Saw some NOS Gillette shaving cream on eBay recently. From the packaging design I would guess it was from the early 70s, and was wondering if it would be safe to use 40 year old cream.
There is a good chance it would be fine. But is it cheap enough to be worth it. Also, you might want to make sure it's not brushless. Some of the brushless cream from that era wasn't so good back then.
It is probably safe to use, but you can get the same shave from plenty of other creams.
The NOS status lies in the unopened package ... once you break the seal, it will never be NOS again, it will just be another used cream.
Even if you're not a collector, please don't destroy the value for those that collect these pieces of history.
Worst case scenario is that it may be separated and not useable.It may also have a scent change,however there is nothing in it ,no matter the condition , that can make you sick , it's just soap.I have a 45 year old plastic tube of Palmolive ,the scent has changed a little ,but the lather is still fine.Those old tubes that are metal usually have a hermetically sealed neck ,those are the best for retaining the integrity of the cream.
Ah yes, that age old debate, use the NOS or keep it as a collectable. It was actually several tubes, I figured I might try one and save the rest for posterity, but I let it go because I need to start another collection about as much as I need another hole in the head. I'm already thinking about downsizing and getting rid of the extraneous "stuff" we've collected over the years. I was just concerned about the cream degrading over time.
Never had any issue with any vintage shave cream!
otoh, had one tube of somewhat modern cream (TFS) that had totally dried out and required surgical extractions!