I sometimes think I should buy 2 of everything. That way if I really like something, I'll have a backup! It seems every time I find a pair of really comfortable shoes, when I go to buy another pair, the style has been discontinued.

I hear you!

With my allergies, I have to be very careful of what products I use. After over 30 years, my 'old faithful' shampoo was discontinued. Luckily I found an organic (read expensive) one that I can use, but who knows how long that will be available--I do have several bottles ahead, just in case.

I cannot use scented or 'clear' deoderants--but it's getting harder and harder to find unscented solid in ANY brand. What am I supposed to do there? The alternative is NOT pretty--LOL!

There have been many other examples over the years, but those 2 stick out.

Buying extra? I always buy ahead if I find something I really like. And with socks? I won't buy them unless I can get at least 2 identical pairs--that's such a help when one goes missing in the laundry (I do wonder how many of our socks stayed behind in the washer when we sold our old house?

I hate to see them discontinue old stand bys like Prell shampoo. Walmart still sells it, but there is only one line of bottles on the shelf. I keep a supply of it in case they stop selling it. I have used Prell for years, it is the one of the advertisements that told the truth. Prell cleans the hair of all oils, etc., leaving a shine and bounce to your hair. In my case my hair is to short for a bounce. While getting a hair cut I heard the beauty operators bad mouthing it and I said to mine, "you have always compliment me on my hair, right?" She said, "yes, you have beautiful hair". It told her I have used Prell most of my adult life. It got so quiet in there.

Azzalea,

We have trouble in our house with scented shampoos and conditioners also. So far, the ones at the health food store here are unscented, but not very good.

At the risk of alerting the spam police - would you care to share the brand name of unscented toiletries that work for you?

It appears we got sidetracked a little, so I will add to it. For shampoo, research a product for horses called
mane and tail.
And a little further... for dry hands or cuts try a product for cows udders called bag balm.

Yes, mane & tail was excellent until they started marketing it for human use along side other shampoos in stores. For human use they changed something and it does not work as well now.

Find an animal supply place and buy mane and tail there, should be the original mixture.

You want to talk about a demographic that is ignored- old ladies.
In the past two years I have had THREE of my most used makeup/personal care products discontinued.
GRAY Maybelline eyebrow pencils.
WHITE hair shampoo Pantene.
WHITE Lady toner for my hair saw its name and formula changed.

With the eyebrow pencils I caught it early and managed to score 20 on eBay- they now go for $40+ each and while I am sorely tempted to sell a few I will not.

The Pantene shampoo still irks me.
Hair people SHOULD know the difference between silver and white hair but most do not draw a distinction. So the hair I spend money on to get white is immediately turned to gray by the use of most products marketed for white.
Pantene got it right and then dropped the line.

The toner is always a problem- again there is a huge difference between silver, gray, platinum, and WHITE.

White haired ladies get no respect, lol- all the cosmetic companies care about is drawing in new, younger buyers [/rant]

I had a discussion with a friend about Tylenol being recalled. It was not because of a bad formula it was a contamination from the pallets in their factory. They found pesticide in the pills, the kind used to preserve the wooden pallets. It was only in one particular pill. If you bought any before the recall they smelled musty/soured. If I remember right, they were not going to recall them until they were threatened by the FDA.

I have bought some since then and they are okay. I recently had surgery and took Tylenol when needed.

I finally found an unscented hair spray and it doesn't bother me a bit unless I use to much. It is Suave in a dark violet colored pump sprayer. I try to avoid aerosols.

Keep in mind things don't stay good forever. I found thirty year old rolls of toilet paper at my Mom's house. When I opened a package and took out a roll, it had turned to dust. I also would not take any prescription or OTC medications that are more than a couple of years old. I found a bottle of "Natal" vitamins in Mom's medicine chest. Her last child was born in 1958! When I kidded her about it, Mom said "Don't throw those out, they're still good!" Yeah, they're probably inert after 55 years!

A doctor told me you can still use expired meds they just get weaker. You would not want to use expired meds like antibiotics, meds that are maintaining your life.

I don't think using 55 year old prescriptions would be a good idea, probably turn to dust if you touch them.

I don't have a problem finding shampoos and other hair products without fragrance. I did have to look hard to find a hairspray without it, but did find one. I don't think Prell is scented, I haven't notice any fragrance in it.