Over on another blog, “xbeliever”, an Australian IBO who has apparently been a platinum for many years, but is currently thinking of quitting due to issues with his upline, said the following –

A couple of years ago amway brought out the tolsom mens skin care range. One of the products is a shaving gel. I thought it was terrific. Much better than the previous shave foam we carried. Last week I finished a can of it and thought that before I order another one maybe I should have a look at other shave gels on the market as I had not used a gel before the tolsom one was released so I was ignorant of what else was available.

I purchased a 195g can of gillette shave gel for $6.95 (on special admittedly, I believe the normal price was about $8.). I was amazed to realized that it was almost exactly the same as the tolsom product.

However, I was more amazed at the price comparison:

Amway tolsom shave gel 2g = $31.75 retail and $28.86 ibo price (BV = $21.4 – even at the 21% bonus level this product had been costing me $24.37).

Oh but wait! Now I see why it is so much more expensive – “It’s a bigger can”!

That’s interesting, I thought. I actually only recently tried Amway and Quixtar’s Tolsom Shave Gel, and to be honest I prefer the Hymm Shave Foam from Amway, however, after reading the above post I thought I’d do some research. Xbeliever said –

I was amazed to realized (sic) that it was almost exactly the same as the tolsom product.

Almost the same? Well … those of you who have been following my posts know that I love to fact check. So let’s have a look at the ingredients. Those that are the same in both products are marked with a *.

BHT interested me in the Gillette ingredients list. I’m always curious when they give abbreviations. What is it? Well it’s short for Butylated Hydroxytoluene – an antioxidant. Sounds okay. Antioxidants should be good for the skin. Except for one thing. According to Wikipedia –

Concerns have been raised about the use of BHT in food products. The compound has been banned for use in food in Japan (1958), Romania, Sweden, and Australia. The US has barred it from being used in infant foods. However, some food industries have voluntarily eliminated it from their products, including McDonald’s as of 1986.

Ouch. That doesn’t sound good. You can’t eat it because it’s poisonous, but you can rub it in to your skin? Hmmm … I think I might just give it a miss …

The Tolsom Shave Gel also has an antioxidant – Tocopheryl Acetate, it’s a “proform” of Vitamin E. Your skin converts it to an active form of Vitamin E, one your body can use. Studies have shown that application of Tocopheryl Acetate help protect against the harmful effects of sunlight (source). I was unable to find any products in Tolsom that might give concern for health or the environment.

So, Tolsom Shave Gel has 36 ingredients and Gillette Shave Gel has 16 ingredients – “almost exactly the same”? I don’t think so. Tolsom is a skin care product not just a shaving gel. It contains numerous other compounds, including the T-1 Complex of eight moisturizing and two oil-controlling ingredients. If all you’re interested in is shaving, then fine, go for the cheaper product. But if you actually want the largest organ of your body to be healthier as well, then maybe you’ll want to consider Tolsom.

But don’t let anybody tell you they’re “almost exactly the same”.

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