Like most men past a certain age, I shave most days. As shaving is a necessary daily task (not something I actively choose to do), I want it to be a quick, easy, reliable and pain-free process.

I used to use electric shavers – I’ve never owned a foil type, only a couple of the top end Philips shavers with round heads which contour to your face. One was to be used exclusively dry and the other could be dry or wet (via pouches of creams that you could purchase). Both of these were very good at first, but despite being well looked after (using the optional extra cleaning stations with cleaning liquid), the shaving results faded pretty quickly.

So I switched to using razors, as I found that these give the best results. My current solution is the Gillette Fusion Power Razor. I use this in conjunction with the Gillette Fusion Power blades and the Gillette Fusion shave gel.

Recently, I tried the Cornerstone razor. It is being strongly marketed on social media and the offer of a personalised (engraved) razor handle and six blades for just £4 was too good to miss. You can try it for yourself (and for £4, I suggest you do), in addition to reading my thoughts below 🙂

Delivery

It arrived by post within a week, which was good. However it was delivered whilst I was not at home, which caused some inconvenience as it had to be signed for (or wouldn’t fit in my letterbox, I’m not sure which), which meant that I had to drive to my local Royal Mail depot to collect it. This would be a pain if I had to do this every time I missed a delivery (which would be most times).

Packaging

The Cornerstone packaging is very good – it is a cardboard box with space allocated for each or their products. This is efficient for them and also reminds customers of the full range of products, every time they receive an order.

I had only ordered the razor and blades, so that’s all that was in my box this time.

Quality of Shave

Excellent – but to be honest, the quality of shave with most products that I’ve tried is also excellent, so I wouldn’t expect anything less.

One major drawback though is that there is no blade on the back of the razor, which means that you can’t reach the hairs below your nose (top of the moustache). Rebecca commented that I had a mini ‘Hitler moustache’ going on – which is obviously not a good look, for many reasons!

Feel in the Hand

Because the razor’s handle is made of a ‘lightweight aluminium alloy’ (a selling point of theirs), it’s blimming cold to the touch in the mornings! So, just like when you get in the car on a cold day and the steering wheel is so cold that it’s a ‘distraction’ from the driving for the first few miles, the handle is a distraction to the shaving experience.

I that when I picked it up for the first time, it would feel like a good quality, well balanced fountain pen – it didn’t. It feels more like a toy sword from a gift shop than a hand crafted Katana from Japan.

Other

I travel a lot, so I really value how Gillette package all of their razor blades into neat plastic blocks, which are compact and easy to manage – they are great to put into your wash bag.

The Cornerstone blades come loose, which will one day inevitably lead to you taking everything out of your wash bag, just to find the one razor blade in there which you know is in there… It’s just not good.

Ordering More

When I want more Gillette razor blades, I can go to any supermarket or petrol station and be in with a good chance of being able to pick some up, or I can order them online from a wide variety of shops, or get a subscription (with discount) from Amazon.

Cornerstone offer a subscription service from their website, but this is the only place that you can order them.

Also with Gillette, Amazon now order a Dash button – I’ve just got one of these. It offers you a convenient way to order more razor blades (with next day Amazon Prime delivery, by simply pressing a button. I have mine located in my bathroom. It was very easy to set up and was free (you get fully reimbursed for its purchase,  after your first use of it to purchase razor blades).

Conclusion

In the end, I’ll day thank you for Cornerstone for their £4 offer. I will continue to enjoy using their product as it isn’t a bad one (apart from the mini Hitler moustache), but I’ll be sticking with Gillette as my preferred shaving solution.