Extra cost, is it worth it?

M

markyboy

Joined
Monday January 11, 2010
Hi guys

I've always been a believer in 'you get what you pay for'

Hence the reason why I've got loads of soaps, creams etc from trumpers, Mitchells, Taylors etc.....
shopping in Tesco yesterday, I spotted the palmolive shave stick priced at 50p, so I thought I'd give it a try.
Shaved using it this morning, worked up a good lather with my brush, this stuff is great! Closest shave I've ever had, comfortable, smells nice.... don't think I'll be paying top prices for creams anymore...
 
Markyboy,

You'll find plenty of fans of the Palmolive stick on here. I don't particularly love it, but it does a good job, and for the price it's pretty untouchable.

I think soaps and creams, as with anything, are affected by the law of diminishing returns. So a soap that costs say £20, isn't twice as good as one that costs £10 and so on.

Ian
 
50p???!!! you were had :D Asda & Tesco it's 44p so for ever 7.3 you buy, you would effectively get a free one. (Sometimes it gets sold at about half-price (23p) so even better...)

As for "is it worth it?" - well it's worth it if the Palmolive doesn't work for you, or gives a reaction or you despise the smell...
 
There are lots of cheaper products that give a good shave for relatively little cost. I have some of the cheap ones and some of the dear ones and probably a few in between. I like the variety but for me it is more about finding what works best for me.

Worth looking out for an Erasmic old formula stick, the main ingredient should read Tallowate, these are cheap and very effective. I found a chemist on holiday that had hundreds of them and I took as many as I could carry and not bust my baggage allowance.

Have a look at some of the sites like Connaught and The Gentlemens Shop, these shops carry soaps you will never have heard of but are very very good. And remember there is a decant site <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.closeshave.org.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.closeshave.org.uk/</a><!-- m -->

With the Decant site you can pick a few samples without investing in full tubs.
 
Pound for pound Palmolive is easily the best shave stick out there.

The smell and colour may be a bit retro (putting it as kindly as I can) but the lather is top notch.

Combined with a Tech and a boar brush you could have all you need for under a tenner plus hot water.
 
Performance wise, I'd be hard pressed to name anything better than Palmolive: Mitchell's Wool Fat definitely, Tabac and Cella maybe. That doesn't mean that I'll forswear buying other soaps though.
 
You could argue that the vast majority of men who use brushes are happy with palmolive. This equals production in vast quantities and low selling price. If we have a taste for something a bit different we have to pay for it because scale of production is lower. We all know there is little to choose between the quality of soaps and creams from the 3Ts - made by the same manufacturer. TOBS is lower because of their buying power achieved through aggressive marketing. That makes them better value.
 
If you get a great shave with a £20 Floris soap and enjoy using it, then me saying I can get a better shave with a £4 stick of Valobra isn’t going to deter you from that price difference.
 
If it suits you and you can afford it, anything is worth it. Whether it's better or not is another question, horses for courses.
I like Proraso which I use most of all but also things like L'Occitane cade or DR Harris soaps which I use when I want a change.
 
I take one Palmolive Shave Stick and one blue tub of Wilkinson soap and grate them with a cheese grater. I mix the two and press most of the mix into my shave bowl. The rest I put in the Wilkinson blue tub to use as a top-up or when travelling.

I have not found anything I like better at any price.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom