New Improved? What do you miss?

[Tim B]

When a shaving product is ‘new improved', what do you miss from the old version?

I popped into my local Laly's pharmacy to stock up on Erasmic shaving cream. And, horror of horrors, the old coconut Jordan made one is no longer there. Maybe it's what is happening in the Middle East that is to blame. It is now a new ‘improved' formula – look out for the red strip across the corner of the box. It has been replaced by a Chamomile based formula, but the chamomile is further down the list of ingredients with a lot more chemically sounding stuff listed before it.

Also, does anyone know where this new improved cream is made?

The main differences are:

Older Erasmic cream:
Coconut based – 3rd ingredient
Metal tube
Red cap - small
Made in Jordan
Narrower box, stiffer cardboard

New improved cream:
Chamomile based – 12th ingredient
Plastic tube – shorter and wider
Black cap – large for upright standing
Made in ????
Wider box, less stiff cardboard

Both sorts still have the distinctive red and white Erasmic logo on a black box, with silver coloured tube, 75ml capacity, and price £1.29. Keyline Brands have moved from Hounslow TW3 9LX to Middlesex UB2 4TA.

Anyway, I miss the coconut. From checking the ingredients, other shaving creams do have coconut in there somewhere, so all is not lost.

What do you miss when something is ‘new improved'? Or is it better?

 

[GOLDCREST]

To me NEW and IMPROVED usually means its cheaper to produce....with a bigger profit margin ...and generally CRAP.............Cue switch to something else!!!

 

[JohnnyO]

As soon as I read "new & improved" I automatically suspect that some new EU regulation has caused a previous ingredient to be taken out or reduced in quantity. Either that or the manufacturer has discovered another artificial preservative or colourant which they hope will allow products to remain on the shelf even longer or fake a genuine shade we may find more attractive.

But then, I feel that secpticism suits my age group.

JohnnyO. \

 

[hunnymonster]

When a shaving product is ‘new improved', what do you miss from the old version?

That depends what change they made...

To me NEW and IMPROVED usually means its cheaper to produce....with a bigger profit margin

That's pretty much right on the money, although not always true with everything that's new & improved - some actually are improvements.

But then, I feel that secpticism suits my age group.

I worked in the R&D site of a consumer goods manufacturer - often called upon (as part of a panel) to rate one formulation over another... with very little between them. Sometimes the improvements were small, sometimes they weren't improvements at all (anyone remember Persil Power?) - with laundry powders they often cascade the formula across the globe, introducing the newest, most performant to North America & Western Europe, moving the old NA&WE formula to Central/Eastern Europe, moving the CEE formula to the Middle East,... etc you get the picture.

Good to have a healthy scepticism - the only thing you can be sure of is that P&G, Unilever, Henkel, etc all want more of your money.

 

[Canuck]

Can't say I've used anything that's had both an "old" and a "new and improved" version yet. By some accounts (Mr RB73 being one) I'm using Truefitt and Hill's "new improved" luxury hard soap (and have been since January) but there apparently used to be an older formula going back a year or two.
I very much like the current stuff, but I know one of our Spanish members doesn't rate it as highly as the old model.

I guess you can't miss what you never had, but I can't imagine an improved version of that soap.

Does nostaligia play a part? Are mature men best placed to "embrace the new" or are we naturally retrospective types?

 

[RB73]

Can't say I've used anything that's had both an "old" and a "new and improved" version yet. By some accounts (Mr RB73 being one) I'm using Truefitt and Hill's "new improved" luxury hard soap (and have been since January) but there apparently used to be an older formula going back a year or two.
I very much like the current stuff, but I know one of our Spanish members doesn't rate it as highly as the old model.

I guess you can't miss what you never had, but I can't imagine an improved version of that soap.

Does nostaligia play a part? Are mature men best placed to "embrace the new" or are we naturally retrospective types?

It was a very rough guess :icon_razz: based solely on that our soaps where purchased within a couple of days of each other, and both being none the wiser to a formulation change found it to be a very good soap.

Might have to get another one:icon_rolleyes:

 

[joe mcclaine]

Noticed this last week in Savers so grabbed the last 4 metal tubes of Jordan-made cream.

 

[IanM]

When a shaving product is ‘new improved', what do you miss from the old version?

I popped into my local Laly's pharmacy to stock up on Erasmic shaving cream. And, horror of horrors, the old coconut Jordan made one is no longer there. Maybe it's what is happening in the Middle East that is to blame. It is now a new ‘improved' formula – look out for the red strip across the corner of the box. It has been replaced by a Chamomile based formula, but the chamomile is further down the list of ingredients with a lot more chemically sounding stuff listed before it.

Also, does anyone know where this new improved cream is made?

The main differences are:

Older Erasmic cream:
Coconut based – 3rd ingredient
Metal tube
Red cap - small
Made in Jordan
Narrower box, stiffer cardboard

New improved cream:
Chamomile based – 12th ingredient
Plastic tube – shorter and wider
Black cap – large for upright standing
Made in ????
Wider box, less stiff cardboard

Both sorts still have the distinctive red and white Erasmic logo on a black box, with silver coloured tube, 75ml capacity, and price £1.29. Keyline Brands have moved from Hounslow TW3 9LX to Middlesex UB2 4TA.

Anyway, I miss the coconut. From checking the ingredients, other shaving creams do have coconut in there somewhere, so all is not lost.

What do you miss when something is ‘new improved'? Or is it better?

Did you buy any of the new cream and actually shave with it, or was the ingredients list enough to put you off?

Ian

 

[oversaturn]

I have both the new and the old formulation; I've picked up the new one during a working travel to England, the old one I've picked from a connaughtshaving action on ebay.
Apart from the scent, I found they both perform likewise, or so it seemed to me. As for the scent, I liked the old one better.

 

[Tim B]

When a shaving product is ‘new improved', what do you miss from the old version?

I popped into my local Laly's pharmacy to stock up on Erasmic shaving cream. And, horror of horrors, the old coconut Jordan made one is no longer there. Maybe it's what is happening in the Middle East that is to blame. It is now a new ‘improved' formula – look out for the red strip across the corner of the box. It has been replaced by a Chamomile based formula, but the chamomile is further down the list of ingredients with a lot more chemically sounding stuff listed before it.

Also, does anyone know where this new improved cream is made?

The main differences are:

Older Erasmic cream:
Coconut based – 3rd ingredient
Metal tube
Red cap - small
Made in Jordan
Narrower box, stiffer cardboard

New improved cream:
Chamomile based – 12th ingredient
Plastic tube – shorter and wider
Black cap – large for upright standing
Made in ????
Wider box, less stiff cardboard

Both sorts still have the distinctive red and white Erasmic logo on a black box, with silver coloured tube, 75ml capacity, and price £1.29. Keyline Brands have moved from Hounslow TW3 9LX to Middlesex UB2 4TA.

Anyway, I miss the coconut. From checking the ingredients, other shaving creams do have coconut in there somewhere, so all is not lost.

What do you miss when something is ‘new improved'? Or is it better?

Did you buy any of the new cream and actually shave with it, or was the ingredients list enough to put you off?

Ian

No, I haven't shaved with the Chamomile one yet, it is at the end of the queue, after Erasmic coconut, St. James Of London Founders Reserve, Body Shop Maca Root, then Erasmic New Improved Chamomile formulation.

But the older Erasmic coconut one is next in the queue, and I hope to start that one in a few days. I don't open a new shaving cream if I already have another one open. But this will be the first time I have used Erasmic Coconut, made in Jordan, since the early 1990's.