Thread: The Keepers

Hello, hsamuels,

Thanks for the kind words. You don't have to worry much about soaps. They last a long time. Of course, over time they lose some of their fragrance, but enough remains to maintain the soap's characteristics. Most of mine are in mugs and open. Some of the mugs and shave bowls, however, have lids on them. Mitchell's Wool Fat, Scottish Fine Soaps, I Coloniali, Tabac and La Toja all have lids. Truefitt & Hill, Cyril Salter, Collectioneur Lothantique, L'Occitane, Institute Karite, Savon Barbiere, eShave, Valobra, Martin de Candre, Provence Sante Verlaine, Edwin Jagger, Klar and others are open.

Creams last a while, too, as long as they stay in the tubes, or the lids stay on the tubs. There, too, in time some of the fragrance fades, but enough remains. I don't use that many creams. The ones currently in rotation are Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet, Plisson and Arko are in tubes. Castle Forbes, Coates and Edwin Jagger are in tubs with secured lids.

Originally Posted by Obie

....snip....
Most of mine are in mugs and open. Some of the mugs and shave bowls, however, have lids on them.

For some of my mugs I have taken to making lids that
permit me to stack them safely. Some soaps get sealed in
zip lock bags for storage after they dry out a bit. I had some
shave soaps in a drawer of shirts and in a couple days it was "obvious"
that there was more in the drawer than shirts. I also use inexpensive
kitchen storage tubs that stack well.

Mitchell's Wool Fat, Scottish Fine Soaps, I Coloniali, Tabac and La Toja all have lids. Truefitt & Hill, Cyril Salter, Collectioneur Lothantique, L'Occitane, Institute Karite, Savon Barbiere, eShave, Valobra, Martin de Candre, Provence Sante Verlaine, Edwin Jagger, Klar and others are open.

Creams last a while, too, as long as they stay in the tubes, or the lids stay on the tubs. There, too, in time some of the fragrance fades, but enough remains. I don't use that many creams. The ones currently in rotation are Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet, Plisson and Arko are in tubes. Castle Forbes, Coates and Edwin Jagger are in tubs with secured lids.

Grand list of shave soaps....
Cyril Salter was my most recent winner.

With the exception of cream in a tube, creams do not seem to store as well as soaps.
A tub of EJ lasts and lasts and lasts.


I might add Williams for a reason.... practice, I found it difficult to "practice" making
a lather with an expensive puck and thus never took the time to "learn" to lather.
L'Occitane, Mitchell's Wool Fat and other harder soaps take a bit of practice.
Also my favorite shave mug is a bit too deep for a single puck. I let a puck of
Williams settle in and glue itself to the bottom then cover it with a puck of
a much more expensive soap. If I run out of the good stuff I am not out of
shave soap.... I punished a puck of L'Occitane and banned it to the back of the
list for uberization. Then I revisited it again after playing with Williams for a couple hours
and found it to be a top of the line soap. I also use Williams and an OLD CVS boar
brush to clean the canvas of my pasted Illinois strop.

Bottom line... having fun.