Myth of the Internet Bargain: Unit Pricing of ~30 'Bargain' Creams (and Soaps)

[TechClone]

Hello.

Just for the fun of it I made a table documenting the price per 100 g of B&B's most talked about 'budget' shave creams. Results are below. Unit pricing is inclusive of postage (to me, in my corner of the world), and for the cheapest single tube available on a popular shopping marketplace website. I'm on a budget and have a severe cream/soap addiction, and as you can see it's generally probably more worthwhile for me to locally source product. Obviously, postage is the killer for me - postage might be a lot less in your corner of the world. For these prices, I'd honestly probably go for the TOBS refill or at least the Proaso bowl rather than take a gamble on an unknown product that I can't see and sniff beforehand. Hopefully this exercise is a bit of an eye opener for some of you fellow addicts.

Product	Pack Size	Price Per 100g
International
Karo/Kapo	100 g	$8.78
D’Amaris	60 g	$9.90
Proaso	150 g	$10.60
Figaro	85 g	$11.91
Barbon	85 g	$11.92
Arko	100 g	$11.99
LEA	100 g	$15.39
WARS	65 g	$18.18
LIDER	65 g	$18.18
Subcontinent
Vi-John	125 g	$8.50
Lazer	125 g	$9.85
Park Avenue	84 g	$9.94
Patanjali	100 g	$10.01
Old Spice	70 g	$12.05
Yardley	91 g	$12.05
Dettol	78 g	$13.34
Godrej	78 g	$13.38
Vicco	70 g	$14.77
Asia
Blue’s Goat Milk Soap	100 g	$9.62
Locally available
Sanofi Shave	75 g	$3.33
Palmolive Lather Shave	65 g	$3.83
Derby Tube	100 g	$5.00
Windsor Shave Stick	50 g	$6.00
Figaro	150 g	$6.63
Derby Shaving Soap Bowl	140 g	$7.85
Proraso	150 g	$8.63
Cella	150 g	$8.63
Speick	75 g	$10.66
Taylor of Old Bond Street	150 g	$15.33
TOBS Soap Refill	100 g	$18

 

[Flintstone65]

Nice work, and I love the concept and seeing the data....but in my part of the world (southern United States) -- none, and I mean NONE of them are available to me locally; so I don't think my data would look like this at all. In fact, I bought a 250g tube of LEA Professional Creme from Connaught for $8.84 shipped (from the UK to the US). That's $3.54 per 100g. I can't tell what part of the world you're in, but I suspect that makes all the difference as to whether stuff is a bargain or a fortune.

 

[pdieten]

The problem is the postage. If you were to buy any of these cheap creams by the dozen instead of individually the per-oz price would fall through the floor.

The seller has to recover the overhead cost of order fulfillment (time to pick the product, pack the box, etc. and the cost of the packaging materials themselves.) That is pretty much fixed no matter how many you buy. The additional postage cost by adding more weight goes up slowly. The price of each individual product is trivial relative to all of this.

Amazon wraps all those costs up into the price of each individual item, and eBay usually does too. Which makes it expensive to buy that way. So the trick is to find a seller who is offering multiples of a product. You'll see the per-ounce price is far lower. For example, I just looked on eBay for 70g Old Spice cream. To buy one tube shipped from India tends to cost around $6. But there are sellers who will sell you a 6-pack for $20.

 

[TechClone]

Thanks for the replies.

@pdieten - fantastic point. I should have been clearer in my initial post, but I specifically avoided multiples. I already own a number of tubes and soaps (like we all do) that would keep me going for some time, and I just couldn’t bring myself to attempt to trudge through 6x tubes of the same thing, even if it does turn out to be fantastic.

With this table, I was attempting to create some frameworks for myself surrounding occasional new acquisitions whilst on a budget. The central question is: do I take a punt on an unknown cream sold as a bargain basement in its country of origin, or do I pay a little bit more for something I can get locally that has a proven track record and that I can inspect and sniff? As indicated above, I’m probably looking towards the latter. I’m lucky to have a few barbers around me who stock the popular brands, and at a price that is fairly reasonable.

 

[pdieten]

I do get what you're saying. Unless one has a way of acquiring the inexpensive products at the actual low prices they deserve, the shipping costs make them noncompetitive with higher quality products. It seems that if one likes to try the cheaper stuff, the way to do it is to find a vendor online that prices them accordingly and offers reasonable shipping fees, and order a few different products at a time. Especially effective if you need something other than shaving cream. Last order I placed at Connaught I tossed in four cheap shave sticks just because I wasn't likely to buy them otherwise due to the cost; it was the only inexpensive way to get them.

 

[FireDragon76]

Nice work, and I love the concept and seeing the data....but in my part of the world (southern United States) -- none, and I mean NONE of them are available to me locally; so I don't think my data would look like this at all. In fact, I bought a 250g tube of LEA Professional Creme from Connaught for $8.84 shipped (from the UK to the US). That's $3.54 per 100g. I can't tell what part of the world you're in, but I suspect that makes all the difference as to whether stuff is a bargain or a fortune.

You can't even get Nivea at Target or CVS/Walgreens?

 

[FireDragon76]

Hello.

Just for the fun of it I made a table documenting the price per 100 g of B&B's most talked about 'budget' shave creams. Results are below. Unit pricing is inclusive of postage (to me, in my corner of the world), and for the cheapest single tube available on a popular shopping marketplace website. I'm on a budget and have a severe cream/soap addiction, and as you can see it's generally probably more worthwhile for me to locally source product. Obviously, postage is the killer for me - postage might be a lot less in your corner of the world. For these prices, I'd honestly probably go for the TOBS refill or at least the Proaso bowl rather than take a gamble on an unknown product that I can't see and sniff beforehand. Hopefully this exercise is a bit of an eye opener for some of you fellow addicts.

Product	Pack Size	Price Per 100g
International
Karo/Kapo	100 g	$8.78
D’Amaris	60 g	$9.90
Proaso	150 g	$10.60
Figaro	85 g	$11.91
Barbon	85 g	$11.92
Arko	100 g	$11.99
LEA	100 g	$15.39
WARS	65 g	$18.18
LIDER	65 g	$18.18
Subcontinent
Vi-John	125 g	$8.50
Lazer	125 g	$9.85
Park Avenue	84 g	$9.94
Patanjali	100 g	$10.01
Old Spice	70 g	$12.05
Yardley	91 g	$12.05
Dettol	78 g	$13.34
Godrej	78 g	$13.38
Vicco	70 g	$14.77
Asia
Blue’s Goat Milk Soap	100 g	$9.62
Locally available
Sanofi Shave	75 g	$3.33
Palmolive Lather Shave	65 g	$3.83
Derby Tube	100 g	$5.00
Windsor Shave Stick	50 g	$6.00
Figaro	150 g	$6.63
Derby Shaving Soap Bowl	140 g	$7.85
Proraso	150 g	$8.63
Cella	150 g	$8.63
Speick	75 g	$10.66
Taylor of Old Bond Street	150 g	$15.33
TOBS Soap Refill	100 g	$18

You're comparing soaps vs. creams when coming to that conclusion. Of course soaps are cheaper, but they are really different products.

If I was really tight with money I wouldn't shave with soap... I'm used canned products. Some are just as good as products that come in tubes. Alot of shave gels actually produce good lather with a brush.

Maybe the only exception is Williams Mug Soap, just because it's cheap as dirt and works about as well as any other mass-market shave soap. But I'd have to be broke to use the stuff now days.

 

[ShaverAZ]

You're comparing soaps vs. creams when coming to that conclusion. Of course soaps are cheaper, but they are really different products.

If I was really tight with money I wouldn't shave with soap... I'm used canned products. Some are just as good as products that come in tubes. Alot of shave gels actually produce good lather with a brush.

Maybe the only exception is Williams Mug Soap, just because it's cheap as dirt and works about as well as any other mass-market shave soap. But I'd have to be broke to use the stuff now days.

I'm currently shaving with Cremogena, a Cremo/Neutrogena blend that I'll soon be comparing to Stirling's "Slickest soap on the market". If it is, I'll buy more Stirling scents. If not, I can get a 6 oz. tube of Cremo + a 5 oz. tube of Neutrogena, to make 10 oz of über-slick cream for under 10 bucks. So far, nothing else shaves quite like it.

 

[Rhody]

Interesting table. Its a big swing on locally available from about $3 to $18.

 

[FireDragon76]

I'm currently shaving with Cremogena, a Cremo/Neutrogena blend that I'll soon be comparing to Stirling's "Slickest soap on the market". If it is, I'll buy more Stirling scents. If not, I can get a 6 oz. tube of Cremo + a 5 oz. tube of Neutrogena, to make 10 oz of über-slick cream for under 10 bucks. So far, nothing else shaves quite like it.

Have you tried Cremo's lathering cream in a tub? It's not very expensive and has similar ingredients. Some guys complain about the lather but they probably wouldn't like regular Cremo, either. Cremo doesn't produce hardly any cushion but it does let you get a very close shave without alot of effort- but you must have a light touch with the razor (I'm actually finding lightweight razors work better with this stuff).

Weishi also has a similar cream out now, but costs a bit more. It's got some very cutting edge ingredients, about on par with what you'ld find in high-end cosmetics.

All these types of shave creams have quite a bit of emulsifying/emollient alcohols, and in my experience, are very good at the job they do. I've gotten close, low irritation shaves with all of them. They also do great post-shave.

 

[TechClone]

Unless one has a way of acquiring the inexpensive products at the actual low prices they deserve, the shipping costs make them noncompetitive with higher quality products.

Absolutely perfect summation.

 

[TechClone]

You're comparing soaps vs. creams when coming to that conclusion. Of course soaps are cheaper, but they are really different products.

Actually, the most expensive product on my list above is a soap, and really I’ve put the soaps in there for comparison. My starting point was the creams (since I mostly use creams day to day) but I’m open to using soaps. Really, I’m interested in any product, soaps or creams, that represents decent value, and that I can get my hands on readily. Nonetheless, the majority of the products here are creams anyway.

 

[TechClone]

Interesting table. Its a big swing on locally available from about $3 to $18.

Certainly, but the $3 product is the lowest end of the market and the $18 product is a solid and well known mid/higher end performer

 

[FireDragon76]

Certainly, but the $3 product is the lowest end of the market and the $18 product is a solid and well known mid/higher end performer

I've tried several English hard shave soaps and never found them to be particularly all that great compared to cheaper products like Arko or Derby. The skin conditioning qualities of these soaps are actually rather poor, and personally, I found them little better than Barbasol in that department. I mean... it's still soap and soap is somewhat aggressive in unlinking the protein structure of the stratum corneum of human skin, which is critical for human skin to function as an actual barrier. There is little one can do to change that except perhaps to dilute the soap with non-soap ingredients, which is exactly what shaving creams do.

My hypothesis is they are much loved because they are a traditional product, in the same way people initially rejected New Coke in favor of old Coke, even though they liked New Coke better in blind tests.

 

[kingfisher]

Firedragon, the cleansing power of a soap depends to a great degree upon what fatty acid was saponified to create it. Soaps are not designed to damage skin, but they are designed to carry away dirt and impurities. They do that by having one end that is hydrophobic and one that is hydrophilic. The hydrophobic end attached to the grime and the other end attached to water, which allows it to be swept away when rinsing.
Soaps that are low on the cleansing scale are neither damaging nor drying to the skin. Quality shave soaps are very low on the cleansing scale. Some of them also have added glycerin and a certain percentage of superfatting, which also helps them to keep from damaging or drying the skin.
Commercial hand/bath soaps really are fairly harsh, for two reasons: first, they generally have a fairly high percentage of coconut oil in them, and second, the naturally produced glycerin, which is a humectant, is removed from the soap to sell separately at a higher price margin. This type of soap has given soaps a bad name, but quality shave soap should not be lumped together with these cheap, harsh examples.
Granted that TOBS and the like aren't that far removed.....

 

[TechClone]

You mean...TOBS is no good??

 

[76vibrochamp]

You mean...TOBS is no good??

Most of the triple-milled British soaps were outsourced and reformulated about a decade or so ago, and their post-reformulation versions were......uninspiring. They may have improved in recent years, but I don't think many people are going to spend the money to find out.

 

[kingfisher]

You mean...TOBS is no good??

The current soap, yes.

 

[TechClone]

Thanks for that info @kingfisher and @76vibrochamp. Having a look around on B&B I see that the TOBS cream is quite highly regarded. Even better for me I guess, since I can source TOBS cream for less per unit than the soap

 

[Steve56]

Best bang for the buck:

Hard soap, 150g Pre de Provence, price ranges, but $10-13. When you’ve burned through a stick of Arko, the writing will still be on the PdP puck. Thin lather, but extremely slick and great PSF. Excellent SR soap.

Soft soap, 1000ml 3P from Connaught, $18 ex-VAT, it’s about 2 years worth of soap. And unlike Cella it doesn’t seem to go rancid. Performs a little better too.

Cream, Castle Forbes, 200ml, used to be able to find it for around $25-27 ex-VAT on the continent with reasonable shipping, but getting harder to find at that price. Still, hit a 20% Black Friday sale and that $35 tub becomes $28. You can easily shave with 0.5g so that’s a year’s worth of outstanding cream, one of the best.