Shower Gel

gmatwork

Can anybody explain why retailers, Sainsbury for example, charge 50p + for a 400ml of their own brand shower gel, but sell what is basically the same stuff (check the ingredients) as creme bath in 2 Ltr bottles for about £1?

I've been buying bubble bath and using it as shower gel for years, and it works a treat. Why pay four times the price or more?

wannabe_a_mum

I did this for the first time at the weekend in ASDA...they had the Imp Leather Shower Gel bottles 4 for £3, but at the same time they had the Bath Foam for the same price, but in huge bottles!!!

Hubby was well impressed with my money saving thought!!

SarahShattered

I would never even have thought of comparing ingredients on those two items, thanks for that, I'll never get shower gel again!!!

free4440273

I use Sanex shower gel, which i like - bloo** expensive though! £2.50!

floyd

The reason they are different prices is that they have different ratios of ingredients, the list may be the same but the amounts are different.
SDS (also listed as Lauryl Sulphate) is the 'foaming agent' and bubble baths have more of it and less of the cleansing agents.
Bubble baths are not formulated to be applied directly to the skin in their concentrated form and as SDS is an irritant (I use it in work and had to write the safety form) I wouldn't recommend using it like that if you have sensitive skin.

milkydrink

Also many showers gels can be used as shampoos......

Penny-Pincher!!

free4440273 wrote: »

I use Sanex shower gel, which i like - bloo** expensive though! £2.50!

I buy this from the 99p store:D

PPxx

free4440273

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

I buy this from the 99p store:D

PPxx

yes, i've noticed £land stocking them also - but they are smaller bottled versions.

Austin_Allegro

Possibly because they're loss leaders.

These are the things in the value range that are really cheap in supermarkets - staple stuff you buy all the time - baked beans etc.

They are often underpriced, with a net loss to the supermarket.

The theory is that you're lured in by the cheap regular items, making you think you get a bargain, but once inside they hope you'll be seduced by all the amazing offers on tat which you don't need. Once you buy this overpriced tat you more than make up on anything they lose on the loss leaders.

The trick is to only use supermarkets for the loss leaders!

Also, shower gel is a complete rip off anyway. Soap bars are just as good, much cheaper and last much longer. Shower gel is just posh liquid soap. It's a rip off because a. it's overpriced to pay for the colouring, packaging etc and b. it's designed to make you use more - ever noticed how a bottle of the stuff only lasts a few days, whereas a bar of soap lasts weeks?

Shower gel was basically created by marketing men in the 1980s to tie in with the growth in popularity of shower units. It was part of that aspirational idea and priced accordingly.

Olliebeak

I use ASDA's own shower-gel and have found that if you use it in conjunction with one of those 'body pan-scrub' things that you only need a small amount of gel - it really does foam up when used in this way. The bottle lasts me absolutely ages.

moanymoany

I agree AustinA, we only use soap. A bar lasts 2 of us for months.