Now, before I jump into the full review, here are a few quick (and important<\/strong>) notes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You deserve to know what is going on behind the scenes when reading a detailed product review. Here’s where things stand:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting setup for Birchbox was extremely easy and straightforward<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like most subscription box services, you only need to answer a few key questions<\/strong> so they know what to send you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you can see above, this includes things like the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In order for Birchbox to work for you, it is important to not skip these steps<\/strong>. This way the products that they do send out to you will actually be relevant to your tastes<\/strong> (i.e. I am bald and received no hair care products – demonstrating that this was a curated box).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Filling out the profile was painless. And drawing from memory when I completed it about a month ago, it took only a few minutes to complete<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now to the meat of the review – actually receiving the box and seeing what comes inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, the exterior box is nothing to write home about<\/strong> – a simple logo on the side:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you open up the box, the design is super simple<\/strong> and has a nice presentation box<\/strong> on the inside:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you go ahead and take the top off you are met with a simple message<\/strong> on the inside:<\/p>\n\n\n\n While this is only the first month of receiving Birchbox, I would suspect that this is customized every month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s a solo shot of the message itself if you want a clearer look at it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you can see, it is some solid grooming advice<\/strong> that will provide great results for men with skin in need of some proper nourishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now I’ll be a bit harsh here – this message makes no sense given the contents of the box…<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n My box didn’t contain any body lotion<\/strong>…perhaps this is their way to get me to think about it?!? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Beneath the messaging insert, I received a total of 5 different products:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which includes the following (from left to right pictured above):<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you can see from the above, these are rather small (about the size of standard samples) and are intended to be used only a few times at most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s another shot of the products included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overall, the product size is intended to give you a good taste of the brand without having to fully commit and buy a bottle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now I could go on to review each of the products mentioned above, however, I know that this would provide no real value to you<\/strong> as this box was custom to me for this specific month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, what you get will almost certainly be different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With that being said, it’s important to take just a step back from this review and understand the Birchbox business model and the problem that they are trying to solve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Birchbox doesn’t make much money on these subscription boxes<\/strong>. As noted in this article on FastCompany.com<\/a> – they suspect that Birchbox only makes a sliver of revenue on these boxes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, as Katia Beauchamp (co-founder of Birchbox) noted in this Medium article<\/a>, said that Birchbox has adopted the “try-learn-buy”<\/em><\/strong> strategy – meaning that customers will try <\/em><\/strong>new products in their homes, learn <\/em><\/strong>about the products based on their content – and eventually buy <\/em><\/strong>them through Birchbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With this context, Katia went on to state that more than half of their subscribers shop for the full-sized products on their website:<\/p>\n\n\n\n …and there is the ‘a-ha’ moment of what is happening when you connect all the dots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, who do I think Birchbox is for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Birchbox is not for the incredibly well-groomed man that knows his way around the skincare, beard, or body care aisles.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, I think that Birchbox is much better suited for those men who are just starting to get a handle on their grooming regimen and want to try a few products out without having to spend upwards of $100<\/strong> bucks on a slew of full size grooming products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I shared at the start of this article, the actual price I paid for this monthly subscription of Birchbox was rather modest – $10<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In it, I received a total of 5 very different products <\/strong>from different companies (although I would have liked to see Jack Black not being represented twice here).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a recap, I received products from the following categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now the fun part – math.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How much would I have to spend if I paid for each one of these full sized products through the Birchbox website?<\/p>\n\n\n\n When looking at each full sized product individually I found the following amounts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Total<\/strong>: $210<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if you drop out the pricey cologne, that still rings up to a hefty bill of $90!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So instead of flying blind at your local skincare store trying to figure out what products work for your skin type, then Birchbox offers a great introduction of premium grooming products<\/strong> at a modest price.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis Isn’t A Sponsored Post<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Filling Out The Grooming Profile on Birchbox<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Unboxing Birchbox<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Problem That Birchbox Solves<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Okay…Where’s the Gotcha Of Birchbox?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n