Ingredients of inexpensive creams and soaps

[tamahagane]

As someone who suffers from allergies to several common chemical ingredients myself, I cannot stress this enough: if you suspect you are hypersensitive, please do not diagnose yourself. Visit your physician, they will know how to diagnose your condition. Maybe you have a migraine triggered by some odors? Maybe you have Neurodermatitis? Maybe it is just "normal" dermatitis?
As far as the correlation between price and ingredient quality, I can say this from experience: synthetic surfactants are cheaper than either animal fat or natural (plant) oil-based surfactants. Which kind is best depends on your skin. Furthermore, the more higher the water content in a cosmetic product, the higher the preservative requirements. At any rate, the INCI list is a better indicator of what you are looking after compared to retail price, as already mentioned.

There is no "generally good" or "generally bad" ingredient as long as FDA (or EUPH)-approved. I will try an analogy: there is much speculation about aluminum's impact on health. The fact is, as of the time point of writing, nobody has proved causality of neurological diseases by aluminum. Maybe Alzheimers causes a high aluminum content in the brain and not vice versa?

 

[Burundian Hawk]

A while ago I saw a few people arguing on a Youtube wet shaving channel how inexpensive soaps and creams contain some artificial ingredients which might have some side effects not only to the skin, but it may cause other heath issues.

One of the guys simply said that people should buy only premium products and not risk their health or waste their money on inexpensive cosmetics. It makes sense that more expensive cosmetics are much better compared to more inexpensive products, but are inexpensive soaps/creams more dangerous than canned gels and foams?

Are those of us who use soaps like Arko and other inexpensive products going to regret it one day, or it's just nonsense?

The price has nothing to do with health issues. The last time i bought a tub of Truefitt cream, it had parabens. There are simple EUR2 soaps that have like 4-5 ingredients only and no parabens. Then you have regional regulations. In Europe the regulations are more strict. This includes artisan producers. If people didn't die in the past when the use of preservaties was very heavy handed, why worry now... I worry about the opposite. I have had creams become watery over time. I bought 2 Tabac creams at very good price, only to find out they were too runny. After few uses, i threw away both tubes. Too few preservatives and too long shelf storage, i suspect.

 

[Medivh]

The price has nothing to do with health issues. The last time i bought a tub of Truefitt cream, it had parabens. There are simple EUR2 soaps that have like 4-5 ingredients only and no parabens. Then you have regional regulations. In Europe the regulations are more strict. This includes artisan producers. If people didn't die in the past when the use of preservaties was very heavy handed, why worry now... I worry about the opposite. I have had creams become watery over time. I bought 2 Tabac creams at very good price, only to find out they were too runny. After few uses, i threw away both tubes. Too few preservatives and too long shelf storage, i suspect.

I'm not worried at all, but I see such debates in some Facebook shaving groups and some people are trying to convince others to spend X amount of money and buy only one ''high'' quality soap rather than spending the same amount of money and buy 10 or more that are much cheaper mass market products with ''questionable'' quality.

 

[Burundian Hawk]

I'm not worried at all, but I see such debates in some Facebook shaving groups and some people are trying to convince others to spend X amount of money and buy only one ''high'' quality soap rather than spending the same amount of money and buy 10 or more that are much cheaper mass market products with ''questionable'' quality.

People try to justify in many silly ways why they spend a lot of money. As a matter of fact, many people get skin allergy from fancy oils and fragrances that artisans put in expensive soaps. By their logic, this should never happen because they are expensive.

 

[tamahagane]

Well nobody stops me from determining an arbitrary price on my product except my competition and customer demand. As far as regulation, I know that some artisan products made in the US may not be exported to the EU since EUPH and FDA regulations are incompatible, even though both are considered pretty strict. I know some US made chemical products cannot be exported to the EU because e.g. some artisan soaps have not been subjected to safety trials. I am not sure whether the reverse is true, in the EU animal tests are forbidden and allowed in the USA. In fact recommended by the FDA. Then again I do not know of a cosmetic product made in the EU which may not be imported in the US. Maybe some of the vendors here have more info?

In short: you can replace your barber with your shaving equipment and experience, you can replace your hairdresser with a clipper (and your spouse) but replacing your physician is an incomparably bigger leap and not a smart move. Buy whichever products you like, enjoy if you can, contact your doc if you get suspicious and forget the pointless debate.

 

[RayClem]

I have spent a lot of money on shaving soaps and creams in the pursuit of the very best shave. I have far more soaps than I will ever use during the rest of my life, even if I live to be 100. However, I enjoy exploring new scents and new formulations so I continue to purchase new soaps. As a matter of preference, I do not use an pre-shave products or post shave products. I expect my lather to do it all. It does not make any sense to me to use a $10 soap and then have to use another $30 worth of preshave and postshave products to achieve a good shave.

I have shaved with soaps that cost as little as $$0.25 per ounce. I have shaved with soaps that cost over $8 per ounce.

There are some soaps costing under $2.50/ounce that will give me an acceptable shave, but I have yet to get a great shave with any these products.

Once I reach the $4-5/ounce price range, the quality of the shave improves. So do the scents of the soaps in most cases. There are some soaps in this range that are nearly as good as my top soaps. Captain's Choice, Noble Otter, and Oleo Soapworks are some that are excellent options in this price range.

Most of my best soaps fall into the $5/ounce and up range. At that price, I expect superb performance and wonderful scents. There have been a few disappointments, but not many. Art of Shaving tallow soap refill sells for $9 per ounce, but does not come close to performing at that price point. It was a huge disappointment; I would just as soon use Proraso that sells for $2 per ounce.

 

[old_school]

There's a lot of conflating a quality shave with moisturizing/PSF lately. They are not the same thing. One does not have to endure nor pay for expensive super fatted soaps to get a top tier world class shave.

 

[RayClem]

There's a lot of conflating a quality shave with PSF lately. They are not the same thing. One does not have to endure nor pay for expensive super fatted soaps to get a top tier world class shave.

What you say is true. However, from the large number of soaps I have evaluated, I have found a significant correlation between residual slickness and post shave moisturizing/conditioning. I used the Ariana and Evans Kaisen 2 formula for the first time this morning. The residual slickness was so good that I could have easily done my entire clean-up pass without relathering my face. I got a fantastic four-pass shave. I knew before I ever completed the shave that I would be pleased with the post shave feel, just based on the residual slickness. Thus, the ingredients that affect post-shave also lead to a better shaving experience, at least for me.

It has been six hours since my shave and the feel has not diminished whatsoever. I am hoping that feeling will last until tomorrow morning. I have ten soaps whose post shave feel will last 16 hours or more, including the original Kaisen. However, only one soap I have used has lasted a full 24 hours. I am hoping Kaisen 2 might be the second.

 

[GaryTha]

As someone who suffers from allergies to several common chemical ingredients myself, I cannot stress this enough: if you suspect you are hypersensitive, please do not diagnose yourself. Visit your physician, they will know how to diagnose your condition. Maybe you have a migraine triggered by some odors? Maybe you have Neurodermatitis? Maybe it is just "normal" dermatitis?
As far as the correlation between price and ingredient quality, I can say this from experience: synthetic surfactants are cheaper than either animal fat or natural (plant) oil-based surfactants. Which kind is best depends on your skin. Furthermore, the more higher the water content in a cosmetic product, the higher the preservative requirements. At any rate, the INCI list is a better indicator of what you are looking after compared to retail price, as already mentioned.

There is no "generally good" or "generally bad" ingredient as long as FDA (or EUPH)-approved. I will try an analogy: there is much speculation about aluminum's impact on health. The fact is, as of the time point of writing, nobody has proved causality of neurological diseases by aluminum. Maybe Alzheimers causes a high aluminum content in the brain and not vice versa?

This is probably the best information on Alzheimer's around. There are other cognitive dysfunctions, too. Aluminum is suspect enough that it should be avoided.

Amazon.com: The Alzheimer's Solution: A Breakthrough Program to Prevent and Reverse the Symptoms of Cognitive Decline at Every Age eBook: Sherzai, Dean, Sherzai, Ayesha: Kindle Store

 

[Lane101]

Hi RayClem, closing the loop on our posts from a few days ago. You are right that the purpose of my post was to compare the ingredients between budget and more expensive shave soap options. To Medivh's original question the budget soaps, using Williams and Mitchell's as the example, often use ingredients that are the same as many of those found in higher end soaps. Where these ingredients are the same the soaps should be no less safe than more expensive options. Understand, per your artisan soap examples, that the more expensive soaps have additional and more costly ingredients with the intention of providing an enhanced shaving experience. My focus on Medivh's original question was on safety. Appreciate your deep experience with various shave soaps, got me thinking more on how this market is segmented, a topic worthy of a separate thread to come soon.