Dollar Shave Club vs Billie vs Harry’s—Which Is the Best Razor Subscription?

Dollar Shave Club: The Original and Most Prolific for Grooming Products

Dollar Shave Club is the original shaving subscription and has grown their fanbase and product lines greatly over the years. Although they started as a men's service, they've shown awareness that women also use their products. Their razors tend to look a little masculine compared to women-specific brands although they overall tend to stay pretty unisex when you go through the checkout process and read about the products themselves. You can choose the frequency of your deliveries and cancel at any time. They advertise high-quality products at affordable prices.

• How much is the starter set? $5.00 for the starter set (a $15.00 value)
• Talk to me about my choices.  They have the largest variety of razor choices --- 2, 4, or 6 blades with 3 different handle designs. Recurring pricing varies by which plan you choose and blade prices vary.
  • The Humble Twin ($1)
  •  The 4X ($6)
  • The Executive ($9)
• How's the shave? I tried the 6 blade option and as you can imagine, 6 blades really give you a ridiculously close and smooth shave. No nicks.
• How about that handle? I tried The Executive and found it has a pretty hefty weight to it and looks sort of like a transformer. Even though I don’t love the design, it feels good in my hand.
• What about extras? It seems like they're unveiling new product lines every time I go to their website. From shaving to shower to dental hygiene and now deodorants, they have it all.

Check out my Dollar Shave Club review for an in-depth look!

Harry's: Shaving Essentials With Clean Design

Harry’s delivers 5-blade German-engineered razors with simply designed handles to your door on whatever schedule you prefer.  The look and feel of their products and packaging are a little more boutique-y than DSC and they hit a nice balance of having a couple of choices, but not so many that it's overwhelming. They seem to be adding more items recently and are really coming for DSC but are more overtly targeting men-only which you notice when signing up and it shows graphics of bearded faces to ask how often you'll need shipments.

• How much is the starter set? $13.00 (+ tax), for the starter set 5 blade razor refills start at $1.88/each.
• Talk to me about my choices. Harry's only offers 5 blade cartridges but you'll have your choice of handle color with the option to upgrade to chrome.
• How's the shave? I found this razor to be incredibly sharp and although I was a little afraid I’d cut myself, I didn’t. It did a really great job shaving my legs and left them extremely smooth. I had no trouble navigating the curvatures of my ankles or underarms either.
• How about that handle? It has a nice rubberized grip with a comfortable weight.
• What about extras?  They offer basic shaving products to add as well like shaving cream, gel, and after-shave mist, as well as some skin care like face wash, balm, and lotion, and shower products like soap and body wash. My starter set came with their shave gel and I didn't love the scent.

Check out my Harry's review for every last detail.

Billie: Shaving Basics with a More Feminine Feel

Billie is a shaving subscription service that caters to women specifically. They allow you to choose the frequency of deliveries and cancel at any time. Billie also outright bashes the “pink tax” (that extra amount women are charged for certain products or services, for no good reason) and support women’s causes around the world (although they don’t specify which ones). Their packaging and products are really nicely designed and offer a much softer feel with brighter colors than DSC and Harry's.

• How much is the starter set? $9.00 for the starter kit (includes a razor handle, mag(net)ic holder, and 2 x 5-blade razor cartridges) and $9.00 for each 4-pack replacement cartridge delivery. You can choose the frequency based on how often you shave.
• Talk to me about my choices. Billie has one kind of razor: 5-blades surrounded by aloe shave soap.
• How's the shave? My legs were so ridiculously soft and smooth after running this razor over them that I wanted to keep touching them throughout the day and even three days later. The cartridge that has a rather generous aloe strip around it (which seems unique to women-marketed brands). UPDATE: Billie used to offer an aloe shave bar, but has updated to charcoal since I got my starter kit. So the bar in the pictures above is a little more white than the current Billie bar, which is a soft gray color.
• How about that handle? They keep things simple with a lightweight handle in your choice of 4 pleasing colors.
• What about extras? Their product catalog is pretty simple and is kept to shave cream, body wash, and body lotion and the scents tend to lean towards more fruity and floral.

Check out my Billie review to learn more!

The Verdict

I've tried all three of these brands and think that the razors are extremely comparable and they all deliver a terrific shave. I think what it comes down to with these shaving subscriptions is what type of options you want and how much you care about a certain aesthetic. All three have very similar pricing for blade replacements and offer shaving cream, body wash, and lotion at the very least.

If you:

• Like a lot of variety and want ALL of your grooming needs to arrive at your door in one go, I think Dollar Shave Club is your best bet.
• Like to keep things simple and prefer darker deeper colors and slightly more "masculine" scents, Harry's is the one for you!
• Prefer a lightweight razor with more airy colorways and want to keep your shaving game strong without having to think about it while supporting a female co-founder, Billie is a great choice.

Curious about how women's razors compare against one another? Check out our Billie vs. Flamingo post where We Put These Women’s Razors to the Test!