Is Acqua Di Parma worth it?

As the topic asks...Is it worth it? I have mostly stuck to creams and soaps that are under the 35ish dollar mark. So far been pretty happy, but I do have an AD problem when it comes to soaps and creams...Anyways, I'll be traveling to an area that happens to have stores that carry this cream and just curious if it is worth buying. I'll undoubtedly smell the stuff when I am at the store so I am not too worried about scent (that will be my ultimate deciding factor), just curious if the cream performs as well as 60+ dollars...

Oh and just before anyone mentions anything, I checked out the reviews in the review section, just noticed most of them were fairly old and some of the newer ones gave it a lot of 10's (I am always worried when I see that because nothing is truly perfect ).

I really love it, but is it worth $60 - well that is up to you. I will say Razorock XXX is very, very similar and sells for 15% of the cost. Both of these are great creams though.

Similar in scent or performance? I have and have used Razorock XXX heh, if it is similar in performance I may have to try and use the XXX again (though I am not a giant fan of the scent) just to remember what it is like.

If you pull up in a Mercedes the valet gets there a little quicker. When you pull out a Mont Blanc to sign important papers it seems just a bit more official but when you shave with Acqua Di Parma no one knows it but you. There are a number of brands pushing $60. Santa Maria, Martin de Candre, Acqua Di Parma and a few others. Do they shave any better than MWF or Cella or P160. Kinda up to you. The real question is, do you feel comfortable shaving with a cream or soap that cost $60+. I will say I have all the brands mentioned and it doesn't bother me a bit and I enjoy them all. I feel as if I get my money's worth.

I have tried a sample of this, and I have to say that the performance was very good. Was it better than MWF, T&H, or TOBS? Maybe, it's hard to tell as the properties/scents of all of these products are so different.

Some thoughts:
1. Be forewarned that the cream is VERY concentrated, so much so that the scent is actually pretty terrible in the tub. When you put it on your brush and lather, the scent improves dramatically to a clean, "barber-shop" scent.
2. The texture of this is much more like a soft soap than a cream, and a little goes a long way. I've heard that a tub of it will last twice as long as a tub of T&H or Trumpers, so maybe the per-shave cost isn't any higher than those two.
3. Is any of the stuff we buy really worth the money? A puck of VDH, a boar brush, a $15 70's SS, and some Aqua Velva will give pretty amazing shaves for very little money. The correct question is, "Will I enjoy this product enough to justify spending X dollars on it?" or maybe "Will I be able to justify this to my spouse?"

IMHO no. I am a huge fan of AdP Colonia, but the cream is far too expensive. it performs and smells great, but at what price? Razorock XXX is a very similar cream, a knockoff essentially, and it's tenish dollars.

Craig_In_Cincy said:

IMHO no. I am a huge fan of AdP Colonia, but the cream is far too expensive. it performs and smells great, but at what price? Razorock XXX is a very similar cream, a knockoff essentially, and it's tenish dollars.

Click to expand...

Does anyone have the ingredient list for both AdP and Razorock XXX? I've heard a lot of commentary saying that they are essentially the same cream, and I would be interested to compare the ingredients.

Oh, and FYI, I did a quick search online and the cost of this is only $62 at Saks Fifth Avenue vs $79 at Nieman Marcus. It's also around $62 on Amazon.com.

IMHO yes it worth it! are the shaves better than some others probably not.. Will you get to work driving a Porsche faster than a VM probably not but you will certainly enjoy the drive more. The AdP cream if you only use what you need will last a very long time. I pull out my RV Shavemac D1 2band flat-top brush for AdP and just touch the surface and get more than enought lather for a 2/3 pass shave.

It's good stuff. I wouldn't pay $62 for it, but I was happy to pay $30 for an almost unused tub on the BST.

Angry__Panda said:

As the topic asks...Is it worth it? ... just curious if the cream performs as well as 60+ dollars...

Click to expand...

AdP cream is a luxury product. That means, from a marketing perspective, an intentionally ridiculously high price with a lot of bull**** blabla nonsense (prestige, reputation, brand identity, exclusivity, ...) which only vaguely contribute to the actual quality of the product. It also means that the seller hopes that the loss of unit sales is made up by the higher price per unit and that the prospective buyer feels... comfortable, I guess... with the image the seller is projecting. And finally it means that if you ask after the price/performance ratio, the product is not for you.

There is of course always the possibility that the fragrance of AdP and its specific formulation work so well for you that you can't find anything better. But this coincidence has nothing to do with its high price point; that point is, as I said, intentionally put as high as it is, otherwise it simply wouldn't be a luxury product.

So, is AdP worth it? It is if you value the image AdP conjures up. It is not if you ask after the quality of the product in relation to its price. That is very much a secondary issue, even if the quality is, in all probability, perfectly fine.

My personal opinion? It's still saponified beef fat and coconut oil at the core. All the marketing in the world is not going to convince me that that stuff is worth about $600 per kg .

Interesting perspective; If you have to ask, then no. Funny I am the exception to the rule on this one. I ask because I research my stuff before I buy it. Money when it comes to caring for myself can never go to waste if a product is worth it. If the performance is great, the scent is great, and everything else is great with a little higher cost, I will go for that. Why do I wear Diesel Jeans? Certainly not because I WANT to pay 200 dollars for a pair of jeans that I shrink out of thanks to work getting harder in six months lol. I do because the quality justifies the price. Even if Razorock is along the same lines in quality, that doesn't negate AdP being worth it heh.

Anyways that said, I actually found a place here that has a tester and everything, so I am hopping in the shower and gonna run test it...Do you think it would be weird if I brought my straight with me ?

Thanks as usual guys, always appreciate the feedback, I'll let you know if I end up getting some.

Angry__Panda said:

Interesting perspective; If you have to ask, then no. Funny I am the exception to the rule on this one. I ask because I research my stuff before I buy it. Money when it comes to caring for myself can never go to waste if a product is worth it. If the performance is great, the scent is great, and everything else is great with a little higher cost, I will go for that. Why do I wear Diesel Jeans? Certainly not because I WANT to pay 200 dollars for a pair of jeans that I shrink out of thanks to work getting harder in six months lol. I do because the quality justifies the price. Even if Razorock is along the same lines in quality, that doesn't negate AdP being worth it heh.

Anyways that said, I actually found a place here that has a tester and everything, so I am hopping in the shower and gonna run test it...Do you think it would be weird if I brought my straight with me ?

Thanks as usual guys, always appreciate the feedback, I'll let you know if I end up getting some.

Click to expand...

If you want to feel that this shave is really, really special, wear your Diesel's while you shave.

jwilock said:

If you want to feel that this shave is really, really special, wear your Diesel's while you shave.

Click to expand...

OOOOOO, I like that idea lol. I bought some. Might end up putting it on the BST, it smells similar to XXX but different. More refined in scent. Performance-wise I will find out tomorrow morning.

Ignore the price point and buy it, or else it will bother you until you do. I can honestly say that it will most likely give you one of the best, if not the best shaves ever. It is a luxury, yes, but the scent and performance make it worth it.

Welp, pretty awesome. I probably could have used a little more cream when I loaded my brush, but it still gave me great cushion. Little less slick than I wanted it to be, due to not enough cream and not being able to add anymore water without worrying about having to start over. Great morning though thanks to the AdP. Well that and my face being on cold fire from the Prorasso pre/post heh. Overall though, I would say worth it. Razorock XXX smells more citrus-y to me than this stuff though their scents are similar. I think this stuff performed a bit better than the Razorock as well (at least in my hands). Am I happy about the price point? No, it is still quite a bit to pay for shaving cream. But hey, sometimes we need to give ourselves a little luxury to start the day on a good foot or end the day on a better note.

Angry__Panda said:

Interesting perspective; If you have to ask, then no.

Click to expand...

Yes. With luxury goods you don't need to ask after the quality of a product: it is of course both in order as well as of high order. Far more important is the presentation, the image, the targeted public, etcetera. I'm not making this up, by the way: this is how the marketing strategy 'luxury goods' functions, and you can study it at any school of marketing. It is simply very evocative and very targetted advertising. (As a nerdy chemical engineer I'm astounded that it actually works; and I would really like to know why it works, in other words why human minds let themselves be talked into this sort of thing.)

Funny I am the exception to the rule on this one. I ask because I research my stuff before I buy it. Money when it comes to caring for myself can never go to waste if a product is worth it. If the performance is great, the scent is great, and everything else is great with a little higher cost, I will go for that. Why do I wear Diesel Jeans? Certainly not because I WANT to pay 200 dollars for a pair of jeans that I shrink out of thanks to work getting harder in six months lol. I do because the quality justifies the price. Even if Razorock is along the same lines in quality, that doesn't negate AdP being worth it heh.

Click to expand...

I hate to say this, but you are not the exception to the rule: given your reasoning you are in fact vastly overpaying. Why? Because you admit to being attentive to the cost-quality ratio of a product. Mind: the ratio between the two (this is important!). And the fact remains that there is no such thing with a luxury item because its price is not based on such premises... so you can't use it to justify your purchase. You like the Diesel jeans simply for their quality alone—by coincidence material, cut, colour, longevity, etcetera are just right for you. But any other label making a pair of trousers to the same specifications but a fraction of the price should have you switching label: same quality, lower price, therefore better bang for the buck and thus the better option. If you don't switch under these circumstances, then the Diesel brand itself apparently conveys some meaning to you, even if that meaning is completely absent from the actual pair of trousers, is in fact all (or mostly) between the ears. That trick, to make people attach a numerical value to something so fleeting, and to have them pay that amount too, is luxury marketing. I respect it for its utter deviousness: truly something the Dark Side would have conjured up.

Before I continue: I am most emphatically not saying you shouldn't buy Diesels: by all means enjoy them. (Your bank statement is bleeding sorely for them, it deserves a little satisfaction in return .)

To give you some numbers so I can make this all sound a bit more official: I can with some confidence state that I would be extremely susprised if the raw manufacturing cost of the AdP cream would be above $12 to $15 per unit (including packaging). It is very likely less: glass pot, saponified coconut oil... Those are not particularly expensive basic materials. Only the perfume could be a tad expensive, but even there you'd be surprised at the raw cost of ingredients. Yet you pay $60 at the cash register. So where do the $45 fit in? In a small part attractive ladies behind a stylish counter in a hip shopping district instead of a gruffy barber at some weird address or a gum-chewing Walmart employee with a bad case of acne. For the other major part nothing tangible but fleeting and ethereal qualities such as brand identity, exclusivity, and history, and because it simply can be a high amount. By varying the height the marketing expert controls how exclusive he wants the brand to appear. Smoke and mirrors, if you will.

Exactly the same reasoning applies to your beloved Diesel jeans, except here I have no numbers to back up my story. I do know however that denim is dirt cheap, and so is indigo. The coolies sewing the jeans together don't treat the Diesel trousers any different from other trousers, and are quite certainly not paid significantly more to do their job: blue denim is blue denim, period. The extra is a hip store in a very hip shopping district. For the rest it is an unofficial membership pass to the group of Diesel wearers, including a an image of coolness, and perhaps some appreciative glances from impressionable high-maintenance ladies. (The coolness would be rubbed-on in my case, 'cool' is not my default setting. You mileage probably varies...)

Now Diesel jeans represent a very ... err... 'visible' statement. People will notice that you wear this brand. But shaving creams are not so visbile: I can't look at a guy's face and say: He shaved with Tabac this morning, or Nice Cella job! (I can sometimes say: You wacko, use a proper cream or soap, will ya?, but that's a different story .) At best I can smell his aftershave or cologne; but that still doesn't say anything what he used to shave himself with. So the only person you'll be impressing is yourself. I can imagine people being susceptible to praise of others, and so deciding on a pair of Diesel trousers even if the price is hellish. But to do that to yourself...?? That's just weird. (At least I think it's weird, but I'm probably too much of a nerdy chemical engineer .)

In any case, enjoy the sample: I'm afraid the fragrance didn't quite work out for me, but it's easy to see why people would like it, and are consequently prepared to cough up the hideous price in order to smell it while they're shaving themselves. This is about the only reason why someone would want to purchase AdP cream, in my opinion.

From what I've noticed, many of the people who speak negatively of AdP have never tried it, or they tried a sample sliver of it. To truly experience it, you have to buy the tub, and load it like a true Italian soft soap should be loaded. It's not just the smell, rather a combination of scent, cushioning, and moisturizing. The experience is great, your brush will love you, and everyone will say you smell great (if using either AdP AS or an unscented AS).

RazoRock XXX is not AdP, so we need to move on from there already. If anything, AdP is P.160 on steroids with the added wheat germ (among others), and enhanced scent. I also noticed that RazoRock XXX will burn my face on occasion, and it smells like someone literally pissed on the puck prior to packing it.

Is it the best deal on the market? No! Does it smell great? Yes! Will you feel great after shaving with it? Yes!

My opinion: buy it. We easily spend $62 on a night out at dinner, or wherever, something that ends up in the ocean within a few days. Whereas, AdP will last you 60+ shaves, and make you feel good to boot.

ieschwoch said:

1. Be forewarned that the cream is VERY concentrated, so much so that the scent is actually pretty terrible in the tub. When you put it on your brush and lather, the scent improves dramatically to a clean, "barber-shop" scent.

Click to expand...

I find this to be 100% true, but I love the smell of it both in the tub and on the brush. I have a tub of AdP, and I absolutely love it. It took me a couple shaves to get the lather just right, as it does with most new products. The performance of the cream matches or exceeds everything in my shave den. When I use it, I certainly don't think about how much it cost, but that's just me. In fact, all this talk about cost to performance ratio stuff makes my head hurt. I'm going to go have a whiff of my AdP and forget all this nonsense...

It goes without saying but IMHO there is no way that AdP is worth the price. I may be in the minority here but I actually prefer XXX to AdP across the board (well except for price). Some have stated that they experience a burning sensation when shaving with it and if you have that reaction then XXX certainly isn't for you. No offense intended but anyone who states that XXX smells anything like "****" is being a wee bit dramatic or has very interesting smelling pee

As has been mentioned by others when you pay that kind of money for AdP you are not paying for a superior product you are paying for the name and the fact that the cream smells of Colonia. It could also very well be that people think that AdP is superior but IMHO this is may be a subconscious justification for shelling out over $60 for a shave cream, i.e. "AdP has to be the best because it costs so much."

If you do enjoy your sample and you think that this is the best cream for you I think you are better off waiting for it to appear on BST (I sold mine as part of a lot some time ago) then to pay for the over priced tub. Of course if you have money to burn and plan on using it frequently then go for it...whatever works for you!