For over a year now I've meant to make a follow-up post since some of the information in that post is out of date, but I've never gotten around to it. This morning I just approved a new comment on that post, so I guess people are still stumbling across it when they realize how awful Charmin is now. So, here is an update.
In my original post I recommended Wal-Mart's Great Value Ultra Strong toilet paper as a good alternative to Charmin, similar in quality and value to the old, pre-shrink ray formulation. I think I managed to get 2 12-packs of Great Value Ultra Strong toilet paper in October and November of 2013 before I made a trip to Wal-Mart only to find they were completely out of stock of Great Value toilet paper. Several weeks later I went back and it was back in stock. But now instead of 10.8cm wide, each roll was now only 10.1cm wide. Also, the number of sheets per family roll had been reduced from 200 to 192. I never bought the new version, so I don't know if the texture was changed for the worse like Charmin.
Within a month or two, I think almost every single brand of toilet paper that's locally available went from 10.8cm wide to 9.9cm to 10.1cm wide. I did find two exceptions, however. The first is Cottonelle, which was 10.6cm wide both before and after other other companies changed. Cottonelle has a unique stripe texture, due to which I don't think I've ever tried the brand. The second is Target's Up & Up brand, which didn't change their toilet paper at all during this time period, keeping the same 10.8cm wide and 165 sheets per double roll, with a very good texture. Unlike Charmin which offers separate Strong and Soft formulations, Up & Up had only Premium Soft And Strong, which offered the upside of each (Strong so it doesn't fall apart in your hand, Soft so it's not too rough).
So for a year or so, Up & Up Premium Bath Tissue: Soft And Strong was easily the best combination of quality and value for toilet paper.
Unfortunately, a few months ago Target discontinued the Up & Up Premium Bath Tissue: Soft And Strong and replaced it with Up & Up Ultra Soft Bath Tissue. The new version is significantly thinner than the old version. The difference is immediately noticeable when comparing the two versions, with the old version being superior. When actually using the two different versions, though, the difference isn't as obvious. While the old version was better, the new version is still good. Fortunately, they didn't change the quantity per roll at all, as it's the exact same 165 sheets and 10.8cm wide. Considering the reduced quality and pathetically narrow rolls of most every other brand,
I recommend Target's Up & Up Ultra Soft Bath Tissue.
Also, it's worth noting that you might still be able to find the old, superior version at Target for a limited time while they exhaust old stock. For the last couple months my local Target still has had 12-packs of double rolls of the old Up & Up Premium Soft And Strong version in stock. While the 12-packs of double rolls of the Up & Up Premium Soft And Strong bath tissue have a higher per roll price than the 24-packs, in my opinion the higher quality makes them worth purchasing if you can find them.
For reference, here are pictures of the packaging of the old and new versions.
The old version that's great and highly recommended if you can find it:
The new, not as good version, that's probably still better than anything else currently available:
I think that's everything I have to add. If anyone has found a good alternative that I've missed, please leave a message in the comments.
5 comments:
I just found your original post and could not agree more on Charmin Ultra Soft being ruined as old style was much better. But I still use as I have not found anything better. Not counting size just quality, especially softness and texture, do you prefer the Target Up & Up Ultra Soft you mention over Charmin? Also have you ever tried Charmin Sensitive? I have not and is hard to find in stores but wondered if that texture was changed/ruined too. I have not tried Cottonelle Ultra Soft but was thinking of doing so but doubt it is better than current Charmin. Any other recommendations would be great though. Thanks.
I think the softness and texture of the new Up & Up Ultra Soft is indeed better than current Charmin.
Some other texture & quality comparisons:
Old Up & Up (which as I explained you might still be able to find) is much better than current Charmin.
New Up & Up is not as good as old Charmin.
Old Charmin is about equal to the old Up & Up Soft And Strong.
I had not heard of Charmin Sensitive before, but I don't think I'd want a toilet paper with lotion in it - I tried the Kleenex that had that once and didn't like it.
Nice pictures.Thanks for the post.
The last 2 packs of Charmin was 1 ply and I believe they left the splinters in . I’m going to try a couple of other brands . Charmin use to be the best now it mega sucks .
Yeah, they're absolutely horrible now. I've had better industrial toulet paper.
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