I've been out shopping getting some shaving foam for some potential uocoming sessions and have noticed it's getting harder to find, especially some of the own brand ones which I quite like, because they're cheaper and usually make better pies. Most of the shelves have shaving gel and the foam they do have is usually only one or two tins of the expensive branded ones, which I only get if they're on special offer, and/or the sensitive ones, which I recently discovered are ironically quite bad for the skin on my face.
Has anyone else noticed this, or am I just looking in the wrong places?

Poundland usually has the Insignia stuff for a quid which is decent. My go to is Sainsbury's own brand but that has been hard to get the past few weeks for some reason . Boots own brand is good too but 50/50 if it's in stock or not.

Best to do an online shop though might make for an awkward conversation with the delivery driver

Insignia is pretty good and cheap and Savers usually does Erasmus foam quite cheap as well.
I've never done an online order for loads of foam. Yeah. That would make an awkward interaction, especially if my roommate has to take the parcel heheh

When we met up at the end of last year didn't you use Asda or Sainsbury's?

I got some tins from Savers Chemist and had a couple from Morrisons. I'd been stocking up over a few weeks before I came down. Had to do a lot of shopping around to find them as there were a lot of places that only had gel

Ok if you want one or two cans but any large quantity and it's a trip to a few shops

Yup, rare at this end of the country too.

I got odd looks from the cashier in Tesco a year or so back when I had ten cans of it.

It's only ever Gillette Sensitive available, which my skin seems to dislike.

I can go to the Dollarama by my house and they always have tons of Barbasol!

I don't really like the Gillette foam, especially the ones in the black and blue/red tins. The foam is very wet and makes for a really sloppy pie, and not in a good way.

I've never bought that many tins in one go, for fear of getting funny looks (even though it shouldn't matter). Most I've done is about 4, but that's only been if there's a BOGOF offer on.

I've heard a lot of good things about Barbasol, but, sadly, I don't think it's available over here in the UK.

I've noticed the availability falling for many years now. I used to exclusively use Sabre shaving foam, which came in massive 400ml tins. It had perfect dispenser lids, where you could line 10 cans up in a 2x5 formation, and use a chopping board to dispense 10 tins all at once, which filled the bath quicker.

The last submersion bath I did with Sabre was about 20 years ago now! Since then I switched to using Boots own (400ml), and SuperDrug's own (300ml). Even those now appear to be no more.

The last bath I did involved me ordering 20 x 400ml tins of Insignia on the internet from a wholesaler, and topping up the quantity by buying Sainsburys own brand, but that was only 250ml per tin, but a very nice, stiff consistency like Sabre used to be. Only problem with the Sainburys tins was that they had a moulded, recessed dispenser button, which meant you couldn't do multiple discharges to save time like you could with Sabre.

Now I've all but resigned myself to the fact that I might not be able to do a massive wallow / submersion session anymore. Don't get me wrong - I would do if the opportunity arose, but the quality of the products has dropped significantly with the exception of the expensive brands. The foams that are available tend to deteriorate quickly once dispensed into the bath, and break down from a thick creamy foam to a light bubbly mass in next to no time. If I could get hold of 60 tins of Barbersol for next to nothing, I'd be there straight away, but I'd be looking at £100 - £150 to get a bath of foam as deep as what I've done in the past.

Nope, not just you ScotsPie, I've recently found it difficult to get own brand foam (my preferred one atm is Tesco's Tusk - very cheap!). For the last couple of sessions, it's been a mix of Sainsbury's, Gillette (very poor and stingy), and ASDA just essentials, as well as a dabble in Aldi's own brand. Maybe it's just the supply chain in Scotland! Luckily, I got the folk I was meeting to have a wee scout too, so managed to cobble together enough for some decently sloppy pies.

Or maybe it's all the wammers clearing out the stock in a new year session frenzy

a lot of the shops near me have all basically stopped selling most shaving foams, and replaced some of the space with shaving gel, and then used the rest of the space to sell higher ticket items like balms, aftershave, the premium razors etc

So it's not just me that's noticed it. I've been scouting around in preparation for a big messy session later this week (and possibly a smaller one earlier if I'm lucky) and it seems that Superdrug and Boots are my best options. Bought a couple of their own brands, especially since they were buy one, get one free just now. But, most shops are still only selling gel or the expensive stuff (Nivea or Gilette) which I'll only get if it's on offer. The cheap Gilette from places like Poundland is crap for making pies. It's watery, makes a sloppy (not in a good way) pie and usually soaks the paper plate and makes it fall apart.

When I were a lad we had to walk twenty mile through t' snow to get one can of Fine Fare shaving foam and carry it back to t' village on us heads.

And we liked it.

I buy Gillette Foam in Poundland for £1 a can it lasts for a few sessions per can and is of great quality.