Have Culmak finally called it a day?

[pjgh]

... that, and pretty much most places online (Pharmacy shops and the like presumably supplied direct) are either out of stock or reduced.

Just wondering. Any rumours, or otherwise?

 

[NatJag]

Maybe. Could be giving the website an overhaul.

Their confirmation statement appears to be overdue with companies house. Looking back, it does look like it's normally filed late.

 

[Gairdner]

Shame if they have but the last soap I had from them was utter poo. Zea Mays? My goodness, I couldn’t stand even washing with it.

 

[pjgh]

FWIW, if folks are looking to snag a bowl or refill please do pre-check the ingredient list:

Legacy (pre-2010?) < Stearate-first and a damn good one!
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Cocoate, Aqua (Water), Sodium Cocoate, Glycerine, Paraffinum Liquidum, Parfum (Fragrance), Tetrasodium EDTA, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, CI 77891

Reformulation (2011?) < this is one of the bad ones (ran 2011-2018 ish)
Sodium Palmate, Potassium Stearate, Sodium Cocoate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua (Water), Potassium Cocoate, Glycerin, Parfum (Fragrance), Linalool, Paraffinum Liquidum, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Geraniol, BHT, Limonene, Citronellol, CI77891

Reformulation (2018?) < much in common with the discontinued Boots formulation ("good")
Potassium Palmate, Sodium Palmate, Potassium Stearate, Potassium Palm Kernelate, Glycerin, Aqua (Water), Sodium Stearate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Kaolin, Palm Kernel Acid, Parfum (Fragrance), CI 77891, BHT, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Benzyl Benzonte, Citronellol, Coumarin, Eugenol

Current (c.2022) < this is another one of the bad ones ... same ingredient list as current EcoWarrior (also bad)
Sodium Cocoate, Aqua (Water), Glycerin, Coconut Acid, Parfum (Fragrance), Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Pentasodium Pentetate, Capry/Capramidopropyl Benaine, Paraffinium Liquidium, Zea Mays Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Benzyle Benzoate,Citronellol, Limonene, Linalool, CI 77891

... all black bowls (99g).

Older is much better and you can find various coloured bowls (85g 3.5oz) and these I think given the colour of the soap at tallow.

 

[pjgh]

Zea Mays?

Funnily enough Zea Mays (Corn Oil) is also found in the current crap C&S formulations (believed to be a post-sale Valobra - post-2021) ... and also the older ("good") Art of Shaving formulations (shared with C&S and Valobra?) in both their original tallowate-first (pre-2013?) and palmate-first (c.2013?) formulations. Beyond that, it's not an ingredient that I encounter much when perusing ingredient lists.

 

[pjgh]

... couple of weeks on and the website is still down.

 

[donnie_arko]

... couple of weeks on and the website is still down.

I had a quick look at the wayback machine at Archive.org, and they had no returns for the site since 2021. It could be they haven't updated the site for a while.

They could well be another loss to the wet shaving landscape.

 

[Gairdner]

Why produce shite when you know it ain’t going to work? Who makes these absurd decisions? These stupid reformulations are their death knell. I find it to be disturbingly dishonest to boot.

 

[pjgh]

I've pondered upon this @Gairdner and come to the idea that for the likes of these mass-produced soaps it's simply down to the money and/or supply. I think the decision comes down to the need to produce another multiple-million number of units and find a supplier who can accomodate - if the formulation is different then so be it; and that's how reformulations come about for the likes of Culmak or Vulfix or such like.

When it comes to the posh names like the three T's or Floris, well, it's a luxury product and quite likely that real wet shavers account for only a small percentile of their customer base (or potential customer base) so again, the actual quality of the product matters somewhat less than the profit they can make from hawking a cheaper product (even if it doesn't "work") because 9 out of 10 purchases will likely be made by someone who has no idea that foamy lather is not "lather" ... that, and it's probably a flash in the pan idea or a gift from someone and they'll drop the notion of wet-shaving after having had a go or two.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

I've pondered upon this @Gairdner and come to the idea that for the likes of these mass-produced soaps it's simply down to the money and/or supply. I think the decision comes down to the need to produce another multiple-million number of units and find a supplier who can accomodate - if the formulation is different then so be it; and that's how reformulations come about for the likes of Culmak or Vulfix or such like.

When it comes to the posh names like the three T's or Floris, well, it's a luxury product and quite likely that real wet shavers account for only a small percentile of their customer base (or potential customer base) so again, the actual quality of the product matters somewhat less than the profit they can make from hawking a cheaper product (even if it doesn't "work") because 9 out of 10 purchases will likely be made by someone who has no idea that foamy lather is not "lather" ... that, and it's probably a flash in the pan idea or a gift from someone and they'll drop the notion of wet-shaving after having had a go or two.

I have to agree with everything you said because until I joined this forum, I would have no idea what lather should be like etc.