What's new

Palmolive shave stick

Thanks Doug, I am treating the purchase of stock as insurance, I like the product, it works for me, I will buy the sticks when I see them whether the many reports of its discontinuance are true or not.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
purposely misleading the users of this site based on wild conjecture is far more rude than my post
Now be nice boys! @Vacumatic seems to be mistaken, but I thought you came off a little like my family sometimes: a little harsher than necessary.
But my sister calls me the sensitive brother, so you may have been fine.
 
You know these repeated end-of-life scares are probably helping to keep Palmolive in production! Every few months it seems there's a big panic-buying frenzy to remind the suppliers / producers that Palmolive sticks are a nice little earner.

Here in the UK you can buy the sticks in store (Superdrug). The first time I heard of Palmolive I went along to my local to get just one stick to try. There was plenty of stock and I happily paid the princely sum of 75 pence(!), safe in the knowledge that if I liked it I could get more, and if I didn't, well it only cost 75p. A couple of weeks later I saw an old "the end is nigh" thread on another forum burst back to life, by which I time I was thinking "hey this is good, I think I will get some more". I arrived at Superdrug only to find that all the remaining sticks had been bought out, and not in a calm, orderly way - the products to either side had been knocked all over the place! A week later the sticks were back in stock and occupying a little bit more shelf space than they'd been given previously :)

So keep up the panic buying calm & sensible bulk purchasing to ensure continuity of supply, or maybe the powers-that-be really will stop making Palmolive!
 
Last edited:
This is a great soap. I have one that I've been using for years, due to rotating soaps and taking four years off from shaving to have a beard. The discontinuation rumors always float around with certain products. I fell for one of them in 2015, so I bought a tube of Palmolive Classic, Menthol, and the second stick that I have. One thing I've noticed over the years is that I prefer the big name soaps over artisan ones any day of the week.
 
I cannot find the product on any Palmolive websites and I can see your point that the company has restricted supply, its a low volume niche product compared to all other Palmolive products and doesnt fit well in the whole scheme and style of other Palmolive products. When I see the shave stick on the shelves it tends to be just one or two items, and they look as if they have been there a while with the packaging in less than new condition.


Therefore it has all the hallmarks of a product nearing the end of its life, low price, low sales, low profit and newer and more profitable product lines being deprived of shelf space.

You can understand the concern that a much loved product appears to be stopping production.

---


ETA, subsequent to typing this post I have found a letter from Palmolive Germany in 2015 on the subject of the Shave Stick which states, in part,

'We regret to inform you that the product you are interested in is not currently being manufactured. In response to decreased consumer demand, we sometimes have to stop manufacturing a product. Unfortunately, we do not have any remaining stock to offer you directly. '
I have the stick from the early 2000's.
I also see from then that the stick has changed packaging three times. I now bought the latest packaging, which is available the last two years.
I could find this packaging (the one with the leaves next to "for men") and the shop told me it's new. They also brought more the next days.
I can see why they do not list it in their ship anymore. Do they list the cream?
Some major brands do it by mistake. I.E Supermax list some packages of blades that do not exist anymore. That's the opposite situation.

All in all they reduced the amount in UK.
In Germany (which is apparently made) it is fully loaded.

Btw Is there any German to confirm what happened with the stick in Germany stores?
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
Palmolive is one of the two soaps I'll be sticking with long term (the other being Mitchell's Wool Fat). I was away for a few days this last week, and took a small slice in a little screw top pot (the type you might get cream samples in). A great shave every time.

I can understand why many retailers have dropped it. Tough to make obscene profits off something that costs 50p and gives ~200 shaves. I don't expect it to disappear from these shores completely, as there's always stores wanting to sell cheap goods, but I do have a few sticks squirelled away just in case.
 
I have the stick from the early 2000's.
I also see from then that the stick has changed packaging three times. I now bought the latest packaging, which is available the last two years.
I could find this packaging (the one with the leaves next to "for men") and the shop told me it's new. They also brought more the next days.
I can see why they do not list it in their ship anymore. Do they list the cream?
Some major brands do it by mistake. I.E Supermax list some packages of blades that do not exist anymore. That's the opposite situation.

All in all they reduced the amount in UK.
In Germany (which is apparently made) it is fully loaded.

Btw Is there any German to confirm what happened with the stick in Germany stores?

The fact that they have changed the packaging three times is encouraging, you wouldnt have thought they would make the effort if the product was being discontinued. The packaging on the item I bought was week for old and scruffy, dusty even.

I looked on a number of Colgate Palmolive sites and couldnt see any mention of the Shave Stick, following the advice shown above I looked on the German site and there it is, plus the cream. I tried to contact the German customer services to ask about production and future availability but the website contact form wasnt playing ball.

I still think its an oddball product in the Palmolive line up and as many corporations strive for uniformity and brand image I really wouldnt be surprised if the Shave Stick were to be quietly dropped, I propose to buy it when I see it on the shelves until I have enough stock to see me through until I am the other side of the turf.

Cheers.
 
I see something different, even though I am on amazon.com

First offer is .90 from a UK seller, Livehealthbeauty with poor feedback history

Second offer is a 2 pack at 9.99

Third offer is a 6 pack at 9.99 which I think is about 1.70 a stick


eta

Today I bought 6 for £4.50 which is about $6, from Wilko, they had many in stock, no shortage.
 
Last edited:
Stranger eh .

Anyway I placed an order on eBay instead from a uk seller 4 pack for $6 something shipped . Let’s see how that works out .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yesterday I came across an old stick that I hadn't used for a couple of years. I hadn't shaved in a week so I thought I'd put Palmolive to the test. It took lots of water (hard water) but my Plisson synthetic seemed to like it. And so did my beard. Good stuff.

I would describe the scent as mass market manly. Not bad for a product that has to please men on three or four continents. But it doesn't give the satisfaction of a nice sandalwood or other favorite.
 
Tired one of the sticks yesterday. I enjoy the performance of the soap, and the scent more than the tube of cream. might have to buy some and grate them into an old container for use like a tub of soap.
 
Tired one of the sticks yesterday. I enjoy the performance of the soap, and the scent more than the tube of cream. might have to buy some and grate them into an old container for use like a tub of soap.

I used to grate them and found it not worth the hassle. Just a thin layer of soap on the face erupts into plenty of lather for 2 passes and touch-ups. I also found that it's too easy to overload it from a tub and it doesn't last as long. It tends to get mushy also.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
I used to grate them and found it not worth the hassle. Just a thin layer of soap on the face erupts into plenty of lather for 2 passes and touch-ups. I also found that it's too easy to overload it from a tub and it doesn't last as long. It tends to get mushy also.
The only way to use Arko is applied directly to the face. That's why that guy is smiling so much on the label!
 
I used to grate them and found it not worth the hassle. Just a thin layer of soap on the face erupts into plenty of lather for 2 passes and touch-ups. I also found that it's too easy to overload it from a tub and it doesn't last as long. It tends to get mushy also.
Yeah, I didn't seem to get enough of a lather that lasted using the stick to face method. I need to be able to load more soap into the brush it seems, so I will try putting it on my face and also loading on the the brush. I tend to do three to four passes.
 
Top Bottom