Thread: Does soap go bad

I have three tubs of soap milled into glass bowls with lids.

DR Harris, Tabac, MWF

If after use I make sure they dry and then cover them, how long will they last.

I shave 3 to 4 times a week and having these threee soaps would lasta long time, do soaps go bad???

I use Colleen's soaps in open air SS bowls. In rotation, I have 5 soaps, I have yet for one to go south on me. I shave every other day.

The only soap I had go south was P160. You really need to keep that covered tightly.

I would assume the same for Cella and Valobra.

I don't really know the answer but someone either on this board or Badger and Blade (I think B&B most likely) wrote to Cella and got the response that in the EU (I don't think it was just in Italy) they are required to put expiration dates on perishables that have a shelf life of less than 30 months. I note that none of the soaps I have (all from the EU) show expiration dates so they should all be good for at least 30 months, or two and a half years. In their response to the question, Cella said their soap was good for at least four years. The soaps I have are Cella, MWF and Tabac.

Originally Posted by erictski

I have three tubs of soap milled into glass bowls with lids.

DR Harris, Tabac, MWF

If after use I make sure they dry and then cover them, how long will they last.

I shave 3 to 4 times a week and having these threee soaps would lasta long time, do soaps go bad???

It takes a lot to kill a hard soap. simple age doesn't do it - you can buy vintage soaps off of ebay that are 30+ yrs old, that still shave fine.

With the shaving regimen you're describing, I would expect those three soaps to last about 7 years. Not a problem.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think that some guys have revived very old antique hard soaps (Yardley comes to mind). IIRC some are 80+ years old. I guess some of the scent may have faded, but apparently they lather up ok. I could be mistaken here, though.

I'm also not sure how glycerin soaps would differ as far as aging.

I don't think you have to worry about those soaps in that setup, though. I'd guess that even using them at your rate, you'd finish them long before they go bad.

thanks for the quick replies guys. I figured that they wouldnt but you never know for sure...I couldnt see a soap going bad really...

HMMM...I should check out the bay...i would love some old OLD SPICE shave soap.

You are safe for awhile since you are using milled soaps. Milled soaps tend to improve with age. With glycerin soaps, it is the other way around, the tend to feel the effects of aging more. There is chemistry involved in this. However, this is not to say that you would not be able to shave with a glycerin soap past 1 year (typically the recommended shelf life for glycerin soaps) or that you can shave indefinitely with a milled soap and obtain the same performance that when the soap was fresh. Salts of unsaturated fatty acids oxidize less than the fatty acids themselves but they can still oxidize. Again, this is not to say that you would not be able to form lather. Also, the volatile components of both types of soaps would go away overtime. This will affect performance but the extent of the effect depends on the importance of these compounds in the formula.

Al raz.

Interesting thread. This is something that has troubled me for a while now as well.

My Tabac refill carton quotes 36months which seems right. No idea what my Trumper's rose said on the box, but I've had that one for 3.5 years now and only just is it lathering/smelling less (though I could be wrong!). I don't own any, but I have noticed that Harris soaps have 12 months on the lid. Whether that's believable or not is what you have to ask yourself.

My Acqua di Parma shave cream (more or less a soap) quotes 12 months as well. It would be interesting to see how far that goes...

The lye soaps (that do not contain EDTA or another preservative) like p160 or Cella can go bad. They smell "off" and turn yellow. It is some form of oxidation (I suspect) of the glycerine that forms with the saponification process. They still lather fine and their cleansing properties are still there. Nothing dangerous.
The semi soft soaps like Cella loose a lot of water
as well as the Glycerine Soaps. They simply dry out. Nothing to worry about.
The industrial soaps have plenty of preservativs and no glycerine. They last forever.

I'm rather parsimonious with my soap and leave unused lather in my bowl for later use. As a result, all of my soap pucks have lasted between 5 and 7 years. I have not noticed any diminution of the quality of the soap over that period.