News

May 01, 2024

The Best Women’s Razors (for Every Body) for 2023

We’ve added long-term test notes for our picks and updated pricing information throughout this review. If you shave any part of your body that’s not your face, a body or “women’s” razor is likely the

We’ve added long-term test notes for our picks and updated pricing information throughout this review.

If you shave any part of your body that’s not your face, a body or “women’s” razor is likely the best tool for the task. Unlike facial razors, body razors are engineered for use on broad expanses of skin and in the slippery arena of the shower. We had 10 people with different hair types and shaving needs compare finalists, and we think the Gillette Venus Original is the cartridge razor system most people will like best.

This classic Venus is one of the easiest razors to grip and maneuver, and its three-blade design keeps the blades remarkably free of hair. Its refills can be found in most stores.

The unassuming Gillette Venus Original does a clean and efficient job of removing body hair. Half of our testing panel named the Original as a favorite model, and unlike several others we tested, the Original is hard to hate. Three spaced-out blades prevent excess hair from clogging the head, as often happens with razors that have more blades. And subtle aloe strips help lubricate your strokes without creating a snail trail in your pits. Plus, the grippy blue handle won’t slip through your fingers, even if your hands are covered in gel.

Advertisement

The extra-flexible Venus Swirl has a pivoting head that can better reach problem areas like knees or ankles, but its gooey moisture strips can gunk up fast.

If you frequently shave hard-to-reach parts of your body, or if you want a razor with more flexibility and lubrication, we recommend the Gillette Venus Swirl. The Swirl is popular but polarizing: Half of our testers selected it as their favorite model; the other half actively disliked it. The Swirl has a multidirectional pivoting head that can rotate from side to side as well as up and down, so it’s easier to shave tricky spots like knees and ankles. The Swirl has five thin blades that some testers thought offered a marginally closer shave than the Original’s three blades, but they were also more prone to clogging. Of the razors we tested, this one also had the most built-in lubrication, which many testers loved for its silkiness and others hated for its tendency to coagulate and ooze.

The Billie is the most attractive razor we tested, and it gave one of the smoothest-feeling shaves. But it can be a pain to travel with (unless you buy a bespoke case).

Almost all of our testers loved the look and feel of the sleek and functional Billie, and several of them found it gave them one of the smoothest shaves of any model. Although other razors look fine (or, more often, ugly), the Billie razor is actually, dare we say it, beautiful. It does sacrifice some grip for sleekness, but our testers still found it was comfortable to hold. It also comes with the only storage solution we’ve found to work: a handy magnetic wall mount that actually stays up. Originally available through a subscription service only, the Billie razor and its refills are now sold in some stores, including Kroger and Walmart. If you replace your blades at least every month, the Billie is the least expensive of our picks to use over time.

This classic Venus is one of the easiest razors to grip and maneuver, and its three-blade design keeps the blades remarkably free of hair. Its refills can be found in most stores.

The extra-flexible Venus Swirl has a pivoting head that can better reach problem areas like knees or ankles, but its gooey moisture strips can gunk up fast.

The Billie is the most attractive razor we tested, and it gave one of the smoothest-feeling shaves. But it can be a pain to travel with (unless you buy a bespoke case).

To learn more about body razor design, we interviewed designers and representatives from several prominent razor companies, including Caitlin Orszulak, a scientist for the Gillette Venus research and development team; Rachel Sciacca, a marketing manager at Dorco; and Georgina Gooley, the co-founder of Billie. We examined online reviews and tried over 20 models. And then we asked a testing panel of eight people, each with different types of body hair and shaving needs, to test five finalists for a month and report back.

Don’t be turned off by the term “women’s razors” if that doesn’t necessarily apply to you. If you shave any part of your body that’s not your face, this guide is for you. And no matter where on the shaving spectrum you fall—from all-but-au-natural to full-body-baby-dolphin—it helps to have a sharp and effective razor that will lets you groom yourself as easily as possible.

What companies often call women’s razors are better described as body razors, designed for any kind of hair on a body. Unlike facial razors, body razors are better equipped to remove longer, finer hair in long strokes, rather than shorter, coarser facial hair, which requires shorter downward strokes at sharper angles. Facial razors tend to have smaller, boxy heads, as opposed to body razors’ rounded oval edges, which avoid nicking sensitive areas. Facial razors are also designed for shaving at the sink, whereas body razors are built to handle the dark and slippery arena of a shower.

People who love to customize their shaves will likely enjoy the Leaf razor, which falls somewhere between a traditional safety razor and a cartridge model.

For this guide, we focused on cartridge razor systems: You buy the handle one time and then refill it with disposable cartridges. These are a more cost-effective and environmentally friendly option than disposable models; with the latter, you throw out the entire razor—head, handle, and all—when it blunts. (Over the long term, cartridge razor systems are likely to be more expensive and almost certainly less environmentally friendly when compared with safety razors.)

There is no one best body razor for every person, since every individual has different shaving needs and hair types. But we identified certain features that make models easier to use and more effective:

We eliminated certain categories of razors from testing because they serve a more niche population. For example, single-blade razors, or safety razors, generally cause less irritation on the skin because they graze it only once, rather than three or more times. This gentle touch can decrease the skin’s likelihood of developing razor burn. But because one blade has the same workload as a multi-blade model, it will dull faster and take more passes to shave as closely. It also takes more time to shave the same area with a single blade, making it a fine choice for a face but ill-equipped to handle the vast expanse of a body. To use them properly, safety razors also require a more precise technique—a learning curve that makes them less ideal for most people. We also dismissed razors with vibrating handles, which tend to cost more, since there’s scant evidence that they improve the shaving experience.

After reading customer reviews, interviewing razor experts, and calculating each model’s cost over time, we called in 22 popular models for our initial tests. We used each model on a variety of common shaving spots, including armpits, legs, and the bikini line, taking notes on how easy it was to navigate each blade and rinse hair out after use. We eliminated any razor that irritated, snagged, or cut skin.

We then took five finalists—the Gillette Venus Original, Gillette Venus Swirl, Billie, Dorco Shai, and Gillette Mach3—to a panel of eight testers (seven women and one man) with a variety of hair types and shaving habits. Some testers shaved minimally (just the pits or legs or back), while others shaved most of their visible hair and bikini line. We asked each panelist to use each razor at least four times, taking notes on initial impressions as well as how the model held up to repeat use. When possible, the testers paired different heads with handles to see if there was an elusive, DIY-type of razor that could be a panacea for the armpit.

The term “pink tax” refers to the phenomenon of products marketed toward women costing more than similar products marketed toward men. According to a 2015 report (PDF) by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, women pay an average of 13% more than men for equivalent personal-care products. A 2018 study by the US Government Accountability Office also found that “women’s” razors and replacement cartridges are often, but not always, more expensive than those marketed toward men. We conducted our own simple cost analysis of the razors we tested. And we confirmed that the “women’s” razors do, for the most part, cost more than equivalent products marketed toward men to start, and that those price differences often become starker over time as the cost of replacement cartridges adds up.

Calculations assume that each razor ships with two heads, and blades are replaced monthly. All cost estimates are accurate at the time of publication.

A representative from Gillette told us that variations in pricing between facial and body razors are due to “differences in technology, materials, manufacturing, and promotional factors.” In comparing models, it’s apparent that “women’s” razors often include more-robust lubricating strips and have larger cartridges and wider handles than “men’s” razors. So, although we can’t say how much, if any, of the so-called pink tax is justified by material differences, we can tell you that there is a real difference between facial and body razors and that avoiding the pink tax is probably not a great reason to buy a “men’s” razor if a “women’s” razor is what you really need.

This classic Venus is one of the easiest razors to grip and maneuver, and its three-blade design keeps the blades remarkably free of hair. Its refills can be found in most stores.

The Gillette Venus Original is the closest thing we found to a universally good body razor, with half of our testers naming it one of their favorites. Just as important, it was one of the few models that nobody hated. As its name suggests, the Original has a classic, capable, three-blade head, without the polarizing shaving gel that coats the heads of razors like the Billie or Gillette Venus Swirl. The Original’s handle proved to be one of the easiest to grip and maneuver. As with the body of any Venus razor, the Original’s body is compatible with any other Venus head and with many heads from Gillette’s facial razors, making it exceptionally versatile.

The Original’s head has three blades separated by considerable slats of space, so it’s far easier to clean the head between strokes. By comparison, the Venus Swirl squeezes five thinner blades into a similarly sized head; this theoretically leads to a closer shave, but practically it means the blades clog fast with hair, possibly requiring careful fingers to remove it. In our experience, a cleaner razor is a more effective razor.

While the Swirl can often gunk up with the excessive shave gel that encircles its cartridge, the Original includes simpler aloe strips above and below the blades. This allows the lubricant to ease the shave without transforming your razor into a swamp. It also makes the Original more travel-friendly: It’s less likely to stick to the blade cover included with the razor.

The Original has a handle that’s easy to hold and to maneuver, thanks to a contoured handle with corrugated chevrons of rubber. Though our testers have a wide range of hand sizes, no one found the Original difficult to grasp. Despite the significant ribbing, the Original doesn’t feel too bulky (a complaint some testers had with the wider, cherubic handle of the budget Dorco Shai).

All Venus razors are compatible with all Venus heads. So if you ever want to experiment with more-lubricated heads, such as that on the Swirl, you can buy replacement cartridges and pop them onto the Original’s body. You can even attach certain heads from Gillette’s facial razors, such as the Mach3, which may be more agile for shaving a bikini line.

If you like the convenience of a delivery service, and you replace blades on a regular schedule, Gillette offers an in-house subscription, or you can subscribe through Amazon. When you initiate a subscription through Gillette, your initial purchase of an Original handle includes four replacement cartridges of your choice. If you opt for the three-blade Original cartridges we preferred in our testing, the startup cost for a handle and four heads is roughly the same as for a handle and one head through another retailer.

Finally, many testers found the Original’s blue design refreshingly neutral in a “women’s” category inundated with pink and purple. (On its website, Gillette sells Original handles in a variety of colors, including a lighter blue, green, silver, and—yes—pink.) In a way, the Original’s aesthetic—functional, efficient, and inoffensive—distills why it’s our top pick.

Long-term testers who have tried other razor systems—including alternative Venus cartridges, like the Swirl—have happily returned to the Original. “I wouldn’t say it gives me joy to use any razor, but the Original works exactly how I would expect,” one reported. “It will keep being my staple.”

Though no one hated the Venus Original, it garnered less enthusiastic praise from its fans than other, more polarizing razors we tested, such as the Venus Swirl. In other words, no one loved the Original. And the Original is also not as beautiful as the Billie, but then again, what is?

Know that, confusingly, the Venus appears for sale on some retail sites under the name Venus Close and Clean or Venus Smooth. It’s the same razor. If you’re unsure which Venus model you’re looking at, check for the Original’s three blades and trademark sea-foam blue color.

The extra-flexible Venus Swirl has a pivoting head that can better reach problem areas like knees or ankles, but its gooey moisture strips can gunk up fast.

The Gillette Venus Swirl is the most polarizing model we tested, but it’s also one of the most beloved. Half of our testers chose the Swirl as their favorite, and the other four actively disliked it. The Swirl differs from the Original in a few key ways: It has a pivoting head, five thin blades instead of three, and a circle of gooey shaving gel around the blades. The pivoting head gives the Swirl increased flexibility to shave problem areas, but it can make the razor feel unwieldy. The shaving gel ensures an initially silky experience, but it can gunk up fast if you don’t store the razor properly. If these compromises align with your shaving needs, the Swirl may be the best model for you.

The Swirl’s most distinctive—and divisive—feature is a flexible head that can pivot not only up and down (like those of all of the other razors we tested) but also left and right. This allows the razor to more closely contour tricky areas of the body, such as knees and ankles, which may mean you need to do fewer passes. One tester found the Swirl’s flexibility well suited to the awkward angle of shaving their back. Some other testers did not enjoy the swivel, finding that it bent so far back so easily that it nicked the skin or forced them to hold the razor perpendicular to their body.

Gillette claims that the Swirl’s five thin blades provide the closest shave of any of its razors. Although we can’t prove or disprove that, some testers said they thought that the Swirl and Billie (which also has five blades) offered a marginally better shave than the rest of our finalist razors, which all had three blades. But these five blades do need to be rinsed out more regularly, since hairs can’t slip through the cartridge as easily as through the wider spacing of a three-blade head.

Some testers loved the Swirl head’s considerable rim of shower gel and even found that it could supplant the need for shaving cream or a separate soap or gel. But unless stored in an idyllic manner where the head does not touch anything, testers found the purple rim would warp over weeks of use, sticking to the sides of tubs or gunking up between the blades. You can avoid this by replacing the cartridges more often. But that gets expensive because even though the Swirl handle costs the same as the Original handle, the Swirl’s replacement cartridges cost almost twice as much.

As with the Venus Original, you can swap in blades on the Swirl from any other Venus head and many heads from Gillette razors marketed to men. So if you want to keep the rotating head but lose the gel, you can just replace the Swirl heads with a simpler, less expensive alternative.

The Billie is the most attractive razor we tested, and it gave one of the smoothest-feeling shaves. But it can be a pain to travel with (unless you buy a bespoke case).

If you want a beautiful, effective body razor that comes with an ingenious storage method, we recommend the Billie. Most of our testers picked the Billie as their second-favorite razor, and it’s the only model that comes with a wall mount that actually works. If you replace your heads every month, the Billie is the least expensive of our picks to use over time (when purchasing refills through a subscription).

Until recently, Billie didn’t sell starter kits or refills without a subscription. However, you can now purchase them in store (or online, if you’re not in a rush) at Kroger and Walmart. If you do choose to buy it through the subscription, it’s fairly easy to place an order and cancel it after the first package is delivered (we tested this successfully). You can also easily pause a subscription, setting later dates for shipments, if you find yourself flush with refills.

Unlike the Venus Original’s barely there gel and the Swirl’s goopy trail, the Billie’s gel occupies a pleasant middle ground, many of our testers found. It’s enough to allow you to shave with just a dab of extra gel or cream, and it doesn’t gunk up as easily as the Swirl’s purple rim. However, some testers noted the Billie’s lubricant, while less gunky, felt slimier than the Swirl’s—one tester compared it to a snail trail.

The Billie’s five thin blades gave some testers their closest shaves, but others disliked the wideness of its head, where gel strips occupy a greater surface area than blades.

One of the best things about the Billie is its magnetic wall mount. Unlike the Dorco Shai, which has a poorly suctioned plastic mount, the Billie comes with a tiny, attractive mount that relies on a small mound of putty to reliably stay stuck to a shower wall. Two long-term testers who have maintained subscriptions for replacement cartridges cited this mount as the main reason they continue to buy Billie refills. Another long-term tester found that when they didn’t use the wall mount and instead placed the razor blades down on the side of their tub, the moisture strips deteriorated somewhat, creating a blade-clogging mess. (For this reason, this razor isn’t the easiest to travel with. Because the Billie doesn’t come with a blade cover, you’ll want to be sure the cartridge is totally dry before packing it. The company sells a travel case for $5.)

The Billie is beautiful. It comes in a charming array of colors, from foggy blue-gray to millennial pink. And although the Billie’s sleek body sacrifices some of the grippy powers of the Venus’s ribbed plastic contouring, the razor remains easy to hold and navigate, and it does not slip easily. Two long-term testers, who both own the blue-gray version pictured, have found that the underside of the handle has become slightly discolored over more than a year of use and storage in the shower.

Billie claims to be eliminating the pink tax by pricing its razors the same as “men’s” razor subscriptions and half that of women’s shaving brands. The former claim is true—a $10 Billie costs roughly the same as the six-blade razor from Dollar Shave Club (whose pricing we discuss below). The latter claim is murkier. The Billie $10 starter kit includes a handle, a magnetic holder, and two five-blade cartridges. Each replacement kit—which can be delivered every one, two, or three months—includes four cartridges for $10, which averages out to $2.50 per refill.

Although we dismissed most facial razors for this guide, we did test the three-blade Gillette Mach3, the model we recommend for most faces, as a basis for comparison. Testers liked the closeness of the shave, particularly for bikini lines, but none said they would continue using the Mach3 as their only body razor. The smaller head proved too narrow to efficiently handle a larger shaving task, such as legs. And testers found the blades gunked up faster than those on any of the designated body razors. But if you frequently shave parts of your body that require extra precision, such as the bikini line, you might have good luck with a Mach3 blade fixed on a Venus handle.

The Venus Deluxe Smooth Platinum ($17) is a five-blade model similar to that of the Venus Swirl with one notable difference: The Deluxe Smooth Platinum has a metal handle with soft gel grip inserts. While the metal handle feels nicely weighted, coupled with the plastic head this razor is unbalanced and awkward to use. The grips aren’t useful when shaving, and the head has less flex when compared with the Swirl’s. While this razor’s handle is compatible with most Venus blade refills (the Simply Venus and Venus For Pubic Hair & Skin heads excepted) and Gillette Mach3 replacement heads, we found that the Venus Extra Smooth Blade Cartridges that come with the razor quickly melted into a sticky, gummy mess after sitting on a shower shelf for only two days.

We also tried the Joy razor, which is available through a subscription service or as a standalone purchase. The initial cost of a direct subscription, which includes a razor handle and four refill heads, is $14, whereas a starter kit at retailers like Amazon includes the handle and two refill heads for $15. The first shave from this razor cut comfortably close to the skin and left our legs smooth for days, but in our experience, the blades didn’t stay sharp enough for long enough. Compounded with the fact that this razor feels much lighter and the handle got too slippery in the shower, the Joy doesn’t compare to any of our picks.

Athena Club is another subscription service that charges $9 for the initial purchase of the handle and two razor-blade cartridges, and averages about $2.50 per refill. You can choose to get a shipment of four blades every month, eight blades every two months, or 12 blades every six months. Like the Joy razor, the Athena Club razor felt too light in our hands. It also has limited head flexibility, and we found that its moisturizing “lurbrastrip” quickly clumped to a gluey consistency in the heat of the shower.

Intrigued by its unique design, we tried the six-blade Aveline razor from HeadBlade. Unlike our picks, which are all cartridges atop long handles, the Aveline cartridge is mounted to a stout, curved handle with a hook for slipping over a finger—so there’s no need to grip anything. Roller balls mounted in the handle that face the skin are meant to help the razor glide along. There’s a fairly steep learning curve when shaving using the device as intended (if you buy this model on Amazon, along with a request to review the product, you will also receive from the company a PDF with four recommended options for maneuvering the device). You can also grip the handle like you would any other razor. While customer reviewers who have arthritis or difficulty with hand steadiness laud the design, overall we found its six blades (two sets of three with a small gap between them) dull compared with those of our picks. And while the large pivoting head is helpful for shaving ankles and knees, it’s too cumbersome for shaving the bikini line.

Though the affordable, three-blade Dorco Shai 3 performed well in our initial tests, our panel generally disliked the small size of its blades and thought the inflexibility of the head made it awkward to use. We also found the razor’s handle uncomfortably curvy and almost bulbous, with huge indents that seemed designed for thumbs, not for the index fingers we normally use to guide a razor. None of our testers could manage to get the included wall mount to stay on the wall, making it a nice but ultimately empty gesture.

Several readers inquired about Dollar Shave Club, the subscription service that promises to deliver high-quality razors to your doorstep for “a dollar a month.” Though Dollar Shave Club claims its products are unisex, they’re shaped more like face razors, and most of its media shows people shaving their faces. The only razor that actually costs $1 a month is the company’s twin-blade subscription. Its more popular four-blade model costs $6 per month, and a six-blade model costs $9 per month. In 2012, Ben Popken, the former editor of The Consumerist, confirmed that Dollar Shave Club buys all of its high-quality blades from Dorco. While a 10-month subscription to Dollar Shave Club costs $90, a 10-month supply of razors from Dorco, for similar models with the same blades, costs under $30. Either way, we found that razors designed for facial shaving all have smaller, rectangular blades that are less equipped to handle the nuances of shaving a body, such as the broad expanse of a leg or the grooved valley of an armpit.

We also twice tried Flamingo, a five-blade model from the popular razor company Harry’s that also has an optional subscription service. This $7 razor is beautiful, and the starter kit (which now comes with a wall mount and extra head) is an excellent value. Still, we think most people will probably be happier with Billie. In late 2021, Flamingo redesigned its razor, adding features like a “water-activated 360° comfort system and pivoting hinge.” The company also removed the original handle’s metal accents and shifted to making its razor out of “at least 35% recycled plastics.” After testing the new design, we miss the old Flamingo razor. The new blade is larger and therefore harder to maneuver into tight spaces, it has very little protective coating to guard against nicks and bleeding, and the pivoting hinge (which was supposed to be an improvement on the pre-2021 hinge design) feels stiffer than ever. One of our testers nicked themselves more on this razor than on any other they’d tried.

Rose’s Razors is a subscription service that offers monthly deliveries of its five-blade razor heads. The base plan costs $10 for the first month, and you get two replacement cartridges every month thereafter (billed every other month, so subscribers receive six shipments a year for $12 apiece). The textured handle has some weight to it, which makes it feel sturdy, and the blades, while sharp, are counteracted with aloe vera strips on both ends to help prevent irritation. The razors do provide a clean shave; however, the fact that the head does not swivel means the motion flexibility is little to none—following the flow of a leg is simple enough, but anything more intricate might prove challenging.

We also tested Bic’s Made for You, an $11, five-blade cartridge razor that has an edging blade and a lubricating strip with aloe vera and vitamin E. The handle, made from a combination of metal and rubber, is heavy and nonslip, and refill blades cost around $3.50 each. But we found that the head of this razor didn’t pivot fluidly, and that can turn what should be a smooth-gliding motion into an awkward stop-and-start shave. Additionally, the bottom lubricating strip quickly became a chalky mess after only a few uses, leaving our skin itchy and irritated after the fact.

Our tester found that even though its cartridge has only two blades, the Gillette Venus for Pubic Hair & Skin razor clogged more frequently—requiring more mid-shave rinses—than the Gillette Venus Original three-blade and Billie five-blade razors we recommend.

Additionally, we considered the following models but dismissed them for irritating or nicking the skin: Gillette Mach3 Sensitive Power Razor, Beauty 360 3-Blade, Gillette Fusion5 ProGlide Power, Harry's Men’s, Target Up&Up Women's 5 Blade System, Equate 5-Blade for Women, Gillette Venus Extra Smooth, Gillette Venus & Olay, Schick Intuition Sensitive Care, Schick Hydro5 Sense Hydrate, and Schick Intuition F.A.B. Razor.

Sabrina Imbler contributed reporting.

This article was edited by Tracy Vence and Kalee Thompson.

Caitlin Orszulak, scientist for the Gillette Venus research and development team, phone interview, September 20, 2018

Rachel Sciacca, a marketing manager at Dorco, phone interview, October 4, 2018

Georgina Cooley, founder of Billie, phone interview, October 29, 2018

Kaitlyn Tiffany, The absurd quest to make the “best” razor, Vox, December 11, 2018

Marci Robin and Blake Bakkila, The 8 Best Refillable and Disposable Razors for a Smooth Shave, According to Experts, Good Housekeeping, December 17, 2018

New York City Consumer Affairs, From Cradle to Cane, The Cost of Being a Female Consumer: A Study of Gender Pricing in New York City (PDF), December 1, 2015

Harling Ross, Does the right razor make a difference? I tested 5, Man Repeller, August 21, 2017

One blade or 6? Is more better?, Medical Bag, August 25, 2014

Susan L. Nasr, Does it matter how many blades are on your razor?, HowStuffWorks.com, October 6, 2009

Caira Blackwell

Caira Blackwell is a staff writer at Wirecutter covering sleep and mattresses. Her work has previously been published in Okayplayer, The Knockturnal, and Nylon magazine, and her book A Lullaby for the End of the World is available on Amazon.

by Wirecutter Staff

Getting a bargain on an everyday product that you use all the time is a unique thrill.

by Dorie Chevlen

The Panasonic Electric Body Hair Trimmer and Groomer for Men ER-GK60-S is the best powered tool for grooming pubic hair.

by Wirecutter Staff

We put in another year and tens of thousands more miles of travel to test the best travel gear—and we stand by last year’s choices alongside a few new picks.

by Wirecutter Staff

Prime Day 2023 might be over, but there are still some deals to be had on expert-vetted products.