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Saturday 5 April 2014

Blobby shower gel

The respectable portion of the male sex in England may be divided into two classes, according to its method and manner of complete immersion in water. One class, the more clashing, dashes into a cold tub every morning. Another, the more cleanly, sedately takes a warm bath every Saturday night.
Arnold Bennett - A Great Man (1904)

I suppose things have changed since Bennett’s day. The daily shower is now something of a ritual. Or so one might assume, but what about the vexed question of shower gel?

Mine is deep blue, described as body wash and supposedly aimed at men, but it has what I consider to be a significant defect – it falls off. Unlike creams, the gel is liable to shed blue blobs of neat gel onto the shower tray.

It doesn't matter what technique I devise - somehow blobs of the stuff always fall off. It sometimes ends up on the shower door or leaves blue streaks down the tiled walls. How that happens I've no idea, maybe it's the laws of physics taking a break.



Having a suspicious cast of mind, I sometimes wonder if this wasteful gel formulation is deliberate. Does the manufacturer want me to waste as much as possible so I’ll soon be back for more? Is it aimed at men even clumsier than your humble blogger? I don’t know but I can’t see canny manufacturers missing out on such a cunning plan.

I’d change brands or move to a more creamy, stick-on-till-lather-forms version, but ironically the gel I use is cheap enough when on offer, so a few wasted blobs don’t matter. I still wonder if the blobby formulation is deliberate though. 

It’s something to think about while showering.

7 comments:

Woodsy42 said...

Something to think of while standing too because the blobby bits that fall on the base don't immediately wash away and are slippery.
Isn't it amazing how even the simplest procedures are beset by design failings!

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Very true!

I also find the same happens to an orange scented (true) Swarfega product!

I think the idea is that you smarm the stuff all over, or get someone else to do it, then wait until the hot water begins to turn it into a foaming display, at which moment, your eyes go red, you can't breathe, and a fainting fit causes you to collapse into the shower tray, with multiple contusions, and a cracked tooth...

Mark Wadsworth said...

Have you tried using a bar of soap? I've never had problems with that.

Demetrius said...

One simple question. How much is all this stuff costing? Next, trickier, what would you do with all the money you save? I use none of it, a dab of olive oil only for a wet shave. But you do need to use a good flannel to scrub down. The saving over the last ten years pays for running the car.

A K Haart said...

Woodsy - or is it intentional waste?

Scrobs - get someone else to do it? Lucky you!

Mark - I find the problem with soap is the way it goes slimy underneath after you put it back in the soap dish.

Demetrius - I wouldn't save all that much - I buy loads when it's on offer.

James Higham said...

Foreign language - I'm of the bath.

A K Haart said...

James - I was until we moved house. Never had a bath since then.