Provence Santé - Time to stock up?

Yellow Jim

Yellow Jim

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1,673
After the group buy on this, I know that quite a few people now consider this as one of their favourite soaps. Well if that applies to you then you may want to consider stockpiling some of it, as it seems that PS plan on reformulating it later on this year.

From this thread on B&B. A new men's line earmarked for September, complete with a new formulation of shaving soap. It may be better, it may be worse. Something to bear in mind if you like this soap though.

Dear Dave,
We have finally analysed the shaving soap PROVENCE SANTE and we can confirm that there is Talcum in it. The confusion has been created by an error of mine - and I am very sorry for this - because I have sent a wrong INCI-list to Mr. xxxxxxxxx, the german Gentlemen asking us the composition of the shaving soap and informing you about the confusion. The INCI-list I've sent did not concern the shaving soap but a men's body wash soap that has been created in beginning 2000, but stopped in 2004, even before I came to Provence Santé. As the INCI-list in our data base was named just "soap" I was sure to have the one for the shaving soap, because I did even not know we did one for the body before. Please excuse this confusion.

The fact is that there is no INCI-list for the shaving soap because this product initially has been created for Baudelaire, our US importer. And soaps are not considered as cosmetics in the States, as you know. So no obligation to have an INCI-list on the product. But there is talcum in it and the information on our website and on Baudelaire's is correct.


Let me answer to your questions about the new formulation of the shaving soap: PROVENCE SANTE will launch a complete new Men's line in September 2011, with more products, more natural ingredients, more care products. Of course it will include shaving products, too. All formulas are currently in creation and we can't give you more specific information. But the new line will not be similar to the old one, not the same scent, not the same ingredients, not the same design.

Concerning the avilability of the Green Tea shave soap: Yes, it will still be available at Baudelaire's until the launch of the new line. After this, I suppose we will stop the Green Tea-products, but sometimes with Baudelaire we have separate agreements. I can't answer this question yet, but we will be able to answer you precisely some weeks before the launch. If you want so, please contact us again in August 2011.


We are very happy to know how much you appreciate our soap and we wish you still a lot of pleasure when shaving.
With our best wishes for a Happy New Year,
Bettina Gisler, Export Service

PROVENCE SANTE SAS
Hameau de Beth
30580 Lussan (France)
Web: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.provencesante.fr">http://www.provencesante.fr</a><!-- m -->
Tel: +33 (0)4 66 72 89 02
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Well I missed the last group buy, so after pedro piffed a small sample to me I ordered 3 pucks off my own back and took the 15 Euro dlvry charge. In my view was still worth paying £30 so yes I would say a group buy would with ought a doubt be worth it.
 
tazzbaby said:
am in :D :D
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I wasn't offering to do another group buy. :shock: :lol:

Just thought I'd bring it to everyone's attention. Although if anyone is thinking of ordering some, I'd maybe take one or two. :oops:
 
Yellow Jim said:
tazzbaby said:
am in :D :D
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I wasn't offering to do another group buy. :shock: :lol:

Just thought I'd bring it to everyone's attention. Although if anyone is thinking of ordering some, I'd maybe take one or two. :oops:
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James after the work from last time I am not surprised. However I have now started another group buy for those interested.
Regards,
Pete

What have I let myself in for ??
 
"...new Men's line in September 2011, with more products, more natural ingredients, more care products... ...the new line will not be similar to the old one, not the same scent, not the same ingredients, not the same design..."
:?: :x

Thank God we have companies with products like MWF, Cella, etc. that still stick to the good and (sometimes very) old recipes.
 
I suppose the shaving soap forms a very small part of their business. Obviously they feel that their men's line isn't doing well enough with the current offerings.
 
Yellow Jim said:
I suppose the shaving soap forms a very small part of their business. Obviously they feel that their men's line isn't doing well enough with the current offerings.
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Actually, I get the impression that their shaving/men line was in fact developed for a third party (Baudelaire), rather than for themselves, and that they have now decided that they want a line truly 'of their own'. Note that their statement about the lack of INCI is not entirely correct - in the US, a traditional soap is indeed exempt from INCI declaration since as long as it is a true cleaning product (which may include use on human skin) it is not a cosmetic; a shaving soap however does not actually fall within the limits of that exemption - if I remember correctly. So a shaving soap IS a cosmetic, even in the US, and should carry an INCI declaration of ingredients.
 
My understanding is that as long as a soap doesn't claim any special properties such as moisturising, youth enhancing, acne curing etc. that in the USA it is not classed as a cosmetic.
 
Well, my understanding is that that is true only for things like hand soaps, that are meant to clean the skin, so not to shaving soaps, which have different functions, but I could be wrong (I should recheck my US legislation documentation). Fact is that all US shaving soaps that I know of list their ingredients...
 
Right have contacted Provence Sante' over the group buy that I organized, they asked if I could report on how the soap went.
So I decided to send a link to them on this thread. The first link I included was the soap review that prompted the first group buy, I stated that Yellow Jim's link here was what prompted the second group buy. commented we liked the soap as it was. This is the reply I received today.

Dear Peter,
Thank you very much for the links. It is quite interesting and - sometimes - amuzing to follow the discussion. As I am not a shaver ;-), I don't frequent these blogs, so it is a good experience to dive into this exchange.

The last post in the second link you've sent to me did catch the thing brightly: Men's products are not the main axis for Provence Santé. We would do so, but for the moment, we are still very concentrated on the development of professional beauty products mostly destined to women as customers in beauty centers and day spas. We started doing this in 2005 and we have tripled the number of references between 2004 and 2011.
The plans for a new men's line should bring us back to the men's beauty market, in fact, and that's why we intend to have much more products, especially facial care products, but shaving products as well, of course. You and your friends will understand that we want to have a real new range, different from what we did before. This is why the scent will change, BUT NOT THE QUALITY. We know about the vertues of Shea Butter and the other actives used in the current soap and the discussions on different blogs confirm this. Our R&D department is informed about the positive feedbacks to be found on the web about the existing soap and this will surely guide the choice of the actives for the new formula.

It seems that the shipping costs of EUR 14.50 are contested by some of the bloggers. It may seem really high, especially for one buying just one shaving soap at EUR 6.20, but these are not the main orders we have. Most of the orders are for 3 - 5 facial and body care products and the part of the shipping costs is much lower than for the very small orders, even at Zero for the 75 Euro-and-more-orders. Maybe there are other online shops shipping for free to foreign countries, but be sure, the shipping is included in the product's price. This is not our policy. We prefer to have good priced products, not just good priced conditions.You have understood this and the idea to buy for a group is perfect: you benefit at once from the good product price and from the free delivery for orders > 75 Euro.


Let's keep being in touch from time to time, we really like to know what customers think about our products.
Kind regards,
Bettina Gisler
PROVENCE SANTE SAS
30580 Lussan/France
 
Very encouraging, especially when you consider some of the responses that you get from French soap manufacturers!

I ordered some more PS soap last Thursday, and it arrived at my door today. Excellent service, in my opinion, and an excellent product.

Ian
 
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