Dollar Shave Club Overview

Dollar Shave Club is probably the most popular men's shave club.

For the uninitiated, the Dollar Shave Club is a bathroom supplies delivery service that provides razors, shaving cream, shaving butter, aftershave, and an ever-growing library of new male-grooming products: most recently we discovered it offers toothbrushes and hair pomade, too.

This makes DSC an excellent tool for anyone looking to, as we were, transition from prolonged-adolescence to respectful, mature self-care. Did The Dollar Shave Club actually help? The answer's below, but first let's go through the particulars.

How Dollar Shave Club Works

Go to Dollar Shave Club and sign up for their $5 Starter Set that includes the executive razor handle, four 6-blade razor cartridges, a trial-sized shave butter, a trial-sized prep scrub, and a trial-sized post shave dew.

When you take advantage of this deal, it signs you up for the Dollar Shave Club membership that will renew after the first month at the full executive razor price of $9/month.

After the first month, be sure to go into your membership settings and choose the razor blades you’d like to receive each month. You can opt to switch to a cheaper razor if you want to pay less per month.

They offer three different options: The Humble Twin — which is regularly $1 per month + $2 shipping, The 4X — which is regularly $6 per month (includes shipping), or The Executive - which is regularly $9 per month (includes shipping).

There are no hidden fees. You can cancel your subscription at any time. Or you can change plans at any time. When you change plans, you’ll receive a new razor handle for free.

Pause your subscription or change your shipment frequency at any time. You can even get blades every other month if you want!

What Comes in a Regular Monthly Box

First initial box included a razor handle, 4 razor blade cartridges, and some extra samples/goodies. The following months, you just get a package with 4 razor blade cartridges every month + the bathroom notes (which are sometimes, sometimes a little crass). They sometimes will include a little sample, too.

Changing package frequency is quick and intuitive on the DSC website, and on the rare occasion that a package doesn't arrive (probably due to "porch pirates" as my DSC rep suggested) the box is replaced in less than a week.

Dollar Shave Club razors

DSC blades come in three different sizes: The humble twin (two blades) the 4X (4 blades) and The Executive (with 6 blades). Despite DSC's iconic claim that its razors are "F***ing great," we have found them to be merely "fine." "Fine" is really all you need, and each blade lasts me anywhere from a week and a half to three weeks, so you tend to have leftover cartridges when new package arrives. If you have a particularly resilient beard that requires special attention, DSC may not be your best option. But for us non-lumberjacks, the blades are a reliable bargain, and after a little trial and error you can find the perfect blade-and-frequency combination for your face.

Dollar Shave Club shaving creams, lathers and after shave

We have had less success with the shaving support products. Neither the Shave Butter nor the Shave Lather are as effective as good old fashioned canned shaving cream - which is also significantly cheaper, even after you factor in the staggering inconvenience of walking to a store.

The Post Shave Cream, Miracle Repair Serum and Mandatory Prep Scrub are all better, but we not sophisticated enough in my grooming to tell if they’re particularly good examples of what they’re supposed to be. How does one tell if a "Post Shave Cream" is doing an exceptional job at keeping your face moisturized? It certainly feels nice, but is it better than your regular, store-bought "post-shave cream?" We not even sure that we have seen post-shave cream for sale again.

However, we do keep re-ordering a fresh bottle, season after season, simply because we can’t imagine myself buying it in a store with all those people watching me and knowing how moist my face would be later.

Dollar Shave Club shower products

Here, we can speak with greater authority and say that the body wash, shampoo, and facial cleanser are great. All the DSC products leave us satisfied. We have used the body cleanser, the daily face cleanser and the shampoo and we have been more than satisfied with all of it. The price is roughly what we did pay at the grocery store or pharmacy, and the quality is exactly what we want.

Is Dollar Shave Club worth it?

Dollar Shave Club were how we transitioned into taking proper care of appearance, and it filled that role perfectly. If you already have your bathroom ritual down — you know how you like your hair, which toothpaste is your favorite and have a favorite brand of razor — we not sure DSC has anything to offer you.

But if you struggle to keep your razors in stock, or aren't sure exactly how you like your hair, or wonder if there might be a real reason to own moisturizer, then you may want to take a look at one of the $5 starter boxes, or one of their more focused trial kits.

So if you're a young guy not sure exactly where to start with this stuff, but interested in giving it a shot, Dollar Shave Club is a great way to take that first step.