Not everyone wants to spend $25 to $30 every month on grooming subscriptions with their novelty razors and fancy shaving and skincare products.
Don’t get us wrong—many of our readers would appreciate the appeal of subscribing to a grooming service, and the convenience of having a shaving kit delivered to their door like clockwork. Most don’t appreciate paying more than they have to.
Enter Dollar Shave Club with razor kits starting at just $3. When most razors can cost you north of $20 a pop, this inexpensive subscription is at least worth a try.
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How Does Dollar Shave Club Work?
Imagine never running out of razors or shaving cream for your morning shaving routine and never having to make last-minute trips to the store to buy your shaving products so you can get on with your morning.
Shaving subscription boxes like Dollar Shave Club make that possible by automating and regularly shipping these products to your door.
The only downside to this recent trend of grooming subscriptions is that more often than not, they’re pricey. Dollar Shave Club aims to change that with its incredibly affordable subscription boxes.
So how do you get started? You go to their websites, sign up (which is entirely free, by the way), and opt for one of the three-blade kit options. Easy as pie. Only easier.
The $1 offer is called the Humble Twin Plan and gets you five cartridges with two blades each and one reusable handle as your first delivery.
The other plans bring you six-blade cartridges along with shaving butter.
The starter kit, however, will cost you $5 and will need to be replenished every four weeks. Unlike most subscriptions, you get to tweak and customize your box. If you only need cartridges, you can skip the handle. If you use up your shaving butter before the month ends, you can order extra.
Even better, the more items you order, the more significant the discount you get. That also means you’ll only be paying for the products you need.
Types of Products Available
As you can probably tell by now, the setup reasonably basic and simple. The shipment arrives in a plain cardboard box with a minimalistic aesthetic. It features the company logo and a bunch of quirky and witty lines.
When you open it, you’ll be met with a handbook with details about your subscription and membership. Beneath the member handbook, you’ll find the razor handle shrouded in plastic, while the cartridges are nestled inside a tinier box. Occasionally, you might also find an aftershave or shaving butter sample as well, which is certainly a welcome touch.
Here’s a list of everything you’ll get with your $5 starter kit:
- An Executive handle
- Four replacement cartridges
- 1 oz of Dr. Carver’s Shave butter
- Post-shave Dew
- Skin preparation scrub (to minimize bumps and burns)
The razor head has six blades, which is a bit overkill in my opinion, but it certainly helps with getting a closer and cleaner shave. And since six blades are working in tandem, you won’t have to revisit the same area twice.
There’s nothing special about the cartridges. The quality is acceptable, and they get the job done. The razor itself is a Dorco Pace 6. It’s well-made and comes with rubber grips, and it doesn’t slip while you’re shaving.
The blades are unisex, which is certainly a plus since we have a surplus of online grooming subscriptions which cater to men only. Although they didn’t bother to make it obvious on their site, the subscription service is suitable for men and women alike.
The shaving butter is a departure from the traditional lathering foams you might be used to. You can’t whip them up into foam with a brush, but they still prepare your hair for imminent destruction and soften your skin with natural ingredients. It’s an excellent option for those of you with sensitive skin.
All in all, both the razor and shaving butter perform well. They make your shaving ritual mostly effortless, and somewhat pleasant – which isn’t something you can say for a lot of shaving kits.
Pricing
The kit with two blades will cost you $1 every month. Four blades for $6, and six for $9/month. Even if you shave every day, one cartridge should last you a week, so four cartridges should be enough to get you through the month.
If you shave less frequently, it’ll easily last you longer. If that’s the case for you, you can also temporarily pause the shipment.
Shipping is completely free, save for the Humble Twin plan, which will cost you an extra $2 for delivery.
Company history
Frustrated with the expensive razors, Michael Dubin and Mark Levine founded Dollar Shave Club.
With the help of investments from Science Inc. and capital from their own pocket, they set up and launched the company in 2011.
The fundraising continued, and by 2015, they had collected about $75 million.
The company is headquartered in California and serves all of the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK.
Unilever purchased the Dollar Shave Club for a billion dollars in 2016.
Alternatives
Dollar Shave Club is one of the top grooming subscription services, but there are other popular shaving subscription options you should familiarize yourself with before you take the plunge.
- Billie offers a razor subscription box just for women.
- Flamingo is the women’s version of Harry’s Shave Kit.
- Brickell provides an array of shaving products with individual item subscriptions.
Pros
- I was hard-pressed to find genuinely negative reviews about this subscription online. Either they’re doing an outstanding job of censoring these reviews all over the internet, or their service has a lot of value to offer and satisfies the client
- The razor is unisex
- Extremely affordable and with great discounts to boot
Cons
- The only major gripe I have with this subscription is their occasionally delayed shipments
- This is not a high-end product—but then the price point reflects that
