Waldo, Smol and other practical subscription services

Has anyone used The Personal Barber subscription? Looks like they provide great products in their boxes. I’ve just signed up and this will be my first time using a safety razor. I hope I don’t do myself an injury :joy:

I also like that I can recycle the blades and don’t have to use plastic cartridges. I’ve stuck a referral link in the wiki thread for anyone interested in signing up and getting a discount.

These two statements are going to massively contradict each other, but here goes…

I don’t see the need for Smol. £4.50 for 24 washes. That’s just under 19p per wash. I buy whichever are on offer in Tesco. Currently that £6 for 36 pods in a variety of brands. That makes them just under 17p per pod. I’m not money conscious enough that 2p per pod is a worry, but I don’t see the need to have another subscription (more so that I can’t have it come from a pot, but that’s another story) when it doesn’t really help me that much.

But I have subscribed to socks :rofl: https://manrags.com.au/product-category/shop-all/all-socks/

They worked out about £15 for two pairs and I used to get them monthly. I like bright socks, but never novelty! I tend to stop and start it depending on how foolish I’m feeling with money but it’s currently cancelled as I haven’t worn any dress socks in two months!

I got a pair from here for Christmas - https://www.londonsockcompany.com/sock-club/ and I was going to give them a go too, but now WFH, doesn’t really feel needed :unamused:

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I’ve been using them for couple of months now, it’s pretty nice when new to safety razors because they send you different blades and soaps etc each time so nice way to find one you like. I can imagine eventually stopping it and finding somewhere that can just send the blades etc that end up liking the most though.

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How have you found using a safety razor compared to a Gillette etc?

I made the switch to a safety razor a few months back after using Gillette all my life. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Not only do you save an absolute fortune but you get far a better shave once you get used to it.

I read a blog post (can’t find it now) which showed that most blades only last for a few uses before ending up looking like a comb, and instead of cutting they’re then pulling hair out and causing irritation. Then multi-blade razors were even worse because they get clogged up between the blades which also reduces its effectiveness. One nice sharp blade is all you need, no heated or vibrating multi-blade nonesense.

I used to get quite bad irritation on my neck but not anymore now I have a safety razor. Blades are pennies each, so you can use it a few times and bin it without feeling like you’re wasting lots of money and you then have a constant really close clean shave.

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I got to the same conclusion with Smol, I did use them for about 3 months or so, but as with any subscription service, I always found I had mis-managed stock levels.

I also found that they irritated one of my cats (or at least is my going theory), so switched for that purpose (plus some other issues, but that’s a different thread…). But since most of the time I need to go grocery shopping anyway, it’s not an extra inconvenience to buy detergent.

On the socks - I had a sub from these guys for a while: https://thelondonsockexchange.net/

They were super high quality and I like the simple designs. Would subscribe again. But haven’t worn socks since lockdown started it seems.

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Back before my bearded days, I shaved for a few years with safety razors only, and I think this is the absolute best arguement against any razor subscription.

You can get some very good safety razers for <£10 for 100 in the right places. Even if you change your razor twice a week, that’s a years worth of razors for a tenner.

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I too have a hard time managing my smol stock. Laundry is not a consistent task for me, so the subscription model doesn’t work too well, and I’m often have to pause, delay or skip packs, or request one early (though I’ve combated that by letting my stock build up so I always have a spare box!) I keep my smol subscription because they’re only leaping bunny certified capsule that actually does a good cleaning job, but I’d rather be able to buy them from a grocery store or Amazon.

I have a quite a few of these sorts of subscriptions, but the only one that seems to work the way these things are intended, where they just stay out of the way and deliver as you’re about to run out is my AATU subscription. Because my pets get fed the same amount of food each day, and I’m fortunate enough that the amount adds up to an even week, so having my pet food delivered every 7 weeks always works.

I’ve had a safety razor for a good few years now, so much better to use and get a decent clean shave.

I still use a multi bladed razor for my nether regions, not sure I trust my hand and the blade to not chop something off :rofl::rofl:

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After initially laughing at the idea of a sock subscription, and also that brilliant name, have just bought a couple pairs for my dad’s birthday coming up, so thank you for sharing!

I like those, it’s a pity the toucan ones are out of stock :slightly_frowning_face:

I’ve given up on the Smol now and trying Splosh. Prefer the smell of their laundry detergent (Chamomile & lavender).

Interesting comments on Splosh! I tried some of their products a little while back and found the scents quite weak and not very effective at cleaning, which is a shame because I like their ethos and approach, so now I’m back to using method cleaners.

I was going to get a SMOL subscription but it’s actually cheaper and easier to walk up the Aldi 5 mins down the hill from me. The liquid tabs they sell clean really well

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I absolutely would not go anywhere else on my body with mine :rofl: I wouldn’t even dare use it on my head!

I’m still relatively new and manage to cut myself sometimes. The blades are so sharp that you don’t even feel it until you see the blood afterwards :grimacing: I had to buy myself an alum block

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I used to use Smol but I’ve found the Amazon own-brand ones called Presto are really good and cheaper :+1:

I did take a chuck out my lip the other month, I was too busy thinking about food and whoops there goes a bit of lip 🤦🤦

Luckily it didn’t bleed for as long as I thought it would

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Smol’s ad spend must be huge. I clicked the link last week and I see ads everywhere now, all my YT vids have Smol ads on them.

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I’ve just stumbled across a baby wipes subscription service of all things. It’s called Pura and you can get a free trial here without needing to provide any payment details or subscribing. The flushable variant are particularly interesting, though no trial is offered on those.

I’m not a huge fan of disposable wipes, but I do always keep a pack of water wipes somewhere in my house. Pura make some interesting claims in regards to environmental impact. I’ve ordered the trial to see how the compare to waterwipes in other aspects too. I’m not sure it’s something I’d want to subscribe to though especially as they seem to be bulk packs and I only usually go through a single pack of Water Wipes a month.

I couldn’t see anything to see they are fine to flush accredited, maybe I missed it. Would be nice for them to get that if not

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