Today, I review two of the three razor blade options the company markets – see https://www.dollarshaveclub.com/our-blades – and give you my final-final thoughts on this company’s grooming value proposition.
The DSC offers three different razor blades: the Humble Twin, the 4X and the Executive. Now, I’m an old school shaver who never made the transition up-market to all the fancy multi-blade cartridges introduced by Gillette et al., over the last 10-20 years. As more and more of those sleek-looking razors and blades started hitting the market, it started to feel like a Cold War arms race. I just didn’t see the point of spending more and more money for a decent shave, which I was already getting. But any old dog should learn a new trick now and then….
Given my current possibly outdated shaving routine, I skipped the Humble Twin, because I already use an even lower-cost option of this type of blade – bought via Amazon with no shipping/handling charges – and am happy enough with it. I tested out the 4X, which has four blades, and the Executive, which has six. Both are excellent products. The big-picture takeaway for me regarding both blades is that you can get a good, close shave without hacking yourself up. The 4X is more maneuverable. Because it’s not quite as large a cartridge, it does better at shaving the angles, curves and harder-to-reach places on your face. The Executive gives you a closer shave; apparently 6>4 in shaving as well as math. Both cartridges are good for 3-4 shaves before you need to discard them, and again, the biggest improvement on the old school twin blades is avoiding nicks and scrapes.
As for appearance and utility, the razors provided by the DSC Club to go along with the blades look great and have good, comfortable handles. They resemble Transformers – modern, mechanical and muscular. The color schemes (blue, grey and white for the 4X; black, white and charcoal grey for the Executive) are high-tech and sexy.
The bottom line for me is that the 4X and the Executive are very good, cost-effective alternatives to the bigger name brands (a) if you’re a user of high-end multi-blade cartridges; and (b) if you’re willing to deal with the annoying aspects of a subscription-based e-commerce company. I’m willing to step up in price for a more functional cartridge, but I’m not willing to give the Dollar Shave Club all my personal info to use and sell. So for now, I’ll plan to stick with buying decent cheap blades online, but would become a Dollar Shave Club customer if the company sold its products without membership or subscription obligations.
by ManPossible
The DSC offers three different razor blades: the Humble Twin, the 4X and the Executive. Now, I’m an old school shaver who never made the transition up-market to all the fancy multi-blade cartridges introduced by Gillette et al., over the last 10-20 years. As more and more of those sleek-looking razors and blades started hitting the market, it started to feel like a Cold War arms race. I just didn’t see the point of spending more and more money for a decent shave, which I was already getting. But any old dog should learn a new trick now and then….
Given my current possibly outdated shaving routine, I skipped the Humble Twin, because I already use an even lower-cost option of this type of blade – bought via Amazon with no shipping/handling charges – and am happy enough with it. I tested out the 4X, which has four blades, and the Executive, which has six. Both are excellent products. The big-picture takeaway for me regarding both blades is that you can get a good, close shave without hacking yourself up. The 4X is more maneuverable. Because it’s not quite as large a cartridge, it does better at shaving the angles, curves and harder-to-reach places on your face. The Executive gives you a closer shave; apparently 6>4 in shaving as well as math. Both cartridges are good for 3-4 shaves before you need to discard them, and again, the biggest improvement on the old school twin blades is avoiding nicks and scrapes.
As for appearance and utility, the razors provided by the DSC Club to go along with the blades look great and have good, comfortable handles. They resemble Transformers – modern, mechanical and muscular. The color schemes (blue, grey and white for the 4X; black, white and charcoal grey for the Executive) are high-tech and sexy.
The bottom line for me is that the 4X and the Executive are very good, cost-effective alternatives to the bigger name brands (a) if you’re a user of high-end multi-blade cartridges; and (b) if you’re willing to deal with the annoying aspects of a subscription-based e-commerce company. I’m willing to step up in price for a more functional cartridge, but I’m not willing to give the Dollar Shave Club all my personal info to use and sell. So for now, I’ll plan to stick with buying decent cheap blades online, but would become a Dollar Shave Club customer if the company sold its products without membership or subscription obligations.
by ManPossible
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