Thread: Shaving soap...How long should it last??

Okay...

I have been using my very first puck of shaving soap for less than a month now and I have allready gotten it down to looking like a flat donut with a hole wearing out in the middle of it.

I remember someone on this forum stating that his shaving soap will last for "years"!? How is this even possible if you are shaving everyday like I do!?

It depends on how many other soaps you have and how often you use each one, how much soap you use each shave and how often you shave.

When I started I had a puck of Trumpers sandalwood soap which lasted me about 7 months of daily use. I have a fair few soaps now and most of them are hardly worn as I mix them up so much..!

It depends on the soap too. The harder soaps tend to last much longer in my experience ie. tabac, mwf

Soaps vary widely. A puck from TGQ will last me about a month, a tub of SRD.... well, a very long time! Tallow/milled soaps will also last longer-- MWF being an example of one which you buy a puck of and then never ever need to again.

Generally speaking the higher quality the soap or cream the denser it is and the less of it you need each time you shave. An exception to this would be the soft glycerin soaps like Mama Bear and TGQ, which will get used up somewhat faster in spite of their excellent quality lather.

Also important is how you lather. Ron, for whom soap lasts for aeons, lathers (if I recall correctly) on the puck and does not clean out his brush or mug between shaves-- ergo virtually zero wasted soap.

The answer depends on lots of things. One of those would be the hardness of your water. The harder the water, the more difficult it is to generate lather. The type and amount of lather also contribute. Ideally, the lather should be the consistency of whipped cream. I generate enough lather to make three passes (WTG, XG, and ATG). If you only do WTG then you need a lot less. Obviously, if you have soaps/creams in rotations, then you use less as well. If you are using yours 7 days a week, then you will go through it quite fast. Experiment some. Basically, if you are comfortable with the type and amount of lather you are generating, then don't worry about how much you are using.

One more thing, the type of soap you use (who it's from) will impact too.

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

MWF being an example of one which you buy a puck of and then never ever need to again.

Yeah, I bought 3 pucks of MWF awhile ago. I have hardly even dented the first puck.

Been working on my first puck of Crabtree and Evelyn Sandlewood for going on four years now.

I am the "someone" whose soap lasts for years. I described it in THIS thread, specifically in post 12 and elaboration in post 25.

I only put a little water on my puck to wet it, then dump it into the lathering bowl. I swirl the brush on the wetted puck and then build the lather in a separate lathering bowl. (I used to do it in the same mug and it worked too.) I build my lather, lather my face, and shave. Sometimes I do a second pass, usually I don't. When I am done, I transfer residual lather from my brush back into the lathering bowl by encircling the handle end of the brush with my thumb and forefinger, squeezing lightly, and "milking" the lather down and off the brush. I scrape this lather off of my hand and into the bowl. That lather still in the bowl is left there to be used to build lather the next day. This residue in the lathering bowl means that I only have to swirl my brush on the puck minimally to get enough new soap to transfer to the lathering bowl.

The keys are
1) I don't dump soapy water down the drain. That soapy water is dumped into the lathering bowl.
2) I don't wash out my lathering bowl. What is left after my shave stays in it to be used the next day.
3. The only soap/lather that goes down the drain is that which comes off of my face.

This is the way I've always done it. I didn't think it was weird. I just don't waste things so I did this all along without giving it a thought. All of my soap pucks have lasted 5 to 7 years. That is, until a couple years ago when I found this place. I just had to try several new soaps so I no longer use one puck at a time for 5 years each. I figure the 8 soaps I have now will last longer than I will!

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

Ron, for whom soap lasts for aeons, lathers (if I recall correctly) on the puck and does not clean out his brush or mug between shaves-- ergo virtually zero wasted soap.

I don't clean out my mug, but I DO clean out my brush. I milk out the soap from it and transfer that lather back to the mug, but then I clean out my brush just like everybody else! I think it would be bad for the brush to not clean it out.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I am the "someone" whose soap lasts for years. I described it in THIS thread, specifically in post 12 and elaboration in post 25.

I only put a little water on my puck to wet it, then dump it into the lathering bowl. I swirl the brush on the wetted puck and then build the lather in a separate lathering bowl. (I used to do it in the same mug and it worked too.) I build my lather, lather my face, and shave. Sometimes I do a second pass, usually I don't. When I am done, I transfer residual lather from my brush back into the lathering bowl by encircling the handle end of the brush with my thumb and forefinger, squeezing lightly, and "milking" the lather down and off the brush. I scrape this lather off of my hand and into the bowl. That lather still in the bowl is left there to be used to build lather the next day. This residue in the lathering bowl means that I only have to swirl my brush on the puck minimally to get enough new soap to transfer to the lathering bowl.

The keys are
1) I don't dump soapy water down the drain. That soapy water is dumped into the lathering bowl.
2) I don't wash out my lathering bowl. What is left after my shave stays in it to be used the next day.
3. The only soap/lather that goes down the drain is that which comes off of my face.

This is the way I've always done it. I didn't think it was weird. I just don't waste things so I did this all along without giving it a thought. All of my soap pucks have lasted 5 to 7 years. That is, until a couple years ago when I found this place. I just had to try several new soaps so I no longer use one puck at a time for 5 years each. I figure the 8 soaps I have now will last longer than I will!

Hmmmmm....A 'seperate' lathering bowl eh? Sounds like a good idea!
I am going to have to purchase a second bowl for lathering and also try your other methods...Seems to be a real money saver.