The Great Reformulation

[Emmett]

I keep seeing this being referenced with respect to creams and soaps (and possibly colognes as well?) What was this, when, and why did it happen? Have I missed out on the golden age of wetshaving products simply by coming to this hobby too late? Say it ain't so!

 

[Haiku]

It ain't so. Don't worry. There are lots of products that have been reformulated but some were changed for the better.

There are lots that haven't changed in years - Williams soap, Proraso cream, Proraso pre/post, Aqua Velva and the list goes on. A personal favourite: Musgo Real.

There are many products coming onto the market all the time that are great - in particular there are lots of natural products many of which are organic, there are lots of really well designed/well researched products as well. That list would include many many shave creams, (those by Kiss My Face are great and very inexpensive) as well as newly designed razors by Merkur and Muehle + Pinsell.

With the internet, you can buy antique razors, you can get supplies including blades from around the world. That just didn't exist when I started shaving in the 1970's. We were stuck with whatever the local stores happened to have in stock and the selection in blades for example was between Gillette and Wilkinson and nothing more.

So for what it's worth, I think today is the golden age.

 

[luvmysuper]

with the internet, you can buy antique razors, you can get supplies including blades from around the world.
So for what it's worth, i think today is the golden age.

+2

 

[joto]

A lot of products go in and out of production and/ or through reformulations over the years as laws, ingredient prices or availability, and/or health and safety information changes. It sounds like there are a significant number of soap producers are switching to a vegetable oil base instead of a more traditional tallow base. This gets people understandably riled (I get pissed when my favorite products change or are discontinued!!), but I suspect you are referring to the 'did they reformulate or not debate" from a few years ago that lingers in some form to this day. This occurred just prior to my involvement in wetshaving, but I will summerize what I read about it to the best my memory will allow. I read more about it over at SMF, where there were a number of threads along these lines. Get comfortable, you'll be reading a while...

Taylor definitely reformulated their creams a four or five years ago, purportedly to comply with new EU restrictions (There's a great post about it here ). Or so they say. The wierd thing is that other firms in England (Trumper's, Harris, etc), logically under the same set of EU rules as Taylor's, strongly asserted that their formula had not been changed despite the fact that people began to notice similar changes in their products at about the same time. Mainly the scents and colorings changed, and some complain about textures (the consintency of Taylor's and Truefitt's textures from pot to pot have always sucked in my experience). Taylor's at least still seemed to shave well, but many complained the higher priced creams' shave quality fell, often to no better (or even worse) than much less expensive Taylor's creams (which, for the record, have always been excellent in my opinion). Something was up, and someone was probably covering for something or someone. The evidence that other English firms had changed their formulations (or undergone unintentional changes) was based on a large number posts by highly experienced and respected forumites (and many others of us!) in the form of photos and reports of changes to the various brands' products. Enough people noticed the changes that something was probably up.

What happened? Who can say? Customers noticed changes to the creams, and the companies insisted nothing had been altered- the hue and cry about black helicopters went out. Trumper especially seems to have taken a lot of heat over this, and I remember reading over on SMF that the potential (and likely in my mind) suspicion is that there was a problem at Creighton's, who compounds most of the shaving creams in question. They opened a new location, changed personnel, or changed something, resulting in a large amount of crappy product. There may have been an unofficial reformulation that occurred across several companies, but this seems like a rather large cover-up. For all we know, some shipping policies were changed and the raw materials or finished product underwent some trauma in shipping. No one really knows what happened, and the jury is out as to whether there has been a permanent change. Heck, it may even have been some sort of mass hysteria based on the fact that a lot of us (myself included) are perfectionists about these products. You pay $30 for a vat of cream, and you're gonna be pissed if they're not as good as the last pot you got. After all- shaving cream is touchy stuff to manufacture and (at least in Taylor's and Truefitt's creams) I notice wide and annoying variety in the scent and texture of different pots, even within the same scent line. Did you miss a golden age of wetshaving? Who knows? I worried about it as all this was hitting the fan on the forums as I started to get into this stuff. In the end, I just decided that if I didn't know what I was missing, I could just relax and enjoy myself, although if there has been real and lasting change I really feel for those people whose favorite products may be gone forever.

I'm just trying to summarize information I have read about before. As I said, this all happened before my time as a wetshaver, perhaps an old hand can give better information regarding the 'before' and 'after' product changes. Or correct me if I screwed up and got information wrong!!

 

[crocto]

So for what it's worth, I think today is the golden age.

its not worth worrying about. companies change their products regardless of what consumers think. some change and people hate them, while others will love them. not worth worrying about.

i'd agree its a pretty nice time to be using these creams and soaps. so many choices and so little time!

 

[mretzloff]

So for what it's worth, I think today is the golden age.

I'll have to kindly disagree.

Here's what I and everyone who joined this hobby "late" have missed:

-Geo F. Trumper tallow soaps
-Floris tallow soaps
-D.R. Harris' original tallow soaps and mahogany bowls
-Old Spice shaving soap
-Yardley shaving soap

Then as far as brushes go:

-pre-2006 Shavemacs
-Manchurian-grade Simpsons
-2-band HMW Plissons
-2-band Rooneys (they seem to be going away slowly)


The list goes on. In my opinion, we've missed the golden age. I predict that once the older generations of wet shavers die out and the DE demand goes even further down, there will be another golden age, at least in terms of availability.

 

[luvmysuper]

Coke, New Coke, Classic Coke et al

 

[jkh]

I would like to point out that we live in the internet age where one can acquire a vast array of shaving products from around the globe with a few mouse clicks.

 

[Ru4scuba?]

I would like to point out that we live in the internet age where one can acquire a vast array of shaving products from around the globe with a few mouse clicks.

+1 to that...to include "antique" soaps that still lather like a champ.

Had a great lather this morning with my Old Wrisley's Shave Soap that I bought on Da Bay. At least 50 years old!