This will be kind of a heads up thread for those who use or are thinking about using TOBS. Those that know me know I groove on the TOBS. They produce a rich creamy lather that shave really well. I've used Eton College, Rose, St. James and Avocado. Having said that I'm not sure why, but I went several months without using any of them. Tonight I cracked open the Eton College and it had changed colors from pearly white to an orange'ish tinge. Pretty weird. Now EC always was kind of a harder consistency cream, but it is quite hard now. More like soap at this point. I scooped out a chunk and swirled the brush. The typical rich lather emerged after some energetic whipping, but I noticed two little chunks at the bottom of the bowl that never did dissolve. Not a huge deal as there was plenty of lather to work with. The lovely EC fragrance was intact but unfortunately the shave was somewhat disappointing. The lather was rather dry and the razor did not glide as nicely as I remember. I've been at this for awhile so I'm confident my water usage was proper, and I still did manage a decent smooth shave; it just wasn't that comfortable. All other factors being the same I can only assume the TOBS (or at least the EC) doesn't stand the test of time very well. So be aware if you buy a tub you might want to use it regularly until gone. I'm guessing here but I think at the 6 month mark it still shaved pretty well so use that as a guidepost. FYI.
I am not convinced by the quality of creams TOBS. I bought last year 2 tubes of cream, Sandalwood and Mr Taylor. It is true that it foams very well, but the lather does not soften the hair: it is necessary to cross( and cross the blade as if it had already 10 shavings. Then, I noticed that the cream was very liquid by going out of the tube, but that 10 days later, it was hard as some putty. So much that to get back it, I have of to open the tube with a blade to collect the cream which had remained stuck inside, because it did not want to go out any more. For me, they are not good products. I prefer widely cheap creams as Godrej, Ingram, Palmolive, Park avenue. Otherwise in the marks said " luxury " I love Trumper and Castle Forbes... but not their price.
Well that's interesting to hear. I have a tub of avocado coming in tomorrow. I had usually heard glowing reviews for it.
This is indeed worrisome. I just ordered a tub of Taylor’s Lavender and Sandalwood shave cream. Oh woe is me. Well, thank goodness I’m rich and don’t care if I’ve wasted $14.00 a tub on shave cream that could potentially suck. It wouldn't be the first time.
It has nothing to do with the brand. Creams have a shelf life, they deteriorate. I have read many threads of creams separating and/or going rancid. My jar of Body Shop Maca Root SC has on the bottom a little picture of a jar with the lid tipped up and 12M printed on it. This is the EU symbol for "this product will be good for 12 months after opening". Extreme heat will also damage a cream. Honestly, I doubt this is ever and issue except for shave nuts who use a different product daily.
Could be that it expired, or that the storage conditions are not ideal. I have some old tubs of TOBS, and I have no issues with it. That's not to say that something will not go wrong in the future, of course. Also, the lather is nice and slick. I'm not convinced that any soap/cream softens the hairs appreciably when I apply the lather. The beard softening seems to happen during the shower.
Well I honestly never thought about it expiring. Didn't really cross my mind that shave cream would expire. As for storage that's not it. It's kept cool and dark on the shave shelf. None of my other creams have done this so it could be something peculiar to Eton College. The Avocado seems ok, and I purchased them the same time...about a year ago. For you guys worried because you just ordered tubs/tubes...don't. TOBS are good creams, and I only recently experienced this issue. If you use it up w/in 6 months or so you should be good.
Well, will try to bring some clarification from what I know and have been told by my friend who sells cosmetics. There is life that present in every cosmetics product. Life grow bigger and multiplies. The date of expiration is actually the day when this life has multiplied enough to make the product unusable. Inappropriate storage conditions like hot weather may force this life to grow faster. So, it's you to decide whether to use expired cream or not. I personally tend to use fresh ones P.S.: Greetings from Ukraine! I just found a lot of ARKOs here.
I've got the remainders of couple tubs of TOBS cream that have dehydrated over time (maybe 2 years since opening). I find them to be just as good as my freshly opened Avocado (love this stuff). I roll the dehydrated cream in my fingertips a bit before whipping up a lather. Works just fine for me. ...and of course there's a shelf life. That's why they ship with an inner seal over the cream. Advice: 1. Make sure the lid's on tight 2. Don't buy 20 different kinds of cream, dude
Yeh I am not worried. I recently received a new tub that was great. I guess the moral of the story is that there is such thing as having too many creams.
I like variety and this is one reason I buy a lot of soaps... they last longer. I have also read claims that creams in tubes last longer. Why? Because less of the product is exposed to the air. I have frequently removed some dried out glue, caulk or whatever from the neck of a tube and the product behind is still good. So it is very possible this claim is valid.
Over time creams are going to have an even shorter shelf life as nasty preservatives, like parabens, are removed from the formulation. Cream is basically soap with some water added. It is that water that allows nasties to make their home in it.
Not exactly. Water used in any product, whether mass produced or handmade, should have distilled water in it. Nasties are introduced by the end user. And soap is dirty, even without the water. Google it. Thing is you can wash off a soap. You can't exactly wash off a cream. And there are natural preservatives, that I'm sure these companies have to be utilizing now.
I agree. However I wasn't suggesting that the water was impure. Merely that a wetter environment (as in a cream) provides a better culture for bacteria, fungi etc to live in. Once you open any product and expose it to the air it is "infected". Soap is a far less convivial environment for the baddies to live in. As for preservatives, the manufacturers are being forced to give up some very powerful chemicals.
I agree with you as I have said before. The difference between hard soap and cream is the presence of water. That water enables life to more easily be sustained in cream. Hence, all other things being equal, cream will go off a lot more easily than soap. You can find shaving soap sticks in 40 year old shaving sets that work perfectly once the outer layer has been scraped off. There wouldn't be much left of a cream of that age that had been exposed to air, the bacteria and fungi would have eaten it all several decades ago.