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Dollar Shave Club Humble Twin cartridges UK compatibility

Super useful forum guys!

After fooling around with different razor styles and brands over the years circumstances led me to try a cheap generic cartridge twin blade set sold in the Dutch discount chain 'Kruidvat'. 😱 I know.

But they didn't cut me, the cartridges lasted, and at 5 euro for a handle and 20 cartridges the price was laughable. So I happily used them for a few years. Then during lockdown #1 in the UK I was running out of blades in my travel case and noticed that the Dollar Shave Club Humble Twin handle looked suspiciously like my cheapo Dutch product. And that indeed turned out to be the case - they were identical apart from the colour and fitted my Kruidvat handle perfectly. In comparison to Kruidvat DSC was expensive, but their blades kept me going until I could get back to my Amsterdam Kruidvat stash.

Fast forward to UK lockdown #3. DSC seem to have shipping issues as my order for a few more blades didn't show. So I started to hunt through the forums here for info. That led me to Atra compatibility, and that to the Cien brand. And it looks like I have found my UK version of my favourite Dutch razors 😁 So I'll give these a go and see how they do. If anyone knows of more twin cartridges with the same fitting that are UK available I'd be happy to hear about it.

snip1.pngcien.jpg
 
It is always great when you source alternative supplies! I have also used various twin blade carts in my time. It looks like the Kruidvat cartridges are repackaged Dorco twin blade carts (which also used to be sold as Superdrug and Sainsbury’s carts in the UK) and the Cien ones are Personna carts (which also used to be sold as Tesco carts).
 
Those 2 blade carts were always my favorite. If I could still find them here in the States, I'd probably still be using them.
 
It looks like the Kruidvat cartridges are repackaged Dorco twin blade carts (which also used to be sold as Superdrug and Sainsbury’s carts in the UK) and the Cien ones are Personna carts (which also used to be sold as Tesco carts).

Thanks! Very useful. I'll see how the Cien ones perform.
 
The Cien razors are pretty decent carts. I found years ago that alot of own brand cart systems are compatible when I noticed my wife's pink cartridge from Savers was the same design as a BHS razor I was using. I've found compatable carts from poundland and superdrug among other stores. I also found that like DE blades universal design does not equal universal quality so you can have great fun finding which carts perform better. Be warned though some pulled the whiskers out of my face father than cut them.
 
Thanks. I have looked at Wilco but no twin cartridge options there. I will check out Poundland also.
 
It looks like the Kruidvat cartridges are repackaged Dorco twin blade carts (which also used to be sold as Superdrug and Sainsbury’s carts in the UK) and the Cien ones are Personna carts (which also used to be sold as Tesco carts).

Abershaver, how can you tell? By the shape of the fitting on the handle?
Are Dorco more highly regarded than Personna, or are these contract manufacturers mostly the same?
 
I am going by the colour of the lube strip. Personna always had white lube strips and Dorco had that green/blue colour. I am not a massive expert, but I think that lots of twin blade carts work with pivoting and fixed head handles. Personally I found the Personna blades to be much better.
 
The twin blade carts are getting much harder to find in UK shops. Boots and Tesco had Personna carts until maybe 4 years ago. Superdrug and Sainsbury’s had the Dorco ones up until maybe 2 years ago. Amazon and eBay have some options though! And Savers are worth checking out if you have a local branch - there was a Supermax twin blade system in there last year (I haven’t been shopping for months due to lockdown!)
 
There is a Savers close by to me actually - thanks for the tip. I'll check out their stock if the Cein set craps out.
 
Is it possible to buy a good quality metal handle that I can use with these cartridges? Bit nicer to use than the plastic ones.
 
Is it possible to buy a good quality metal handle that I can use with these cartridges? Bit nicer to use than the plastic ones.
The BHS razor I used took the slide on cartridges that are Gillette Trac/Contour/Vector/Atra compatable and I've seen some really nice metal, resin and wood handles for these over the years.

As @abershaver says they're often rebranded Dorco or Personna. So you could try looking up their cart systems to see if you find a compatable handle you like, though you're probably limited to plastic.

Have a look at the Personna Tri-Flex, it's based on the Gillette Sensor and if your carts are compatible Taconic sell a chrome handle compatible with sensor carts.

Failing that you could custom your own handle. The image below is a Supermax handle from Savers next to an unbranded DE handle. I reckon you could saw the top of the cart and fix it to the wooden handle with a dowel screw. Or use a resin mould to make a handle.
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My experience with carts is probably outdated at this point as I haven't used them in years, so take from this what you will. I found the cien carts from Lidl to be perfectly adequate. Nothing to wax lyrical about, but they did the job without issue. I found the odd dud but they were fine for the most part.
 
Is it possible to buy a good quality metal handle that I can use with these cartridges? Bit nicer to use than the plastic ones.

As a general rule there are lots of metal handles on the Bay (often travel sets new or nearly new) - but most are the original GII/TracII fixed head type rather than pivoting/contouring head handles.

I was lucky to receive a 1970s brass one from my grandfather a few years before he passed. And then my wife bought me a lovely Taconic chrome handle from Amazon last year as a back up.
 
Thanks for the tip. I'll check that out.
The Supermax handle above is rather nice, simple, plain, but I see is designed for the 4 blade cartridges.
 
Thanks for the tip. I'll check that out.
The Supermax handle above is rather nice, simple, plain, but I see is designed for the 4 blade cartridges.
Supermax do a 3 blade called Kwik3. Couldn't say if it's compatible with your blades though. Annoyingly Savers only sell the blades with the razors so unless you get compatable carts elsewhere need to buy a new handle everytime. They're only £1 IIRC. The carts give good shaves but the handles are not good quality, the clips break very easily
 
Well, my experiment was a failure. The cartridges do fit my Kruidvat handle but they don't move well, and clog very easily. Plus the design of the cart holder means it's impossible to extract the carts with anything but the supplied handle, and that is very light and plastic-y. So looks like these are all going in the bin and I'll wait for my Dollar Shave twin blade cartridges to arrive. Hopefully that's soon, as I placed the order 3 weeks ago.
 
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