JUMBO size products? No thanks…

I’m currently sharing bathroom space with a 33.8 OZ pump bottle of Bumble & Bumble CREME DE COCO shampoo– a product I was soooo in love with, I decided to spring for the jumbo size. Now this pricy product I was so entranced with isn’t working for me at all, yet I can’t bear to waste it. I agree with you– smaller sizes are the way to go, especially if your heart is fickle like mine!

I’m the same way! I get really close to the end of a product and go out and by a brand new one so I’ll have it when the other runs out. But I end up getting mad because the old product seems to multiply and last longer than it should! I start to resent it and call it bad names until finally it breaks down and disappears….or accidently gets knocked into the trash can… but by then I’m ready to start the love affair with the new shiny product. It’s sickening, because I could be saving money but I like the newness. It’s a little gift I get to give myself, why wait out a jumbo size when I can get two regular sizes in the same time span?

I’m a total bargain shopper, so I LOVE jumbo sizes! However, I’ll only buy the jumbos of products that I know I love. Typically it’s shampoo (my husband has long hair and uses my shampoo so the jumbo is pretty necessary) and my Clinique moisturizer. Trust me, I’ll use it all!

Oh, and I’m “that girl” who has a value pack of toilet paper and one of paper towels in my basement ’cause it never goes bad and it’s such a better deal! LOL

I’m with Amanda. I love JUMBO sizes too with products I use often.. Case in point. I buy shampoo and conditioner from AVEDA.. That stuff is sooooooo expensive and I go thru it fast. So, to make it worth it I get the big containers- just to save money.. I use every last drop too!

I’m glad to know I’m not alone–like Cori, I buy the next bottle before the old one’s gone and then the old one lasts and lasts!
However, I love the jumbo-sized products. They cost less per ounce and if it’s a product I love and am loyal to, why not buy the giganto bottle? (It also keeps my fickleness in check because I’m less likely to impulse-buy new products when I already have jumbo sizes of my tried-and-true favorites at home.)

Oh my gosh, I agree with every last word of this article! I can easily jumbo things like my Aveda and Kiehls shampoos too, though, because I know I’ll always go back to them eventually – but if it’s any other brand, yeah, I’m right there with you – I’m ready to “accidentally” squeeze too much into my hand so that it drips off and down that drain! How awful is that – esp in this economy!! It’s our obsession I guess with new, better, more. Now while I love getting through something and throwing it away – I’ve also grown into the multi-product usage. In my shower I have a 3-tiered rack. The top is for my 15 bottles of body wash (quite a few are sample sizes, and one is my main-stay Dial Ab Body Wash in Mountain Fresh!!). The second row is my shampoos (about 10 there that I keep switching back and forth on) and the bottom row are all the matching conditioners for the above-mentioned shampoos. It is always my goal to use one product totally up before moving on to the next, but esp with shower products, I just cannot stick with them that long before breaking open the new one – but I also cannot throw them away. I figure at least I’m not allowing build-up on my hair to form, that one stylist told me once can happen if you exclusively use one shampoo. I could go on and on about this one – this is just shower products. Let’s not even get into body lotions, hair straightening creams…I would venture to guess most of us are the same way!

I NEVER pass up a bargain! But I also never buy jumbo sizes because I can never seem to find the products that I want in large sizes. I’m fairly slutty with my brands; if it doesn’t amaze me, I’ll move on to something else.

What I REALLY wish they’d do is sell smaller sizes of products. A trial size rarely cuts it, and I hate buying a full size only to realize that I hate it, or worse, that it makes me break out!

The only big products I use are, like others, shampoos. I used to use Aveda’s 32 oz. (or whatever-size) Rosemary Mint shampoo and conditioner religiously. It eventually stopped working as fabulously as it used to (the conditioner was a little to light for my longer hair). I used those products until finished, then became enamoured with Matrix. I started purchasing the big bottles of those, too. Until summertime when I would buy smaller bottles of the after-sun Matrix shampoo and conditioner, alternating with “Cooling Mint.” Now that it’s not summer, I find myself buying the smaller bottles of Cooling Mint in anticipation of alternating with other shampoos when effectivity starts to wane.

Bottom line: Smaller really is better with beauty products.

Ditto! It takes me three months to use 16 oz. of shampoo – why would I deprive myself of the joy of buying it? And yes, i hate to throw stuff out (even freebies that I don’t use) just because I know how expensive it was and its like dumping your piggy bank into the trash!

My solution is to put away multiples of things (i.e. shower gel). Only leave one out and force yourself to use it every day (or as regularly as it may require) until its gone. Then you get the double satisfaction of using up a whole bottle of something and then “shopping” in the “linen” cabinents above your toilet (when I say linen, I mean a half a shelf of towels and the rest baskets of beauty!)!

Yep, I tend to swing both ways on this! I am right there with you in getting sick of my jumbo purchases, and when things start to get old and gross, (you know, the crusty lotion bottle tips I tend to over use them just so I can make them run out faster, to move on to the next! Oh yes, I will lather on a half a bottle of Nivea lotion after ONE shower if it means I can move on to my new, pristine bottle of Kiehl’s Creme de Corps!! Stef, I also HATE when my MAC Blot powder gets down to the sad little remains…sometimes I just can’t help but to break into the new one and I will rationalize it by returning it to MAC for the free lipstick, when you recycle 6 empties back to them!

I’m also one of those who will not buy jumbo, but buy 4 or 5 jars of something that I love for fear it will be discontinued! Origins has an amazing Gloomaway grapefruit shower gel that got discontinued for a short while (it’s back now) and I scrambled to get my hands on as many as I could find. I also just literally bought out L’Occitane’s Xmas supply of this amazing Vanilla Shea Butter Body Cream, cause I couldn’t get enough of the scent, and it’s a limited edition product!

Now, as far as when I DO buy jumbo…I agree Mel, if it’s something I live for, I will buy jumbo because I use it like water! Ex. would be the Kiehls cream of course and my Fekkai Technician Color Care Shampoo…I lather up my hair with that like there’s no tomorrow!!

I’m with Mel too, shampoo and conditioner are a yes for jumbo, especially conditioner because I have super long hair and use an huge amount, but anything else I can’t deal with jumbo… I never end up using it all

Spitfire I’m totally with you on the MAC too…I’ve totally traded in unfinished eyes hadows or blot powders to trade in my 6 empties. I’m a sucker for new MAC anything! & with them having new lines every few weeks how can you resist

Rule of thumb is that if I use the item continuously for more than two years – get the jumbo. So far this has only been achieved by Clinique City Block, which doesn’t HAVE an upsized option.*

*they just changed the formula, and now i must go and find a new sunblock/primer. poor me.

Love jumbo size, especially if it’s something I use all the time like my shampoo and conditioner.

Am I really the only one who hates jumbo shampoos? My hair always gets tired with a shampoo after a bottle, so I switch all the time. I could go for jumbo moisturizers and toners, but I’ll take everything else in a normal size, thank you.

I’m with you on the jumbo shampoos, Rebecca—my hair never seems to work very long with any one shampoo, I constantly need change. Jumbo shampoo would just take up a lot of space until it made its way back into the rotation. Jumbo sized face scrub would be good, though, same with bubble bath/shower gel.

Spitfire- Fekkai makes jumbo shampoo? Where have I been??

I don’t use jumbo products b/c it takes too long to use and the product isn’t as effective/clean/fresh as it was in the beginning. However, I will buy 3 of a shower gel that I love if it is being discontinued. I have dozens of shower gels/shampoos/lotions/sprays and I don’t feel bad about it at all. I don’t make myself use one up at a time. I wear/use something different almost every day. It’s fun! Why not have a few to choose from, you know?

I like jumbo in products that work for me that are tried and true. For shampoos, conditioners and lotions I tend to rotate my stock every month or so. This way I do not tire of the same old thing. What was old becomes new in a month or so.