Hacker News Reader

Comment by careersuicide | Hacker News Reader

> risks offending users of a "higher" or competing brand

I strongly suspect that I am not alone in the stubbornness of my toothpaste preference. I will grudgingly use a different shampoo if I have to as most shampoos don't have too strong of a smell. In any given day I use probably 3 to 6 different soaps, with only the one in my house being my preference (mmmmmmmm coconut ginger) so using some random soap at a hotel is no big deal. But I will be buried deep in the ground before I subject myself to using anything but my usual toothpaste.

It took me years to find a flavor of mint that I honestly enjoy using. Nothing else has ever felt quite right; it even has the right texture! Using another flavor for even one brushing would make me want to gag. Taste, in both senses of the word, is a very personal thing I suppose.

View on HN

I feel like an alien after reading your comment. I will gladly use any soap, shampoo, or toothpaste as long as it's free.

I have never met someone as picky as you say you are with your toothpaste. I don't think you're the norm in any way.

For what it's worth, I'm sort of in between the both of you, and I know a number of people like myself: I almost always make sure to bring my own toothpaste, but I'll begrudgingly use someone else's if necessary.

But similar to the previous poster, I (and the people similar to myself) don't have this at all with soap or shampoo.

I have to agree with you there. My toothpaste and soap is based on what is the cheapest option.

The only exception I make is for anti-perspirant (also something I haven't ever seen in hotels) because some brands make my skin become red and fall of and some don't work well enough.

Me either. It's a paste that has to gently scrap my teeth. I can't imagine why it needs to be more personal than the soap I wash my bottom with or the shampoo I wash my thinning hairline with.

I'm very picky with my toothpaste. The marketing hype convinced me that a specific brand had "the best" toothpaste in the world just at the time I had serious teeth issues that cost me thousands.

I currently live that proper state of delusion that allows full placebo effect and toothpaste is not expensive enough to warrant a reality check.

Thankfully, that's not a taste related thing like parent, so I borrow toothpaste from friend, family or hotel the few times I travel. Also, since it is feature based, other brands have started introducing similar feature, allowing me a bit of variation.

But really I can understand parent, I have had a period were I was so scared of going to the dentist (I was 30+ at the time) that I was following a very strict routine religiously. I took my toothpaste, brush, rince and floss on my wedding night. They travelled with me to another continent on my honey moon. I took them to the hospital to use on the night my son was born.

I'm in the same boat, although I'll always bring my own conditioner to hotels (I'm female, so it's probably not as big of a deal for guys with shorter hair). Occasionally, they don't provide it, or it's "conditioning shampoo" (which doesn't condition at all), or the bottles are too tiny and the product is too watered down to condition sufficiently.

But soap is soap is soap, and toothpaste is the same ingredients in the same concentration for basically every manufacturer (and even then, it's mostly the mechanical action of brushing that gets your teeth clean, not the toothpaste itself -- you can brush with water in a pinch and still be fine). I convinced my husband to buy generic toothpaste and it's saved us DOLLARS (Woo! Big money!) a year!

I struggle to maintain loyalty to a specific toothpaste variety because of the overwhelming variety of types of Colgates and Crests stocked everywhere in the US. Even when I think I have discovered a variety that tastiest pleasant and seems to be effective, the next time I find myself in front of the shelf I struggle to recall the details: was it cool mint with gum protection? Or fresh mint with whitening? The packages seem to change subtly every few months and it's not clear that every store stocks the full range so I frankly have no idea whether I am sticking with the same toothpaste over an extended period.

My favourite example of this going too far was a toothpaste sold in "day" and "night" formulations, but their Canadian Drug Identification Numbers were the same. Ie: identical products in different packaging.

So this is a really valuable marketing opportunity for toothpaste manufacturers, a rare switching opportunity. Here's a chance to get a guest to try their brand of toothpaste, in a market where driving change is difficult. They should be giving little tubes to hotel chains -- and very soon even paying the hotels to stock their brand.

I'm a total toothpaste-tart because of those little tubes; I'll use whatever comes along. My dentist receives them by the boxload, presumably as promotional items from the various manufacturers vying for recommendation, and dumps them in a crate at reception for free distribution.

So every six months I stock-up on a cocktail of various toothpastes and just use whatever comes out of the bag next.

The only one that was jarring was Corsodyl, and it even had a little chart on the reverse showing that people needed three months ot so to adapt to its taste. I persevered with it because it was free but wouldn't choose it voluntarily.

So, would you say the chart was correct? How do you find it now as opposed to before? Could this be the start of high culture toothpaste one's palate must be developed for?

Furthermore, toothpaste is a health-related product and a lot of people are loathe to mess with what they use and "works." Personally, I doubt there's much to choose between various Crest and Colgate products. On the other hand, I travel a lot and wouldn't be very inclined to routinely use some unbranded single-use tube provided by a hotel.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com