My Colgate Shave Cream, GONE!

Colgate Shave Cream

I recently became aware that a longtime heritage brand, Colgate Shave Cream, has been discontinued. This leaves Colgate-Palmolive with only the Mennen aftershave lines Afta and Skin Bracer.

Colgate-Palmolive continues to produce tubes of Palmolive shave cream in several foreign markets.The traditional aerosol shave creams (not the newer gels) have really taken a beating. The revival of Rise seems to have floundered, though I think the company still has the American rights to Pears soap and the Dermasil lotion brand. The Gillette Foamy line is still soldiering on, but Procter & Gamble is pretty ruthless about deleting old school brands. Its Noxzema and Old Spice shaving lines are farmed out to Universal Group, and the quality is not what it once was. Colgate had already discontinued its Rapid Shave line and the old line of Mennen shave cream products in cans and tubes.

Not so long ago, Williams made an aerosol, American Safety Razor had reintroduced a Burma Shave aerosol, and Boyle-Midway (alas, sold out) had Aero Shave. Aqua-Velva also had a shave cream. Only Barbasol has a fair sized line, and it has deleted lemon-lime and keeps menthol pretty scarce.

There has been no real notice of it other than several suppliers saying it was discontinued. Until recently, it was listed under men’s toiletries on the Colgate website, but a check yesterday yielded only the aforementioned after-shave lines.

The continued paring down of consumer lines by the old line companies like Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, and Unilever is most unsettling. (Pictured above, the Colgate Octagon Soap brand.) Some of the start-ups that have taken over older brands from them have done okay, but many brands languish or are just dropped without a revival.

Editor’s Note: BrandlandUSA Contributor Dooney Tickner is a brand expert in Destin, Florida. 

We inquired about when the product was discontinued. We got back the following reply from Stephanie Clark, of Colgate-Palmolive: “Thank you for your recent inquiry about Colgate Shaving Cream. This product stopped being manufactured in 2006. Unfortunately, we do not have any remaining stock to offer you directly but we will be sure to share your comments with our Business Development Group.”

Author

  • Dooney Tickner

    BrandlandUSA Contributing Writer and business historian Dooney Tickner is the owner of Dooney's Book Company in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida.

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50 Comments

  1. If anyone finds ANYTHING close to the smell of Colgate With Aloe Shave Cream PLEASE let me know! I have been buying $30-$40 cans from online auction sites and pretty soon they’ll all be gone…everything I like, eat or use gets discontinued or remade with new “better” (cheaper) recipes


  2. this newer trophy generation with their worthless college degrees and total lack of experience are now in decision making management and are making decisions in industry which reflect their brainless inexperience and low intellect!! They THINK they are so smart but they are clueless on so many levels. It’s probably due to all the drugs they take that screws up their minds and results in poor decision. Not only is this situation reflected in the discontinuation of the Colgate shaving cream product but their stupid management decision making is rampant in all aspects of other recent industrial old tried and true products!!
    Did you ever try talking with these idiots on the phone??!! Yeah they are street-wise but total cretins!!

  3. I liked the fragrances of Palmolive after shave that I used when I was in the Navy in the 1960’s as well as Gillettes’s Sun Up after shave, However, both are gone. They were fresh and great for everyday use. Please bring them back, but only if they are the original formula. Mennen’s Skin Bracer was also a regular in our family’s med cabinet but that too is gone. Sad.

  4. Ok I’ll eliminate the last sentence:
    Please bring back Colgate skin conditioning shave cream UPC035000859334! We have looked for it everywhere. It is the best! Why do away with a sure winner??

  5. PLEASE bring back Colgate skin conditioning shave cream UPC035000859334! We are looking for it everywhere. It is the best!! Why do away with a sure winner?? Are you looney?

  6. I used Colgate Shave cream since the late 70s because that’s what my father had used. Eventually I realized that I got the best shave and it smelled great. I took it for granted that a heritage brand like that would ever disappear.

    When Colgate took their shaving cream off the shelves, I took the opportunity to look at other ways to get a better shave, so I went old school. I now use a badger hair brush and Proraso shave cream in the tube. I never had a shave so smooth and so close…usually without any nicks. For some men, shaving is a combination of necessity, indulgence and an art form; at least that’s how I feel.

    I managed to hang on to a few cans of the Colgate Regular, along with the Arctic Ice, Lime, Unscented and Sensitive Skin versions. But ultimately, I have them out of sentiment, occasionally switching to some of that canned nostalgia. But let’s face it, if you want a can of Colgate Shave cream, they can be found on eBay for around 10$/can. For that price, you’re better off getting the canned version of Proraso Shave Cream, which you will find to be quite a treat, especially if you’ve never experienced menthol, eucalyptus and camphor in a shave cream.

  7. What is the major scent in the Colgate Regular Shave Cream? Is it lanoline?

  8. Oh, I forgot to mention the following: For those trying to find a replacement for the nice Colgate shaving cream and a can I suggest a warning in that Gillette brand shaving cream is horrible! I tried it and found that I could not squirt out a small amount at a time. Instead, I was forced get twice what I needed and the texture is not thick like Colgate shaving cream was. Instead, Gillette brand shaving cream is only half as thick and when I apply it and try shaving off my face it’s too loose and doesn’t stick to the razor and falls off the razor onto the sink. It’s too runny. Also, regarding once good American products being removed or changed— Aquafresh toothpaste which used to be rather thick is now changed to being less thick. It also is now designed so that it films up in your mouth as you brush your teeth to the point where it oozes out of your mouth under the sink or falls off the toothbrush before you get a chance to rinse it off! Why did they do that?! It was not to please the customer because the previous Aquafresh toothpaste was just fine, especially when you compare it to the new Aquafresh toothpaste. Their new design boxes on the shelves now offer 25% more free. And when I saw that and assumed that it was the same good-quality well-designed toothpaste from the previous designed box so I decided to buy six boxes to last for 10 years or so. Well, I was suckered, fooled and taken advantage of by the greedy bastards who now own and control the once good American companies/corporations which once valued all of their customers which no longer seem to care to even consider doing. How else would you explain it?

  9. It’s a real bummer (bad news) another US product has been removed from our personal lives which happens to be the best quality product at the most reasonable price we could find anywhere. I too had just run out of my last can of Colgate regular shaving cream. I bought three cans 3 1/2 years ago and I just finished the last one yesterday and now I know it’s been discontinued. I just mentioned what is already obvious from other posted messages which is how long each can lasted. In the mid 80s I tried them all and found that Colgate was the best quality referring to its unusual thickness, smell and duration. Each can lasted about one year and two months while shaving every day. What’s happening to all these great products we have not only of gotten used to but realize the unique good-quality they offer compared with other products? Like Gillette good news regular shavers. I also ran out of my Gillette “good news” shavers last year as did one of the posters stated at this website. I spent so much time going to every store trying to find the regular good news shavers but only found the new fancy dangled ones with extra smell and little moisturizing tips on the razor blade which I did not like because it was too slimy on my face and hard to wash off. I finally called Gillette Corp. and I said why did you discontinue the popular good news razor which I and millions and millions of others have been using since it came out in the early 70s? The spokesman at Gillette said they had NOT discontinued it. I said why can I not find it anywhere at any store? She said “I don’t know”. Seriously. I then asked her well, where do you sell your Gillette good news razors at? She told me she didn’t know. I said why don’t you know where you sell your products? She said because they only sell to distributors and they don’t know where the distributors send their products to. And then, of course, I asked her to please tell me who your distributors are so I can call them and maybe they can tell me. She said no they cannot do that. But, she said I could order over the phone or through the Internet for those Gillette good news razor’s. So, I ordered enough to last me the rest of my life and now I don’t have to worry about the battle of trying to replace one of those very good products I use every day in my personal life. Why is this happening in the United States ? What’s happening causing America’s most well-known companies to be forced or willing to change so much causing them to discontinue their well-known, well used, well engineered or designed products where most of those customers are life-long customers. I miss the America that I was born and raised in. I miss the 80s, as well. We all really don’t mind changes. It’s the negative changes that have replaced the THINGS in our lives that made our lives more simple and nicely satisfying. Did I explain it well enough? Here are examples of the products that worked well in so many peoples lives but for some reason they have been discontinued: Gillette good news razors; Colgate shaving cream in a can; Loving Care hair color which was inexpensive, simple to apply and lasted about 4 to 6 weeks and then could be reapplied allowing your hair to be properly colored which makes your hair color always look normal; Herbal Essence “Normal to Oily Hair” shampoo in the 25.4 ounce bottle which cost only about two dollars and lasted me about one year. There seems to be other reasons other than a slack in sales for these companies to change or remove their popular products from stores. My guess is because American companies/corporations find it more profitable to only satisfy 70% of their customer base rather than satisfying about 97% of their customer base. Our country, it seems, just as other Third World nations had become overpopulated with less educated and prosperous peoples, a higher percentage of those type of people are now in our country whether they be domestic or foreign people which companies/corporations seem to want to focus on selling their products to which means they’d make more profits by giving less quality and less long-term use of their products which promotes more sales and profits for those companies/corporations. Additional comments welcomed.

  10. Yes sadness. I love the way my husband smells with the aloe scent. I bought a case about five years ago and we are down to the last can. I need to find something that smells just as good!!!!!

  11. Oh NO!!! this is my favorite shaving cream my husband uses! It smells so good. Colgate you made a terrible mistake. Please bring it back!!


  12. What the heck!!!! I’ve been searching for a can of Colgate for some time now, no wonder I couldn’t find any!!! Not sure what the folks @ Colgate are thinking….best shaving cream ever!!! Now what do I do?!!! Maybe I’ll just become a hippie and grow a bushy beard!!! I’m soooo bummed!!! 🙁

  13. It was one of the best…like an old friend now….

  14. Colgate Regular Shaving Cream was by far the best on the market. Nice smell and never broke me out. Actually helped prevent my face from breakouts!… Wish it could be brought back…..

  15. I got two cans of Palmolive today.Colgate was my brand too. Safeway and Giant have removed Palmolive make room for the jellls that are inferior and more expensive. Bring back the Colgate.

  16. I’ve used Colgate shaving cream since I started shaving as a teenager back in 1987. I used Colgate regular until it was discontinued. That’s 20 years that I used the same product. It was the best shaving cream for its price. Please bring it back. I found that you can still buy Palmolive shaving cream that comes in a tube in Europe. You can order it online. Proraso is very good also. But it being from Italy, it’s expensive. Colgate was the best bargan. I also like Stephan in a jar. However , Colgate was still a better bargain.

  17. I too will miss this great product. My girlfriend gave me a can when her father passed away, and I have been using it ever since. I was ‘updating’ her on it, when I came to this site, it’s been almost 4 years now, but it’s starting to get weak. Just seems like her old man was trying to keep us together…

  18. Lamento de verdad que ya no vayan a producir la crema de afeitar para hombres Colgate, use este producto por muchos años y ahora me veo en la disyuntiva de tener que cambiar de marca, lo lamento de verdad el producto era muy bueno, espero que en futuro Colgate-Palmolive lo vuelva a producir.

  19. Was really shocked to find out that Colgate discontinued the “Colgate Aloe Shave Cream”.
    This is the only shaving cream I have used for the past some odd years.
    I turned my brother-in-law who is 70 on to this product, and since I share the remaining can I have with him, we have searched every dept store, drug store and dollar store and can not find anything as close to or as good as this product.
    Seems as tho business’ are not concerned with what the Consumer wants or needs, but what the Manufactures THINK they need.
    Guess I will throw away all products and become a hairy individual for the remaining time I live on this earth.
    Reconsider and make the products you use to, some of us old/young people knows what a good product was.

  20. We have been missing the Colgate Shave Cream. It was the best and a good price. Hope you will get it back on the market. Please!

  21. Agree, how Sad that Golgate Shave Cream is no longer available. In my estimation it was the best of
    the best product. Guess it’s time to grow a beard. Why did it fail? Which Product is a close second?

  22. Great comments people.

    I never used the Colgate before until my girlfriend had a small sample can in the back of her cabinet. I really liked it. Now I find that I can’t get it.
    Very Sad.

  23. I’m nursing a couple of cans of Colgate regular shaving cream that I use when I have a 2-3 day stubble. It is the best shaving cream I have found, nice smooth close shave and rarely nik myself. Also running low on my trac II no strip blades. Might have to hang up my 35 year old trac II razor before too long. Progress. If only they could develop and iPhone app do do as good of a job!

  24. I used the sentive colgate shaving cream for years. when I first missed it on the shelves I found a case on line and bought it. I just finished the last can. Dont know what to even try. Im like the rest of you I loved the stuff and if they need to raise the price I would have payed more. Every thing eles as went up.

  25. Why in the hell did you take the best shaving cream off of the market??????

  26. yes it is a shame the american icons are all leaving us hi & dry. the bottom line is now money, not customer care. just move them all to mexico and watch the profits soar. the ceo’s are really reaping. nothing is sacred anymore. i have used colgate for many years, but i guess they don’t care about the little guys anymore. i will just go to other usa manufacturing(though hard to find), as long as i can.

  27. Does anyone know of a gluten free shaving cream to sub for Colgate? I had called the 800 number on the back of a can and the less than helpful operator told me I should be able to tell by the label!!??!! RUDE!
    Anyway, how can I tell which one is safe, my autistic son uses for therapy/tactile play.
    Thanks!!!

  28. No wonder I have not been able to find it anywhere! Also, my favorite razor, Gillette Good News (not Plus or any other fancy stuff) is getting harder to find. Walmart, Target etc. don’t carry it. Any more information on that?

  29. I’d been wondering why my drug store hasn’t stocked Colgate Regular Shave Cream for a long time. I used to buy 10 cans at a time so I had good personal stock until I ran out a few months ago. And now I read here that they discontinued it in 2006! I should have bought more when I had the chance. I recently bought a can of Gillette Foamy Lemon Lime Shave Cream and I liked it so much I just bought 10 cans online. It’s good quality shave cream, smells old school great, has that 1980s classic Giillette labeling and is reasonably priced. I hope it stays around. It’s about the last classic shave cream still available.

  30. My husband always used the Colgate shaving cream. I like to watch him shave and I loved the smell of the shaving cream. He got the best shave with that brand. I wish it would come back. I miss it!

  31. I love the colgate with aloe. I bought 12 cans about 2 to 3 years ago and I’m down to 2 cans. I can’t find it anywhere. HELP

  32. I’ve been looking for it for years. This is really sad to finally hear its gone.

    I used the Aloe version for over 10 years I’m sure.

    The problem is that it actually was noticeably better than anything else I’ve tried. And I’ve tried many others since I ran out.

  33. i took the regular scent colgate shave cream for granted. i used lime scented colgate when i first started shaving as a teen in early 1980s.

    colgate had an irish spring scented shave cream in the 1990s.

    faberge had a shave cream called razor guard in 1988.

    i used rise shave gel in 1984

    and noxema had an incredible smelling shave cream called “forest woods ” or something in a
    brown bottle i saw on and off between 1981-1986.

    why does everything have to stink now like cheap rotting fruit or dollar store cologne?

    it used to be nice to shave and shampoo because of the scents but the anti-clean smell people took over the marketing of companies.
    i wonder if they even know the formula for these scents nowadays or if they lost them?
    they insist tastes in fragrance have changed but i don’t buy it.

  34. I came across this article and website while doing google searches related to starting a shaving cream business. I don’t know much about shaving cream, I don’t have any startup capital or a business plan. I am just a guy who has studied marketing campaigns over time and I have a degree in electronics. What I do have is what I believe to be an outstanding marketing idea for womens shaving products and I could really use some help, advice, pionting in the right direction on how to make my idea a reality. IF anyone who reads this can help me out, I would GREATLY appreciate it. Please contact me. THANKS.

  35. I worked for Colgate Palmolive in Jeffersonville, In. for 35 years. Of course I’m prejudiced, but Rapid Shave was one of the best on the market and yes it was cheap to make, the packaging and the can cost more than what was inside. Soap base, perfume, water and a propellant, but it was a good product.
    Seems with Colgate that the overseas market was much more profitable and no unions.

  36. In the fall of 2007 I found three cans of Colgate Regular Shave Cream on a drugstore shelf in Little Rock, Arkansas. Knowing that it was discontinued, I bought all three cans and am just now using up the last of the third can. I’m keeping it as a memento of so many good products eliminated by mergers, price wars and shelf space competition.

  37. Interesting. Colgate (now sadly discontinued), Barbasol (made by Leeming/Pacquin div of Pfizer). Rapid Shave (also Colgate), Rise (certainly the best name, made by Carter Wallace) and Gillette Foamy shave creams were originally referred to as “shave bombs”.
    Of course, I never really cared for any of them, though Colgate and Foamy did generate a close shave. A friend of my dad’s at Pfizer used you say, “Manny, there’s really nothing more profitable than the shave cream and eye drop (Visine) business…we’re just selling packaged air and water!”

  38. Bring back the shave cream— nothing compares. Nice clean scent too!

  39. My folks and I always used it for more than just shaving cream. If you get a sunburn you can use it to heal it and other minor burns. It will suck the heat out of the burn and turn in to a kind of powdery like stuff you pat in. After a few rounds, the sunburn goes away and you keep you tan. Which is good for me be cause I only burn. Barbasol will work, but not as fast and it will tend to make me itchy. Now I will not be able to pass on this old tradition to my kids some day.

  40. For me Colgate had the best canned foam at the cheapest price . I switched to Barbasol skin conditioning with lanolin and the aloe type. Both of these are very good and you can find a extra large can of the aloe at the dollar stores, but the lanolin will set you back about a buck and a half for just a large can.

  41. Alas, Colgate shave cream is no longer in production. Aside from the smell, I used it because ti didn’t break my skin out. Crap. Another oldie but goodie goes down the drain. Thank Gord I was able to stock up with a case of it!

  42. This is a bummer! I’ve been looking for it for a while and can’t find any save the online stores. Is there a replacement brand that smells like the old colgate? Barbasol works but it just doesn’t have the same old school smell!

    1. If anyone finds ANYTHING close to the smell of Colgate With Aloe Shave Cream PLEASE let me know! I have been buying $30-$40 cans from online auction sites and pretty soon they’ll all be gone…everything I like, eat or use gets discontinued or remade with new “better” (cheaper) recipes

  43. Yes, Lever Brothers resonates much better. These companies are just shredding heritage that all the money in the world won’t buy. Procter & Gamble has kept more legacy items, but everything seems to be on the table as far as line deletions or sales are concerned.

  44. Oh no! That’s my brand, too–this is terrible news! What a bargain, along with the other foam brands like Barbasol and Foamy. I don’t understand why someone would want to have to lather up a gel at a premium rather than have it come out thick and foamy for a fraction of the cost. Where’s the logic in that?

    It’s sad to see Colgate-Palmolive continue to kill off its few remaining legacy brands. It soon will join Unilever in becoming a ghost of its former self. At the former Lever Brothers (a better name), only Dove remains in its soap & cleansers pantry.

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