Are Pricey Cosmetics Better Than the Cheaper Brands?

Oct. 8, 2005 — -- The average American uses nine different personal care products a day, and Americans spend billions every year on things like shampoos, lotions and shaving creams.

You can buy these products -- and there are a staggering number of them -- at drug stores or at high-end department stores, all of them promising shinier hair, smoother skin or a closer shave. But the price difference can be astounding.

Are the pricey products that much better than the cheaper, mass-market brands? "Good Morning America" consumer correspondent Elisabeth Leamy conducted her own research, with mini-opinion polls and laboratory testing, to find out if you really do get what you pay for.

"GMA" asked five men to shave with product "A" on the left side of their face and product "B" on the right. We didn't tell them that one shaving cream cost $5 and the other $27.

What did the test subjects say?

"'B' was a little silkier, smoother," said Jarrett, one of the test subjects. "It had a fresher feeling on my face."

Three out of the five testers liked product "B" better. And guess what? "B" was the $5 shaving cream.

Jarrett's wife, Lillian, agreed to check it out.

"This side here is smoother, softer," she said of the "B" side.

The mystery products were Neutrogena shaving cream costing $5, and a container of l'Occitane shaving cream of the same size costing $27.

The shaving creams were analyzed at Technical Laboratories, where scientists said the cheaper shaving cream contained more effective buffers for preventing skin irritation.

"Whoever made the Neutrogena actually put a lot of thought into the formulation," said Alyson Galderisi, president of the lab. "They used some natural emulsifiers which are olive derived. It made the skin very pliable, very easy to shave."

Next, the staff at Gloria Cabrera Salon and Spa in New York shampooed test subjects' hair with product "A" on one side of the head and product "B" on the other, followed by a blow dry.