New CORE razor from OneBlade

Here is what I do not understand.  I imagine that a company, in this case One Blade, figures the cost of the razor, stand, blades, packaging, and shipping.  It then adds a certain amount for its profit.  In this case, we are talking blades, the least expensive part of the package.  Why not simply allow customers who return the razor to keep the blades but initially add another $1.00 to the whole package to cover the cost of the kept blades?  Since not everyone will return the razor there will be a bit more profit and a lot of good will.

Freddy , to be clear, I am with you on the return of the blades-it's a small gesture that if the customer indicates they want to keep them, they should be able to. But something that I tend to forget is that OneBlade is not marketing to nuts aficionados like me, but to the mass of cart shavers who want a better, healthier shave. For those shavers, what the heck would they do with those blades, unless they happened to have a Valet Auto Strop?

So, my speculation is that they asked for the blades back to make it easier on that kind of customer who might just toss the blades out of the box into the garbage, with the attendant hazards. None of us here would do that, but again, the average cart shaver who could toss a Fusion blade right into the trash without thinking about it? Perhaps.

And reflecting on it further, there's no way they would repurpose those blades to a potential consumer in any way shape or form. The legal liability if anything were to happen and this were to be discovered could put them out of business.

Michael P, it's great that everything has worked out for you with One Blade.  The blade issue seems to be only one of the inconsistencies with their business model/customer service and I believe that is where the frustration is coming from, inconsistency.  If more kinks get worked out, if prices can be lowered, if customer service gets better across the board and not just for some but for all, then I think this company could be flying high.  As one who has never tried their products, many of the posts here have not encouraged me to do so.  If nothing else, price alone makes me wary.  I even think $50.00 for the mostly plastic CORE is a bit much.  I admit, that is just me but I wonder if any others feel the same.

I'm sure the superb, courteous, efficient, customer service I've received is not everyone's experience. Neither do I think that the terrible customer service Andrew has received is the norm.

I think the perceived inconsistencies might be because their policies are mainly geared to the shaver new to wet shaving not to nuts enthusiasts like me.

I take pride in the razor techniques that I've developed by trial and error in my 47 years of wet shaving. I can take just about any razor (with a Feather blade, DE or SE) and get an excellent, irritation-free shave. So it's odd that I even got one of the OneBlades in the first place. This is a razor that requires virtually NO technique, and therefore would be accessible to a cart shaver. Yet, I read in SharpSpine 's journal about his experience with it, and said what the heck, and was very pleasantly surprised with the ease and quality of the shave.

Is it as satisfying to me as the shave I get with a Mühle R41, a Charcoal Level 3 Open Comb, a Wolfman .74, a Blackbird OC, or a Cobra, Mongoose or Asylum Rx SE?

No.

Those are razors that command my attention.

Yet, when I pull a OneBlade from the shelf and shave with it, I'm amazed at how effortlessly and well it shaves. The pride I have in my technique makes me hate that I enjoy the shaves I get with it.

Plus, it's been a joy to be able to have given some OneBlades as gifts to newbie shavers who wanted to get into wet shaving but were struggling with a standard DE razor. At least the ease of using the OneBlade might introduce them to the joys of a good soap and brush, a 3 pass shave, and the kind of shave a sharp single blade can produce.

Like you, I hope they make their customer service more consistent. Perhaps they should be more aware of the kind of shaver with whom they're dealing-nut enthusiast like me or newbie. All I can speak from is my experience, which has been excellent, both with the shave and the customer service, while acknowledging the missteps that have been reported. And I agree that they could be very successful if they do so.

I think that is part of the problem for them. They never intended to go after this market in the first place, and when they did, they got a lot of blowback from a market that is a lot more vocal than the, "Oh well this $400 razor didn't work for me I'll just toss it in the trash crowd."

Just an update-looks like they're backlogged a bit on the CORE razors. Got this email a few minutes ago explaining the situation. Thought it was nice of them to communicate, offer a refund, and also a gift for the inconvenience.

Looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer to see if the newer CORE is more efficient than the first one.

Hi Michael,

Thank you again for your OneBlade CORE order placed this month.

Due to unexpected and overwhelming demand, we're currently out of stock of OneBlade CORE units at our shipping warehouse. And while we've been reflecting this backorder status on our website, we realize that not all of our customers were aware of this at the point of purchase, which may have included you.

That said, we are receiving additional OneBlade CORE units at our warehouse toward the end of this week and into next week, and plan to ship your order no later than next Friday (7/21) as part of our first release of units from our latest production run. And as an apology for the inconvenience in case you were not aware of our current backordering status, we'll be including a complimentary shaving gift with your order at no charge.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Of course, I can always cancel + refund your order immediately if you'd prefer that over a next week ship date with the complimentary shave gift. If this is the case, you can reply to this email directly, email us at support@onebladeshave.com, or call us at 800-481-1436 between Monday through Friday, 9a - 5p EST.

Again, I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience here with our backlog status.

Warm regards,

Just curious for those that returned your OneBlade. How long did it take to get your refund credit?  My tracking info says they received it on Monday at like 923am and now it's Friday and I haven't received any update. Thank you.

Just got an email that OneBlade will replace any V1 Core with an updated version. I think I'll go for it, seems some of the mildness of the Core has been addressed and perhaps it will shave a bit more like the SS version.

Just curious for those that returned your OneBlade. How long did it take to get your refund credit?  My tracking info says they received it on Monday at like 923am and now it's Friday and I haven't received any update. Thank you.

I think mine was around 5 days or so.

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I'm waiting on the more efficient CORE, and I received an email from the company. It addresses a couple of the issues that have been discussed in this thread, and I found it interesting:

On making the CORE more efficient:

1: Adding Back “Blade Lift Points” ➞ More Aggressive Shave

Chief amongst updates made is the addition of blade lift points which are incorporated into our GENESIS razor (pictured below) but were purposely omitted from our first round of CORE units.

These points subtly “lift” the blade to ensure an even amount of space above and below the blade within our 0.65mm gap design. Not having these points doesn’t mean that our ideal exposure can’t be reached, but a user is required to apply more pressure to achieve this. And as a result, the typical shave tends to feel a bit more “mild”, ideal for customers coming from a cartridge background.

For those who prefer a milder shave and are happy with the closeness of our round #1 CORE units, exchanging to a new model with the blade lift points added won’t make sense.

However, if you find your current CORE razor to be too mild for your personal preference OR are struggling to remove hair in 3 passes, then we want to coordinate an exchange of your original unit to one of these new units at no charge.

To arrange for a complimentary exchange to our new more aggressive CORE unit, please send us an email at hello@onebladeshave.com and a member of our team will be in touch first thing next week with more details.

On the plastic 'blade stops':

Are the two “front bumpers” on the razor head meant to stop the blade / hold it in place?

No — both our GENESIS and CORE razors include two front corner guards (shown below):

These corner guards are designed purely as an added safety feature to protect you from exposure to the blade on the sides/corners (so that you can safely shave areas of skin like around your nostrils laterally without being exposed to the blade).

These corner guards do not actually stop the blade. Rather, we have an internal latching system in the razor head that serves this purpose (to hold the blade in place).

I’m exchanging mine for the more aggressive version as well. On the one hand, I didn’t know I was signing up for effectively a beta release, but on the other hand, I appreciate the offer to exchange.

I’ve been happy with it, but I can see how this version would be better for me. It has less to do with the aggression and more to do with the fact that it requires less pressure to make it work.

Watson, I'm not sure I think of it as a beta release. I think their main market is the mass-market shaver using carts wanting to make the first foray into traditional wet shaving. As such, they designed a razor that would be very mild. Then they got feedback from us enthusiasts, and it looks like they decided to up the efficiency. I'm wondering if they'll sell both iterations-it will be interesting to see.

This is a move in the right direction. I'm critical when OneBlade messes up and I want to acknowledge when they are moving in the right direction.

Just curious for those that returned your OneBlade. How long did it take to get your refund credit?  My tracking

I think mine was around 5 days or so.

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Thanks andrewjs18 if I don't hear after tomorrow I'll get an email off to them.