6 Competing Razor Brands From the Same Parent

The razor and shaving aisle has more brands than almost any other personal care category in a typical pharmacy or supermarket. Gillette, Mach3, Fusion, Venus, Schick, Hydro, Wilkinson Sword, Hydro Silk, Intuition. Different packaging, different price points, different marketing campaigns. Many of them directed at different demographics.

Two companies own the vast majority of them.

Procter and Gamble owns Gillette and all of the Gillette sub-brands. Edgewell Personal Care Company owns Schick, Wilkinson Sword, Hydro Silk, and Intuition. Together, these two companies account for the dominant majority of branded razor sales in the United States and many other developed markets.

This post breaks down the specific brands behind each parent and explains why the razor category has been consolidating this way for decades. For broader context on the shaving market structure, see our full who owns the razor and shaving market analysis.

The Procter and Gamble Brands

1. Gillette

Gillette is the world's best-selling razor brand by revenue and market share. Founded in 1901 by King Camp Gillette in Boston, Massachusetts, the company invented the disposable safety razor and built an empire on the commercial principle of selling a cheap handle and expensive replacement blades.

Procter and Gamble acquired Gillette in 2005 in what was at the time the largest consumer goods merger in history, paying approximately $57 billion. The deal brought Gillette's entire portfolio into P&G's hands, including not just razors but also Duracell batteries, Oral-B toothbrushes, and Braun electric appliances.

Gillette's flagship product lines for men include the Mach3 (introduced 1998) and Fusion (introduced 2006), along with ProGlide, ProShield, and the premium SkinGuard cartridge systems. In 2019, P&G sold Duracell but retained the shaving and oral care assets.

Gillette holds approximately 50 to 55 percent of the global men's razor market by value, though its share has been declining as subscription razor services and challenger brands have captured younger consumers.

2. Venus

Venus is Procter and Gamble's women's razor brand, introduced in 2001. The brand was created as a sub-brand of Gillette specifically for the female shaving market, with ergonomic handles and razor head designs targeted at body hair removal rather than facial shaving.

Despite being a sub-brand of Gillette, Venus maintains a completely separate brand identity with distinct packaging, marketing campaigns, and consumer positioning. In most retail environments, Venus is shelved in the women's personal care section, while Gillette men's products appear in the men's care section, creating the impression of separate companies.

Venus product lines include the original Venus Smooth, Venus Swirl, Venus Intimate Shave, and the Olay-co-branded Venus with Olay (another P&G brand), which integrates shaving gel into the razor head.

3. Mach3 and Fusion

While technically sub-brands of Gillette rather than independent brands, Mach3 and Fusion each have their own advertising campaigns, packaging identities, and consumer recognition to the point where many consumers recognize the sub-brand name without associating it with Gillette.

Mach3 is Gillette's mid-tier three-blade system, introduced in 1998. Fusion is the flagship five-blade system, introduced in 2006. Both are manufactured and sold by Procter and Gamble through the Gillette brand architecture.

The Edgewell Personal Care Brands

Edgewell Personal Care was spun off from Energizer Holdings in 2015 as a standalone consumer goods company focused on personal care. It inherited the Schick, Wilkinson Sword, and related brands from the Energizer portfolio, which had itself acquired them from Warner-Lambert and subsequent owners.

4. Schick

Schick is Gillette's primary global competitor in the men's razor segment. The brand was founded in 1926 by Colonel Jacob Schick, who invented the Magazine Repeating Razor and subsequently built a significant American shaving brand.

Edgewell Personal Care owns Schick through a corporate lineage that runs from Schick's various ownership changes through Warner-Lambert, then Pfizer's consumer goods division, then Energizer Holdings, and finally to Edgewell at its 2015 spinoff.

Schick's product lines include the Hydro series (four and five-blade cartridge systems), the Xtreme disposables, and the Quattro range. In the United States, Schick holds approximately 15 to 20 percent of men's razor market share, positioning it as the clear number two behind Gillette.

In Japan, Schick holds a significantly stronger market position and is the leading razor brand.

5. Wilkinson Sword

Wilkinson Sword is one of the oldest razor brands in the world, with origins in a London sword-making company founded in 1772. The company diversified into garden tools and razor blades in the late 19th century and introduced the world's first stainless steel razor blade in 1956, a product innovation that transformed the shaving industry.

Wilkinson Sword is owned by Edgewell Personal Care and is used primarily as the brand name for Schick-equivalent products in European and certain international markets. Where Schick is marketed as the primary brand in the Americas, Wilkinson Sword carries that role across much of Europe.

A consumer choosing between Schick and Wilkinson Sword in an international airport duty-free shop is choosing between two products with the same parent company, the same product development team, and often the same underlying razor platform with localized branding.

6. Hydro Silk

Hydro Silk is Edgewell's women's razor brand, positioned as the female counterpart to the Schick Hydro men's line. The brand competes directly with P&G's Venus in the women's shaving segment.

Like Venus's relationship to Gillette, Hydro Silk maintains entirely separate brand identity and consumer communications from Schick, despite being owned by the same company. The two women's brands, Venus and Hydro Silk, compete for display space in the women's personal care aisle while their respective parent companies, P&G and Edgewell, compete in a broader corporate sense.

The Challenger Brands

The traditional razor duopoly has faced significant disruption since around 2012, when Dollar Shave Club launched a subscription model offering inexpensive razor delivery directly to consumers. The success of Dollar Shave Club, which was acquired by Unilever for approximately $1 billion in 2016, and Harry's, which raised substantial venture capital before pursuing a retail rollout, demonstrated that the Gillette/Schick pricing model was vulnerable to consumer price sensitivity.

In response, P&G lowered Gillette prices and increased direct-to-consumer offerings. Edgewell attempted to acquire Harry's in 2020 for $1.37 billion, but the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the deal, arguing it would harm competition. The deal was subsequently abandoned.

The entry of these challenger brands has genuinely increased competition in the razor market, though both Dollar Shave Club (Unilever) and Harry's (independent with PE backing) are themselves institutional products rather than truly independent manufacturers.

What This Means for Consumers

The concentration of razor ownership across two companies has historically supported premium pricing well above manufacturing cost. The razor-and-blades business model, where handles are sold cheaply and replacement cartridges are priced at high margins, depends on consumers remaining within a proprietary blade ecosystem.

Understanding that Schick and Gillette are the only two realistic corporate options in most branded razor aisles helps consumers make more informed choices, including considering whether subscription or challenger brands offer better value for their specific needs.

For a complete picture of who owns shaving brands and what the market looks like today, browse our full beauty and personal care category.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does P&G own Schick? No. Schick is owned by Edgewell Personal Care Company, which is P&G's primary competitor in the razor market. P&G owns Gillette, Venus, and Gillette's sub-brands including Mach3 and Fusion.

Is Wilkinson Sword the same as Schick? Wilkinson Sword and Schick are owned by the same company, Edgewell Personal Care, and the brands often sell the same or closely related product platforms under different names in different markets. Schick is primarily used in the Americas; Wilkinson Sword in Europe and some other international markets.

When did P&G buy Gillette? Procter and Gamble acquired Gillette Company in October 2005 for approximately $57 billion in stock. The deal was announced in January 2005 and approved by regulators after Gillette agreed to divest a small number of brands to address competition concerns.

Who owns Dollar Shave Club? Dollar Shave Club is owned by Unilever, which acquired it in 2016 for approximately $1 billion. Unilever has faced challenges growing the brand beyond its subscription-based origins.

Is Harry's publicly traded? No. Harry's Inc. is a privately held company. The FTC blocked Edgewell's proposed $1.37 billion acquisition of Harry's in 2020, and Harry's has continued operating independently with retail distribution at major US chains.

Explore Related Brands

• Gillette - Men's razor brand, owned by Procter and Gamble since 2005
• Venus - Women's razor brand, owned by Procter and Gamble
• Schick - Men's razor brand, owned by Edgewell Personal Care
• Wilkinson Sword - European razor brand, owned by Edgewell Personal Care

Browse all beauty and personal care brands

Sources

• Procter and Gamble Investor Relations -- https://pginvestor.com/
• Edgewell Personal Care Investor Relations -- https://ir.edgewell.com/
• U.S. Federal Trade Commission: FTC v. Edgewell Personal Care -- https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2020/02/ftc-sues-block-edgewells-proposed-acquisition-harrys
• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Gillette acquisition proxy -- https://www.sec.gov/
• Wikidata: Edgewell Personal Care -- https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16823286

All brand ownership data verified through WhoBrands.com's proprietary research methodology. Last updated: April 2026.