Dollar Shave Club: My review and a cheaper alternative

I recently signed up for the Dollar Shave Club (DSC), which is a site that lets you paying $6 every 1 or 2 months for 4 razors by mail (and you can pause your subscription at any time). It turns out that you can get the exact same razors for much cheaper with no monthly subscription so long as you're willing to buy in bulk. Apparently DSC gets its razors from Dorco USA, which you can buy directly from on-line. In fact, you can buy retail handles with trial razors from Dorco too. For example, for $6, you can try out a Dorco handle and two razors, and then you can buy 36 replacement cartridges for less than $1/razor.

I tried my "4X" DSC (or Dorco USA) razor for the first time this weekend. It was an OK razor. It had a nice heavy handle, but the angle of the pivoting head was not as steep as I'd like, and the moisturizing strip was far too thick. Consequently, it was very awkward to get into small nooks -- like under the nose. The "4X" razor doesn't have a trimming edge either (the more expensive 6-blade "Executive" model does), which would really improve matters. But after the shave, my face felt pretty good. It just took a lot longer to get through a full shave. So I'm not sure I can fully recommend these razors over, say, Schick Quattro Titanium disposable razors, which actually have a trimming edge and are pretty cheap from local stores or from Amazon (around $7/3 razors).

DSC also sent me a tester of their "Dr. Carver's Easy Shave Butter," which actually burned my face a bit as it went on (but I have sensitive skin). My face was fine afterward. But using Nivea For Men Active3 Body Wash for Body, Hair & Shave worked just as well without the sting. So I'm not sure I can recommend the Shave Butter either.

So I'm torn. It's possible that the 6-blade+edging "Executive" unit will be better. Either way, in the long run, it's cheaper to buy from Dorco USA directly, and I like the idea of dropping the subscription service. Dorco USA also sells other razor models and even disposable models. They also sell razors designed for women, whereas DSC just tells women to buy the 4X. The 4X has a handle which is somewhere between what you'd want for the face and the leg, but I think it's biased toward face shaving. So the lady's models at Dorco USA are definitely recommended if you need to shave legs.

So that's my brief review. tl;dr -- Check out DORCO if you like DSC's blades but don't like the subscription service.

References:

• Dollar Shave Club
• LifeHacker: "Forget Dollar Shave Club; Buy the Same High Quality Razors for a Third of the Price" 
• Dorco USA Razors

How you like them apples?

UPDATE (07/06/2008): Krapples are now $2.29/pound (compare to Giant Eagle with $1.99/pound). Milk is $3.49/gallon (compare to Giant Eagle with $3.19/gallon).

UPDATE: Meijer also $1.49 per pound apples. I think it's safe to shorten "Kroger apple" to "Krapple." I've e-mailed Kroger, and I've requested that the Attorney General investigate.

The Kroger grocery stores around me usually have red delicious apples (i.e., #4016) for $1.69 per pound. That's not too bad. However, for a long time (at least a month) they have been selling those apples for $2.29 per pound. I'm sure that this has something to do with the damage to the apple crop from the big frost over the winter. In fact, I think that the other types of apples have gone up in price too.

However, I don't think that I've seen prices THAT high at other big stores.

In fact, I know that Sunflower Market (SM), a certified organic store where prices are expected to be higher, has been selling organic red delicious apples (i.e., #94016) for $1.29 per pound! And the rest of their apples sell for around that price too (in fact, SM has pretty decent prices for the stuff they have there; it seems to be a quality store).

So what's going on at Kroger? Why the highway robbery?