Image above reflects prices as of 10/28/2019 for each of the razor deals listed.
Which Shave Club Is The Best Shave Club
So you are looking to find the best shave club. First, let’s determine why you are looking for a shave club to begin with.
Most likely you fall in one, some, or all of the categories below.
- You are looking to spend less money on shaving than you do today.
- You are looking to improve the quality of your razor.
- You don’t want to go to the store to buy a razor and refill cartridges.
- You saw a viral video that promised you a shave for $1 but you never paid $1 after shipping. So now you are looking for another shave club.
- You want to start enjoying your shaving experience.
Let's Start With A Comparison Chart
Details From The Chart
10/29/2019 – UPDATE – The first time we published this example we made a couple of errors in our methodology, which led to The Dollar Shave Club’s annual cost to the customer to look higher than Gillette and Harry’s. More on this update below. Additionally, we had a typo in our graphic that showed them at a $90 annual cost. This was incorrect. For that example the the actual cost was $80.
UPDATE 2: Furthermore, we tried to use the razor offerings from each cartridge razor company that was as close as possible to each other’s razor. This is not as easy as it may seem. So below we have started over. We have selected the cheapest offerings (that we have found) for each of the cartridge razor competitors as of 10/28/2019 or 11/5/2019 (depending on the company).
Annual Cost Details – One Year Shave Equivalents For Each Competitor.
For the examples below, we went to each competitor’s website and acted like we wanted to start a subscription. We then used their recommendation (if it was clear) for the frequency of shipments for their cartridge razor heads. Again, we chose the cheapest offering for each, so the number of blades on each competitor’s cartridge is not necessarily the same. We will explain more in the examples.
The Wet Shaving Club Details – For our chrome plated safety razor handle and a one year supply of safety razor blades, you pay a one time fee of only $24. No subscriptions, no monthly fees. Click Here to see how we determine what constitutes a one year supply of safety razor blades. That means our everyday price is only $2 per month to shave.
Gillette – As of 11/5/2019 Gillette’s cheapest options are the Mach3 and The G5. Both are $18 every 3 months for 8 cartridge heads. For this example, we chose the G5. The G5 has 5 blades in its cartridge head. We chose the frequency of cartridge delivery based on Gillette’s recommendation for someone that shaves 3-4 times per week. It gets a little cloudy after that. If you pick the options that shows that you shave 3-4 times per week, the next screen shows you that you are recommended shipments every 3 months, but it defaults to 4 cartridge heads. It was hard for us to believe that you only need 4 cartridge heads every 3 months, so we chose the option to receive 8 cartridge heads every 3 months. As of today (11/5/2019)The G5 costs $18 to ship 8 cartridge heads every 3 months, and your fourth shipment is free. That is a total 32 cartridge heads in a year, if you include the initial purchase of 8 cartridge heads with the handle. This also assumes you sign up for the subscription service. Therefore the G5 Gillette subscription as described above would cost you $54 for the year. $18 for the original purchase of 8 cartridge heads and the handle, plus two more shipments of 8 cartridge heads at $18 each, plus the last shipment which would be free. $18 x 3 billings = $54 per year or $1.68 per cartridge head. If you chose the 4 cartridge heads every 3 months option, you would get a total of 16 cartridge heads for $30 for the year or $1.87 per cartridge head.
Harry’s – As of 10/28/2019 the cheapest option at Harry’s is the Winston handle. That costs you $9, and comes with one cartridge head. Harry’s cartridge head comes with 5 blades. As you can see in our supporting screenshots below, 8 cartridge heads every 3 months is what Harry’s recommends if you shave 2-4 times per week. As of today (10/28/2019) it would cost you $15 to ship 8 cartridge heads every 3 months. That is 32 cartridge heads for $60 per year. So with your initial purchase of $9, plus the $60 for the additional 32 cartridge heads, you would pay $69 in a year for 33 cartridge heads and their handle. This assumes you sign up for the subscription service.This would bring your total to $69 for the year or $2.09 per cartridge head.
Dollar Shave Club – As of 10/28/2019 the cheapest option at The Dollar Shave Club is The Humble Twin. It has 2 blades in the cartridge head. It costs $4 per month and you get 5 cartridge heads shipped to you every month. From what we can tell, The Dollar Shave Club defaults you into a monthly subscription. You can pause the subscription, and you can go into your account and change the frequency from monthly into less frequent intervals. For this example, we will stay with their default option of 5 cartridge heads monthly. So for $4 per month you get 60 two bladed cartridge heads for $48 per year (12 months x $4) or 80 cents per cartridge head.
– The GQ Award Thing – CLICK HERE
o Harry’s won it and they like to champion it. Bah!
– Who is a small business?
o I can assure you that we at the Wet Shaving Club are considered a small business. You can help make us larger though. Buy something!
o Gillette = Big company
o Dollar Shave Club = purchased by Unilever – CLICK HERE for details
o Harry’s = is being purchased by Edgewell – CLICK HERE for details
– Safety Razors, A Century Old Technology?
o And That is Good?
§ Yes – CLICK HERE
So What Did Our Comparison Chart Teach Us?
Which would you prefer, getting anywhere from four to twelve shipments per year, or getting your razor and your one year supply of blades all in one box, up front.
Let us ask the question a different way, do you think you are getting a better deal paying shipping four to twelve times, or do you think you would get a better deal paying shipping just once?
We know, we know…. Shipping is free from all four of us right? Don’t you remember your economics class? TANSTAFL!
“There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch!” CLICK HERE FOR A REMINDER
Of course we don’t charge you for shipping as a line item. But you can bet our prices and our competitors’ prices are all adjusted to compensate for the cost of shipping. More on that here CLICK HERE.
The Bottom line. The Wet Shaving Club ships you a One Year Supply of blades and your razor all in one box. No subscriptions. No monthly fees. No pausing things to keep your product from stacking up. No gimmicks.
The Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s were small businesses, but they have been recently purchased (or in Harry’s case being purchased) and are now smaller divisions within large businesses. Gillette has been a big business for a while.
The Wet Shaving Club is a small business.
There is nothing wrong with being a big business. Most small businesses aspire to be big businesses one day. However, with a small business you know you are getting service from folks that are invested in what they are doing. Most of us work for big businesses. Look around you. Is everyone engaged and invested in the business? Enough said.
If you like shopping with the little guys, then that’s us. If you don’t care, then shop with us anyway 🙂 .
Not a lot to say here. Our razor is chrome plated zinc. The comparison razors are mainly plastic, rubber, etc. Having the weight of a metal razor helps the razor and blade do the work. You do not have to pull down to get the smooth shave. The weight of the razor does its work.
So Which Razor Is Better?
This is a very subjective question. We have tried them all, and you will be shocked to hear that we believe our razor is the best. But, that is a question you will have to answer yourself.
GOOD NEWS! You can try our razor and get a year’s worth of blades for $24. You just can’t beat that deal!
All that being said, we have ranked the razors based on our preference below.
1. The Wet Shaving Club Vintage Safety Razor
2. Harry’s Truman Razor
3. Gillette G5
4. Dollar Shave Club Humble Twin
Our Conclusion
The fact is, razor options are much better today than they were a decade ago. And we are not talking technology or design. As you know, we believe it only takes one sharp blade held at the right angle to give you a smooth shave. In our opinion, your razor options are better because the legacy brands have been exposed.
We believe The Dollar Shave Club really took it to those big legacy razor brands like Gillette and Schick.
Let’s compare The Dollar Shave Club to something like Toyota and the way the changed the auto industry. So if The Dollar Shave club is the Toyota of the razor world, then Harry’s came along and positioned themselves as the Lexus. A higher end product, but still reasonably priced compared to the other luxury brands.
Sticking with this analogy, we would label Gillette as the Cadillac of the industry. A legacy brand that makes good product, but not the best product; however they still charge like they are making the best product.
So where does that leave our safety razors? Hmmm…
We are like the Harley-Davidson of the group. We have a super cool product, that has been around forever, been on the ropes a few times, but keeps coming back stronger. Oh yeah.. we have chrome on our product too!
Legal Stuff
The Wet Shaving Club is not affiliated in any way with Schick, Gillette, Harry’s, or The Dollar Shave Club. We consider them our competition. The above article was written based on our opinions of the offerings from each of our competitors compared to our offering.
Schick is a registered trademark owned by Edgewell
Gillette is a registered trademark owned by Procter & Gamble or P&G™
The Dollar Shave Club is a registered trademark owned by Unilever
¹ To see how we calculate one year of shaving with a safety razor CLICK HERE
SCREENSHOTS SUPPORTING OUR FINDINGS ABOVE
Gillette's Frequency Guide
As of 10/28/2019
Harry's Frequency Guide
As of 10/28/2019
