Does the pink tax actually hold up to math, or is it mostly vibes?
My sister just declared she saves real money buying men's razors and deodorant, and she wants me to switch too. I saw a stat that women's versions can cost up to 48% more (Consumer Reports revisited this in March 2026), but I also read that sometimes the women's bottle is bigger and the per-ounce price is actually lower. I am not doing a full spreadsheet on my bathroom shelf — I just want to know where the 'just buy the men's version' rule actually holds and where it falls apart. Razors, deodorant, body wash, dry cleaning: what's genuinely worth swapping?
1 answer
- Check the unit price, then buy the men's version when it's actually cheaper
The 48% number is real but cherry-picked. What actually works: compare per-ounce, not shelf price. Secret vs Old Spice — same parent company, $5.79 both, but 2.6 oz vs 3.25 oz, so you're paying about 25% more per ounce for the Secret. One Irish Times check had a Gillette Venus ComfortGlide at 17.40 euros vs a Gillette Mach3 at 12.25 in the same store. The men's version isn't magic, but the unit-price math usually favors it on razors and deodorant. Where it falls apart: body wash, where the women's bottle is sometimes bigger and cheaper per ounce. And dry cleaning isn't a product swap at all. Two minutes with your phone calculator in the aisle beats any rule of thumb.