Thread: Soap economy

Since I started attempting straight razor shaving, I've been using a cake of Burma Shave soap that came with my razor. Two weeks later, I seem to be more than half done with the bar. My mug is dark, and I can see the color showing through the bottom of the soap.

How long does a bar of soap typically last?

Right now I'm using a Burma Shave boar bristle brush. My routine involves filling my mug with hot water and soaking the brush and soap while I shower. When I get out I dump the water, flick the brush a few times, and rotate it about 30-50 times. Then I whip the lather like eggs until it's stiff.

Does a boar brush go through the soap faster? My mug has a curved bottom, so the soap doesn't sit quite flat in it. Is that a problem?

Never used the Burma Shave soap, but Glycerine soaps dissolve quite quickly, even more so if they're soaked like you describe. Hard soaps (Williams, Harris, Truefitt&Hill) can handle soaking much better, and can last for up to half a year. I've been using a cake of Harris Arlington soap every day since early May, that is maybe half used. The cakes are pricey, but the cost per shave is very low so I don't mind.

Rotating the brush 30 to 50 times seems a bit
extreme to me. Try cutting that by half or even
more and see what happens.


Terry

I go through my soaps pretty quick....I like a thick lather and I reapply often. It really does depend on the type of brush, the type of soap, and the type of water you have on how long it will last. Also pay attention to how much soap washes out of your brush or is on the sides of your mug when you are done shaving...if there is a lot on either you are making much more lather than you need, you would be surprised how much soap some brushes can hold!

Letting your brush and soap soak for a 5-10-20 minute shower will do no good. You can get your brush just as wet and hot in about 1 minute under the tap. You can also get your soap "ready" with a 30 second soaking, or no soaking at all. Just add the brush with it's own water and lather away.

Also, perhaps try swirling 10-20 times in the mug. After the brush tips are "loaded" with a bit of unlathered or half lathered soap, lather the brush in a separate vessel, your palm or on your face. I think that alot of your soap is going down the drain unused. Best of luck.

IF you're looking for other options, shaving cream is good. You can control the exact amount of product used, and a penny sized bit will produce enough lather for a great shave.

Best of luck,

Honestly, that's to be expected if you soak your soap and lather it as you described. Instead of soaking your soap in the mug, soak your brush seperately, then swirl the tips around on the soap just enough to load the bristles up (10-20 times) and then build the lather on your face. You'll use a LOT less that way. I never build lather in my actual shaving mug anymore.

-- Gary F.

joshearl,

Are you also rinsing out your bowl after the shave? If you are, you're losing some soap there, too.

Frankly, there's such a wonderful variety of soaps out there, I often do everything I can to work my way through a soap quickly, so I don't have to manage even more containers and mugs.

The best bang for your buck, you'll find, will be with traditional triple-milled hard soaps, which will last months and months of daily use.

I am only starting out here for this stuff, and I have thought that you don't really put some water in with my cake. I have only been using the wet how brush to soap up a lather..

Burma-Shave and similar drugstore soaps are inexpensive. I wouldn't worry about using them. But if you really want to make the soap last longer try:

- not soaking the soap. Just rub the wet brush on top to build lather. This will use less soap.

- you can squeeze the remaining lather out of your brush after the shave and let it dry in the mug, to use next time. I tried this to see if it would work and it does. However, I don't go this far to save fractions of a penny.