guides for the gadgets of a daily routine
Advertorial
ENEnglish
The SonicScale toothbrush in a glass, the BarberScape head shaver on a steel tray, the HeatBliss straightener on a mint towel and the VacuDerma blackhead remover with its heads, gathered at the left of a marble counter, a white basin and tap behind and empty marble to the right
Before you buy the next oneHow we rank →

The bathroom cabinet, five of a kind at a time, ranked and explained

We started RoutineScout because a toothbrush or a curling wand gets bought on a hunch and a star rating. Each guide takes five of one kind, puts the price beside the good and the bad of each, and picks a winner you can argue with.

Every guide
The check-up is decided at home

Teeth

Twice a day at the basin, where most of the trouble is what the brush leaves behind

A white electric toothbrush lying on a folded white towel with two spare heads beside it, a glass of water and a basin behind

Toothbrushes and tartar removers

Once plaque has set hard a brush is out of it, so we ranked a home scaler and a sonic brush against the flagships people buy on habit.

Compared onStated performancePrice and valueEase of use and cleaningBuild and materialsGuarantee
Read the ranking
A white countertop water flosser with a clear reservoir, its handle in the holder and two spare tips on top, a mint towel beside it

Water flossers

For anyone with braces, implants or gums that bleed at the sight of string, everything turns on whether the gentle setting is truly gentle.

Read the ranking
An open white UV sanitiser case with its violet light on and a spare brush head lying inside, an empty glass and a white towel behind

Toothbrush sanitisers

A brush left out collects whatever the bathroom offers, and a sanitiser is worth its shelf space if it switches itself on and takes any brush.

Read the ranking
A clear LED mouth tray resting on a round white device on a folded towel, two gel syringes in front

Teeth whitening kits

Coffee and red wine do the damage slowly, and the kits differ most on how long a session takes and whether your teeth ache afterwards.

Read the ranking
Nobody looks forward to this bit

Shave and hair removal

The part of the routine that hurts when you get it wrong, from the scalp down to the toenails

A chrome five-head rotary shaver standing on a round steel tray, a white towel behind it

Head shavers

Behind the ears and on the crown you cannot see is where a head shaver is judged, then under the tap.

Compared onStated performancePrice and valueEase of use and cleaningBuild and materialsGuarantee
Read the ranking
A black three-head rotary shaver on its charging stand with a cleaning brush attachment and a glass of water beside it

Electric shavers

Foil or rotary is the old argument. The new one is whether the shaver lives in a cleaning station or comes into the shower with you.

Read the ranking
A white egg-shaped electric nail trimmer with a USB cable beside it and a mint towel behind

Electric nail trimmers

Made for a sleeping baby and a grandparent’s toenails alike, so the blade has to be unreachable and the motor quiet enough for nap time.

Read the ranking
A white epilator standing on its base with a spare shaver head in front, a mint towel and a cotton jar behind

Epilators

Shaving lasts a day and waxing costs a fortune, hence the epilator, and the ranking rests on how much of you one device will cover.

Read the ranking
A pale pink pen-style facial epilator with a rose-gold top standing beside its clear cap, a round mirror behind

Facial epilators

A stray chin hair before a meeting won’t wait eight weeks for an IPL course, so we ranked on what clears it today, gently.

Read the ranking
Everything here comes down to the dial

Hair

Straight on Monday, curls by Friday, on heat you can set properly and a barrel that lets go

A white hair straightener standing upright on a folded grey heat mat with its plates open, a round mirror behind

Hair straighteners

Most curl as well now. What separates them is a low setting fine hair can live with and a catch that holds them shut for travel.

Compared onStated performancePrice and valueEase of use and cleaningBuild and materialsGuarantee
Read the ranking
A black conical curling wand on a mint towel with two spare barrels and a heat-proof glove beside it

Hair curlers

With the famous one priced like a weekend away, the rest are judged on how fast a barrel heats and how many barrels you get.

Read the ranking
Last thing at night, under the worst light

Face

The mirror department: pores, tone, a proper cleanse, a jaw with something to push against, and the glasses you look at it all through

A white pore vacuum lying on a folded white towel with three clear suction heads in front

Pore vacuums

Suction is the point, and the trap is too much of it held still on one cheek, so the low setting matters more than the high.

Compared onStated performancePrice and valueEase of use and cleaningBuild and materialsGuarantee
Read the ranking
A white facial massager with a brushed steel head standing beside a small serum bottle and a folded white towel

Facial massagers

The one you’ll pick up every morning beats the one with an app and a menu of modes, provided it reaches eyes, jaw and neck.

Read the ranking
A mint green silicone cleansing brush standing on a marble counter beside a glass of water

Facial cleansing brushes

Silicone nubs saw off bristles because silicone dries between washes and bristles do not, so the contest is pulses a minute and surviving the shower.

Read the ranking
Two grey silicone jaw exerciser bites in an open clear case beside a glass of water

Jawline exercisers

One resistance level is a second purchase waiting to happen, and too hard a bite just leaves your jaw aching, which settled the order here.

Read the ranking
A white ultrasonic cleaner with a grey ribbed lid, a pair of glasses and a folded cloth in front of it

Eyeglass cleaners

Lenses are the easy part; the hinges and nose pads a cloth never reaches are the job, and a tank that needs filling soon goes unused.

Read the ranking
How we rank

Five products, the same questions asked of each, and a score with its reasons beside it

A note on method, because a ranking without one is just a list of things we happen to like

The ZippyClip clipper, the BrushSan steriliser, the EpiGlow pen, the VibePure brush and the LuminaTouch massager in a row on a marble counter, a pencil in front
  1. Shortlist

    The five come straight from the listings, the ones a shopper meets first, taken as found: dear or cheap, household name or newcomer.

  2. The price on the day

    We take the price from the maker’s page or the listing and show every rival as a multiple of the winner’s price, which is often where the argument ends.

  3. The good and the bad

    The case for and against each, in the same size and tone, the winner included, because a product with no flaw is a product nobody has lived with.

  4. One score of ten

    One number against the criteria printed in that guide and nothing else, with the winner written up in full and the other four given the same room to answer back.

The five questions behind every score

  • Stated performance

    The maker’s own figures, never ours, next to what the rivals claim, and where a listing gives nothing we write not stated rather than guess.

  • Price and value

    What it costs to buy, then what it costs to keep: the heads, blades or tips it gets through in a year.

  • Ease of use and cleaning

    It has to work in a rushed morning and come clean with a rinse. Anything that needs a manual and a drawer of its own loses ground here.

  • Build and materials

    Silicone, steel or chromed plastic, and what each means for the gums, the skin or the hair it touches every day.

  • Guarantee

    Whether a money-back guarantee stands behind the price, and how many days it gives you to change your mind.

We receive advertising compensation from companies whose products appear on this site, and that compensation affects which products appear and their position, order and, in some cases, their rating. Full details are in our Terms of use.

About

Who writes this

We own too many of these gadgets and have opinions about all of them. They get bought more carelessly than anything else in the house and used more often than most of it. A guide here lines up five rivals, reads the listings and the buyer reports closely, and gives a plain answer to which one we would keep and why. When that answer contradicts the biggest name on the shelf, we say so and show the working.

Most of these get used before the kettle has boiled or after the house has gone quiet, so every guide opens with its pick and keeps the long part underneath, for anyone with the time.

Get in touchAll guides →
Corrections

If a price has changed since we looked, or we have got a fact wrong, write to hello@routinescout.com and we’ll put the guide right.

Report an error
The SonicScale electric toothbrush laid out on a marble counter with its two spare brush heads, its dental mirror, its USB cable, a glass of water and a folded mint towel