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I "Can't-Stands-Ya" Bad Razors: Why I Ditched Gillette and Dollar Shave Club
I shave my head most days; otherwise, I feel like I look like George Costanza. It is a non-negotiable part of my routine. A couple of weeks ago, while traveling, I realized I had left my razor at home. In a bind, I had to run out and pick up a Gillette razor.
When I have to, I will usually get Gillette because the actual razors give a good shave. But the build quality has gotten so bad. Within a week, two cartridges had snapped in the exact same spot.
To fully appreciate the absurdity of this, you have to look at the hoop-jumping required just to buy these things. You have to walk into a drugstore, press a button to ring a bell, wait awkwardly for an employee to unlock a plastic security case, and then pay a ridiculous amount for brittle plastic that breaks in under a week.
It is an awful customer experience. Frankly, it is a symptom of a much larger disease in modern business strategy.
The Convenience Trap
For almost five years, I bypassed the terrible customer experience and crazy pricing of Gillette by subscribing to Dollar Shave Club. I knew the razor quality was never as good as Gillette's, but I traded quality for convenience, and I was fine with it.
Over time though, the quality degraded so much that the blades were literally breaking off and cutting me. A product that was supposed to make my life easier had become completely unusable. I canceled my subscription with them a couple of years ago now.
As the CEO of The2nd.co, I spend a lot of time analyzing consumer brands. This razor saga perfectly highlights the bankruptcy of modern corporate strategy. Too many companies today rely on a flawed playbook to boost their quarterly margins: make the materials cheaper, shrink the packaging, or lay off the workers who actually build the value.
If this is your strategy, you do not know how to build a proper business. Real business is built slowly. It is built on a foundation of uncompromisingly high-quality products, exceptional user experience, and earned trust. When you compromise the product to save a few pennies, you lose the customer forever.
The Return to Real Quality
I am done with the plastic lockboxes, the terrible quality, and the brittle plastic builds.
I have officially switched to Supply's Single Edge SE.
It is solid metal, built for life, and provides a closer shave without the crappy gimmicks. It is also incredibly easy to refill without paying ridiculous prices.
We actually stock it at The2nd.co because it represents exactly the kind of quality I believe businesses should be striving for. Our philosophy is simple: we only carry products that are built well and elevate your everyday routines. The Supply SE does exactly that.
Stop accepting bad products. Demand better. It is literally the easiest thing to do: just do nothing. Do not buy it.
