Dollar Shave Club - my brief review

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m sure a lot of you saw the commercial for dollshaveclub awhile back. Well, they convinced me that it was worth a shot, but only if I went with the actual $1 blades. I thought a few of you might be curious, so here is my review.

I went with the $1 blades, which they send you 5 of per month. However, it is not $1 total, but $3 since they charge $2 shipping. This means you get 5 blades for $3 every month you stick with the club. Along with the initial 5 blades, they send you the handle that they go with.

Anyway, the service was quite poor, actually. Due to popular demand, they took about 6 weeks to start sending me blades and when they did, only the blades came(no handle). To be fair to them, when I contacted them, they sent a replacement handle and all was fixed.

The blades:

Well, they suck. I wish it was not true, but alas, they are horrible and not worth $3 a month. I have not used disposable blades in over a decade, but I would say that these are basically the same as what I remember disposables being like. One use and the blade was terrible. You simply can not use these blades for even 3-5 uses per blade.

The head does not swivel(or pivot?) and there is no flexibility in the blade.

Unfortunately, I’m sticking with my Gilette Mach 3, which is the only blade I’ve been using for almost a decade. I’m no huge fan of it, but it gets the job done and is just an expensive item(so to speak) that I am going to have to deal with.

Oh, if you would like to report on the other DollarShave blades, please do. They may be great, but end up costing about the same as my Gilette blades.

2

I did the math and decided to stick with my Mach 3 as well. I get 10-12 shaves from a cartridge, which average out to $1.25-$1.50 each thru online retail. 15¢ per good shave is a better deal than 20¢ per lousy shave any day.

3

I bought a Yugo and I’d like to review it----vis a vis my Cadillac.

This is apples to grapefruits. I think dollar shave club has a high end razor. It is that razor that you should be reviewing.

Some years ago I read an article in Business Week about Gillette and the hundreds of millions they were spending on R&D. They have an overwhelming market share, in part because of astute marketing, but more importantly because they make an outstanding razor.

I agree with the DSC dude; ‘stop paying for shave tech you don’t need.’ I have a Mach 3. I don’t need the latest and greatest. I don’t need 5 or 6 blades. I don’t need an aloe strip.

Gillette makes a great razor. Theres no surprise they’re #1. I think razor technology topped out a few years ago, and a lot of what they’re pushing is long on gimmickry.

I love the DSC ad. But you get what you pay for.

4

I reviewed the $1 blade for a few reasons:

  1. It’s called Dollar Shave Club, so I wanted to see what their dollar blade was like.

  2. The $3 a month is the only pricing point that beats my Gilette Mach 3 price at Meijer with a coupon. Honestly, it is going to cost more to get the $6 a month blades from Dollarshave, which ends up being(I would guess) the blade that is equal to my Mach 3.

  3. The commercial starts with, “Are our blades any good?” …“No, they’re fucking awesome.” I would have guessed this includes the $3/month plan.

5

good points

6

As a counterpoint – I’ve been using the mid-range version, the $6/month razor, for a few months now. I have to say, I’m happy with it. The handle feels nice and solid, a good weight, and I think the blades themselves are very high quality - I’ve been getting very easy, smooth shaves out of them.

It works out well for me, price-wise… the two higher level of blades, my $6/month and the upper level $9/month, those both do include shipping and handling. It definitely works out quite a bit less for me than store-bought Gillette branded blades.

Sadly, I do have to agree with you on the service. It’s clear they were overwhelmed on the demand and are way behind, but they should be doing more to pick it up. I just realized I haven’t received my 4th (I think?) shipment yet, and it’s been a while, way more than a month. Thankfully, I only shave once or twice a week, so I’m already stockpiled a bit, so it’s not a big deal to me, but it’s still poor customer service.

I haven’t tried the $1 razor, so I can’t speak to it and compare it to the one I use, but I’d recommend bumping up to one of the higher priced plans for a month and see what you think before giving up on it entirely. I’m sure (I hope) the customer service issues will be sorted out as they find their shipping groove and everything settles down with them.

Are you really able to get blades for less than $6/pack? I’ve never seen them anywhere close to that out here. I think the least I’ve paid for Mach 3 razors is like $11 or $12 for a 4 pack (or is it a 5 pack? I can’t remember). If I could find them as cheap as you get them, that might change things…

7

First, you didn’t provide a counterpoint. You did what I asked. Reviewed the other blades.

Second, I get mine at Meijer in Michigan. I use a coupon and wait for a sale. I can get Mach 3 blades for equal to cheaper than the DollarShave plans, certainly cheaper than the $6 or $9 plan.

Glad to hear they are better!

8

I tried the mid-range blades for a month. The blades are dull and noisy like my old girl friend. I cancelled my order but they are still billing me and not sending blades. I have sent several emails with no reply.

9

Wow. Glad I searched for this thread. I use Fusion (5 blades) and get 15 shaves (head and a bit of face) from each one. I was going to give DSC $9 a month a try, but based on this thread I will stick to my current blades.

10

To me, this is a positive. I hate pivoting razor heads.
I’d love to use something that wastes less plastic than my Schick Disposables, but I haven’t found anything decent with a small head that doesn’t pivot. Is that too much to ask?
-D/a

11

If you’re looking for economical and sensible shaving, there’s no reason NOT to buy a cheapish double-edge safety razor (such as a Parker) and normal DE razor blades.