

Shaving subscription boxes seem to becoming a “thing” these days. At first they were more of a replentishment program first introduced by companies like Raz*War, made popular by Dollar Shave Club, and refined by companies like Bevel. Then an offshoot appeared, providing sample products more closely targeted to the traditional wet shaving market. Let’s take a look at some of those offshoots.



Sample Subscription Boxes

Sample subscription box products all work about the same way: for your subscription fee you get an initial box with a razor, blades, brush, a shave soap or cream (usually full-sized), and perhaps a grooming product. Then each subscription period (usually monthly) you get a box with different shave and grooming products (mostly sample-sized but some full-size products too).

Wet Shave Club

Possibly the earliest adopter in the wet shaving subscription box concept was Wet Shave Club (WSC). Originally started in 2013, WCS was essentially a one-man, part-time operation. Then in late 2014 the operation was purchased by a couple of entrepreneurs who met on Reddit and they expanded the brand signficantly. By the way, one of them wrote up a fascinating narrative on their business for Reddit’s Entrepreneur subreddit (tl;dr–a lot of hard work).



The initial box I got is shown above. A WSC-branded razor (with a little leather head cover) and an unbranded (but serviceable) boar brush was included along with the other products you see. The razor was a bit of a surprise: a fairly hefty (3.5oz.) scalloped-safety bar razor with their logo etched into the head cap. Although balanced lower than I prefer (the center of gravity was a fair ways down the handle) the build quality is better than average. I found the razor middle-of-the-road for aggressiveness.

Luxury Barber

Another recent entry for subscription boxes comes from Luxury Barber. Their box is a bit different in that it seems to concentrate a little more on “software” (grooming-related samples) and a little less on strictly shaving-related items and hardware. The products I tried from this box performed as advertised.

Shave Select

My final example is Shave Select. Slightly less expensive than the other boxes, the initial box I got from Shave Select select included (photo at top of post) an inexpensive DE razor (it actually reminds me a lot of a “genuine” RiMei razor, inexpensive but reasonably well built!), an Omega boar brush, and a “shavette” style razor along with the other items shown in the photo. I haven’t tried the “shavette” yet but everything else has performed well.

But Is A Subscription Box For You?

The above is a quick sample of the subscription boxes available–there are others, but they all follow the same basic idea. Should you subscribe? Maybe, but do it for the right reason. Do not subscribe thinking that you will be saving money (directly, anyway)! The initial box is typically worth more than the monthly subscription price, but the following month’s boxes will depend on what you like and what you want to try. I think subscription boxes are great if you want to conveniently try a variety of shaving and grooming products. If you like something, buy more of it. Don’t care for an item? That’s OK too–now you know.



Do you subscribe to a shaving subscription box? Leave a comment with your experiences!

