If you're a Razorpedia fan, you obviously shave your face and care about buying great shaving products at reasonable prices. Most of us use shaving systems with replaceable cartridges like Harry's, Dorco, Dollar Shave Club, Gillette, or Schick because that's what is known and easily accessible. But there is a whole other world out there of wet shaving that I think many of us haven't ever considered.
Enter Wet Shave Club. It's a catchy title obviously aiming to position itself as the wet shave alternative to Michael Dubin's wildly popular Dollar Shave Club. Wet Shave Club offers subscribers a monthly box of wet shaving products for between $19-$29 a month (depending on how long you subscribe for). Is this a good deal? I had to try it since 20,000 other subscribers clearly thought so.
My first box included everything in the picture above enclosed in a sturdy, well-branded box:
- Double edge razor with protective leather guard
- Boar's hair shave brush
- Two bars of scented shave soap
- Two 5-packs of Gillette double edge razor blades
- One bottle of witch hazel aftershave
- 20 alum matchsticks for a natural astringent
Keep in mind that I'm a daily shaving system user and not a typical wet shaver. I've tried my hand at wet shaving in the past, and dove in with purchasing a high end Merkur adjustable handle and an Art of Shaving badger brush. But I found that my need for a very quick morning routine trumped my appreciation for the wet shaving "ritual" that many wet shavers boast about. The Wet Shave Club box would have been a much better way to try it out.
So now for my review. The boar's hair brush was sizable and of nice quality, though not quite as soft as a badger brush. The shave soap smelled awesome and lathered quickly. Putting a fresh Gillette blade into the razor handle was an easy task with a quick screw based mechanism. I was particularly impressed by the weight and comfort of the razor handle. I'd expect a starter kit like this to provide a lower-end handle but this one had substance and a strong grip, making it easy to let the handle do the work!
After shaving my face (which takes some practice for wet shave newbies out there), I tried out the alum matchsticks on a couple of areas of razor burn that developed. I've never used them before and actually found them to cause a bit of a stinging sensation! So probably won't use those again. Then I polished it all off with spreading a dab of the witch hazel aftershave. It definitely felt refreshing and soothed my skin. The scent was very unique and a bit...powerful. Part of me thought, "I smell like a lumberjack and this is amazing." But another part of me thought, "This scent is too strong for me to go out in public. I should use less next time." My wife had her own opinion, quickly saying, "I want a candle to smell like that, but probably not my man to smell like that!" Regardless, this was just one type and scent of aftershave...I'm sure the next box would have a totally different one.
That's the beauty of the Wet Shave Club - each month they send you different products to try and over time even new shave brushes and other high quality items. After trying out the box, I'd recommend it as a great starter set for someone interested in experimenting with wet shaving! And for a limited time, you can get $5 off your first box just by providing them with your email address. Check out www.wetshaveclub.com for details.
What are your thoughts on wet shaving? Do you think you'd try out the Wet Shave Club?
*This post is sponsored content paid for by Wet Shave Club. Razorpedia only endorses products believed to be interesting, relevant, and aligned with the Razorpedia mission."