I wasn’t actually planning on writing this post.

However, after the experience I had cancelling this service today, I felt compelled to write one.

At the end of last year I decided to sign up to one of those shaving subscription services. I’d been using disposable razors and was becoming very aware of how much waste I was causing. I’d tried razors from the drug store that you could just replace the heads on and found them cheaply made and didn’t last. I figured a service like this might deliver a better product and if it was something I’d not have to remember to go out and buy, brilliant!

They always seem to have some sort of signing up offer on. When I signed up, you received the handle, free engraving, a lid for the shaver and four sets of blades, for just £9 including postage. Not bad for all that. I also added on a tube of the shave cream, for £6.

Signing up was really easy and straightforward

First, you select how often you shave and choose between receiving four sets of blade a month, or every two months. I went with every two months as I didn’t think even shaving every day I would be going through a refil a week.

Next, you can add on any extras like the shave cream. I’d been used to using shaving foam, so picked up the cream to try.

Then, I just waited for my box to arrive.

The only downside to adding the shave cream to my box was it not fitting through the letterbox

For that reason alone, I probably wouldn’t be adding shave cream to any future boxes. I hate going to collect parcels at the depot.

The packaging was nice and the box and the contents were nicely laid out. The handle of the razor felt nice and study. I was happy this would last long term. As you can see, I didn’t bother with the engraving. I don’t need my razor to have my name on it. The little cover works well and I’d be happy taking this on holiday. I remember putting the blade head on was a bit of a faff but I’m sure it’s just a case of getting used to it.

The shave cream didn’t seem to specify a size on the website when I ordered

It was a reasonable size though, and I found I was going through this pretty consistently alongside the blades. This worked really well on the underarms. On my legs though, I definitely prefer shaving cream. It just felt too oily and like the blade was gliding over my legs, rather than actually shaving them.

Where both this and the razor seemed to lack though, was bikini line. Again, it just felt too oily and couldn’t really get close enough. It took me twice as long as normal to do.

By the time I received my next box blades, I still had two sets to go through.

I wanted to try the razor with my old trusty shaving cream before committing to any more refills, just in case it wasn’t just the shave cream that was the problem. However, when I went to the website to cancel I couldn’t actually find out how to do it. I had to Google it to find out. Turns out, you have to email them with the email address your account is registered to. I’m already annoyed at this point because I don’t believe it should be harder to cancel something than the sign up. I emailed them and received a reply asking if I was sure and suggesting things I could do like pausing or skipping months. I already knew I could do this because I read the website looking for a way to cancel. They also said if I wanted to cancel to reply with my email address (again?) and the postcode the account was registered to.

So at this point, not only were they extending out this whole process, they were now asking for new information. Why not just display on the website to email with your account address and postcode, and they action the request. Or, better yet, just have a ‘cancel’ button on their website?

I was still on the fence with FFS before I tried to cancel.

Now I definitely won’t be resubscribing. To make matters worse, since I unsubscribed I’ve now started receiving offer emails from them. Within 24 hours of cancelling, despite having never received one of these emails before.

So, difficult to cancel and a bit spammy? No thanks Friction Free Shaving, I’ll be trying different razors in the future.

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