The Best Disposable Razors for Men: Is There Anything Worth Using?

Gillette Mach 3

Best Disposable Razor for Men

The Mach 3 is one of the most popular disposables because it offers a superior shave at a very reasonable price. Gillette has created a razor that will stand the test of time.

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Gillette Mach 3 Sensitive Disposable

The Mach 3 by Gillette is one of the best-selling disposable razors of all time. It’s been around for years now and is still used by tens of millions of men each day, with three-blades it offers a particularly fast and comfortable shave that is rare for a disposable razor.

Gillette almost have complete control of the disposable shaving market, the Mach 3 features their patented ‘Lubrastrip’ that they use on many of their disposables to provide extra lubrication as you shave. This helps to make the shave smoother and reduces irritation as you move the blade.

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Value for Money
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Quality of Shave
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The Mach 3 offers the best shaving experience of the disposable razors that we tried. There are some more expensive disposables that we didn’t try, but it’s not fair to include them in this test because the price of them makes them unreasonable for the majority of us. This Mach 3 disposable isn’t the cheapest either, generally, each razor sells for about $2.50. Fortunately, because there are 3 blades, each blade will dull slower and you should be able to plenty of shaves from each disposable. In our experience, this makes the price per shave very low, making it quite reasonably priced for such a comfortable and efficient disposable.

Gillette Mach 3 Disposable

We found that the Mach 3 cuts through even longer hair very well for a disposable. The three-blades also meant that we rarely had to shave over the same spot again. With the lubrastrip we could shave without irritation. All of this meant that we were able to swipe the blades quickly, making for the quickest shave out of the disposables that we trialled. The Mach 3 is by far the best disposable razor for men.

Gillette Sensor 2 Plus

For a long time this was my day-to-day disposable. It’s not glamorous and it’s not the most comfortable shave, but for the price it offers great value for money. The Sensor 2 Plus is another disposable by Gillette that features there lubrication strips. In my experience, even from this cheaper disposable I can usually get 4 or 5 shaves from each blade. I don’t have very thick hair and it grows relatively slowly, but I’ve seen other men with thicker hair get the same 4 or 5 shaves from a blade too.

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Value for Money
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Quality of Shave
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After the first shave you’ll find that the lubrication strip has worn a little, but after the 4th shave it’ll be heavily reduced. This means that if you do use it a 5th time it’ll be less lubricated and therefore more likely to cause irritation. For some men this isn’t a serious issue, but if you have sensitive skin then you’ll want to avoid this.

Gillette Sensor 2 Plus Disposable Razor

The Sensor 2 Plus is ranked so high because the price is excellent, generally, you can buy a blade for around $0.50 - $0.80 and if you’re getting 4 or 5 shaves per blade it works out to very little per shave. It also features a pivoting head which is rare on such a cheap blade, this helps to make shaving along your jawline easier and helps to prevent you missing an area.

Schick Hydro 5 Disposable

Schick appear to be becoming more popular with men, traditionally we only knew Schick for their female razors. The Hydro 5 is a five-blade razor that uses a thick skin guard to reduce friction between the blades and the skin.

The name ‘Hydro 5’ stands up to the test, it has a unique gel that is supposed to ‘last up to 2 times longer than ordinary lubrication strips’. These razors are a bit more expensive that the others, selling at around $3 per razor.

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Value for Money
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Quality of Shave
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We believe that you should be able to get at least as many shaves per razor as with the Mach 3 and therefore we assume that each shave costs only a little more. So, they are more expensive that most other razors but you do get 5-blades, which for some people will help to reduce any irritation and make cutting the hair effortless.

Shick Hydro 5 Disposable

Another unique feature is a flip trimmer. This is engaged by pushing you thumb, it will extend out the small trimmer which you can use for precise detailing or to use on areas that you would struggle to reach with the main blade heads. Honestly, this feature is a little bit pointless. I can’t imagine many men actually using this detail trimmer.

Gillette Fusion Disposable

Last on our list is Gillette’s high-end disposable, complete with 5-blades and a fancier handle, it’s the most advanced disposable that Gillette offer.

Compared to the Mach 3, it has an extra 2-blades which should help to make the shave more comfortable and to prevent each individual razor from dulling as fast. This does mean that each blade should, in theory, last longer than on the Mach 3.

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Value for Money
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Quality of Shave
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However, each razor is also far more expensive. You can pick up the Gillette Fusion at around $3.50 - $4.00 per razor, making it by far the most expensive disposable on this list. It does have some extra features that help to justify the price, it has a comfort guard that is designed to stretch the skin slightly before the blades reach it, this makes it easier to cut the hair and prevents nicking the skin.

Gillette Fusion

You’ll also see that the lubrication strip will eventually fade to white, telling you exactly when you are no longer getting an optimal shave. This is a nice addition, it just helps to prevent you shaving without the needed lubrication, preventing razor burn which can be extremely uncomfortable.

Similar to the Hydro 5, the Gillette Fusion also has a specific trimmer on the back of the cartridge that you can use to touch up your sideburns or to detail along the edge of your facial hair.

One thing that we really like about the Fusion is its handle. It was by far the most comfortable razor that we held and the extensive grip all along the handle made it much safer to hold. Rather than an uncomfortable box shaped plastic, it’s made out of a textured-rubber which makes for a more enjoyable shave.

If money isn’t tight and you typically dislike shaving, then we would recommend this as the best disposable razor for sensitive skin. The extra blades do help to alleviate some of the excessive strokes which are needed with one-blade razors and the Fusion has excellent lubrication. It’s not cheap, but it does offer a superior shave for a disposable.

Is there such a thing as a best disposable?

This is a question we’re guessing will be asked by some of our readers who use either a straight razor or a safety razor . We understand where you’re coming from, we do believe that safety and straight razors are far superior to any disposable… we even know that many cartridge blades are better than disposables.

So, can there really be a ‘best’ disposable? Of course.

There’s a time and place for a disposable razor and some men just prefer the convenience. Even those of us who use safety razors on a daily basis will use a disposable once a year on a trip when we run out of replacement blades.

Another thing to remember is that we are in a different world these days, disposables aren’t what they used to be in the 80’s! Some of the higher-end disposables offer a great shave without the irritation that we all associate with disposables.

The key is to put your money with a brand that you believe in and use one of their proven products. No, a disposable will never compare to a safety razor but they aren’t that bad either.

The more blades the better?

We’ve all seen how ridiculous the marketing has gotten around the number of blades in each disposable, it’s almost the entirety of their sales pitch these days. For those of us who use single blades in a safety razor for example, we know just how effective a single blade can be. But there is some method to the madness.

The difference with safety razors is that the blades are ultra-sharp and of excellent quality. With cartridge and disposables, the blades are far duller (to protect a novice shaver) and therefore more blades are often needed to even cut through the hair. Since the blades don’t start out anywhere near as sharp as those you use in your Merker, they would also dull extremely quickly if only a single blade were used. Instead, using multiple blades help to spread that load across 3, 4 or even 5 different blades. We do agree that it’s far better to have one sharp blade than many dull ones, but disposables are designed for efficiency and versatility. You can give a disposable to your teenage son and it’s unlikely he’s going to cut himself.

It’s been our experience with disposables that in many cases more is in fact better. The razor that we enjoyed the most was the Gillette Fusion which has 5-blades, this might seem overkill to some but it glided through the hair effortlessly and we felt almost no tugging. Disposables are infamous for scraping the hair rather than cutting it, but with the 5-blade Fusion this wasn’t the case. In fact, it was the only disposable that felt close to what a safety razor could deliver, which is crazy to say because it has 5x the amount of blades.

What should you consider when choosing a disposable?

Across the entire shaving industry there is one thing that stands true - price is equal to quality, up until a point. The cheapest products are always of horrible quality and the most expensive are always overpriced with little extra value.

If you’re really tight for money then you have to buy what you can afford and more often that’s going to be an ultra-cheap pack of Bic one-blade razors. These really are a bad experience, but if money is tight then you have to prioritize.

A small jump up to a razor like the Sensor 2 Plus will give you a far better shave with little irritation and only a small increase in price. We almost ranked these as our number one disposable just because the price is incredible and the performance is surprisingly good. The only reason we didn’t is because that Mach 3 stands out. It’s more expensive but the performance is at that point where you can’t argue with it. Any extra performance, such as with Fusion has, is often had at too high a price. The Mach 3 strikes the ultimate performance without killing your wallet, whilst the Sensor 2 Plus offers a good performance at a great price.

Which razor you pick will depend greatly on a few factors; how much money you want to spend, how sensitive your skin is and whether you enjoy shaving.

If you have sensitive skin that becomes red just at the sight of a cheap Bic razor, you’ll want to avoid anything with less than 3-blades and without a thick strip of lubrication. A razor like the Mach 3 would be an excellent choice for you, but if you have the extra money the best disposable for sensitive skin is the Gillette Fusion. This razor has a dense lubrication strip that will indicate when it has worn-down, this prevents you from using it without the lubrication you need for your sensitive skin. It also has 5-blades which can help to prevent you using excessive amounts of strokes which can irritate the skin.

In Conclusion: The Mach 3 is the Best Disposable Razor for Men

In this test we didn’t look at any non-branded razors and we especially avoided Asian razors. It’s not that we didn’t want to test them it’s just that we know the performance won’t be as good. There are many things in life where the brand-name is excessive, but shaving is not one of them. By sticking to trust-worthy brands like Gillette and Schick that have been around for decades, you can ensure that you’re getting an excellent product. Sure, they are more expensive to justify their marketing budgets , but they’ve also spent significant sums of money on research and development to create their industry-leading razors.

There are many other disposables that we’ve used in the past that we chose not to even list because they were so poor. With disposables there is a huge gap between those that work, listed in this article, and those that weren’t worth the cost of their materials. We chose to rank the disposables in this list, unlike some other reviews, because it’s clear that considering all the different factors that go into the decision, some razors are far ahead of others.

About the author

Jack Prenter

Jack has been fascinated by fashion for decades and spent huge amounts of time researching it and becoming an expert. He's written for many well-known publications and is in the process of opening an online clothing store for men. Jack studied at the University of Nottingham and is now based out of Toronto, Canada.