doctordial
my brain goes "thonk"
I was wondering how long it takes to finish a regular puck of Stirlings Sheep soap. Either ordered it by accident or it was sent by mistake. I just wanted the sample puck with lasts a good while by itself.
How long to finish a puck
- Thread starter doctordial
- Start date
Use it every day and find out! 
www.badgerandblade.com
Context here:
www.badgerandblade.com
My Guess... 3017
Over the course of the last year I have been concentrating on using and finishing product. I have been going through aftershaves, colognes and shaving creams and sold off most of the excess. But the soaps... well, I just like them all and don't want to unload them. Over the last several...
www.badgerandblade.com
Context here:
What does 3017 mean?
I see so often that someone has 3017 a soap. What does that mean?
www.badgerandblade.com
I get 30-35 shaves from a 1 oz Stirling sample. So a 5 oz jar would last me roughly 150~175 shaves.
Depends on the particular soap for me. Triple-milled hard soaps, for example, last far longer than soft soaps.
Hannah's Dad
I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
How long to do …. what?
Too many variables at play. You'll have to count yourself and see.
I used to have a couple of "monster" brushes that would eat up soap a lot quicker than a standard 22-23mm brush.
Then there's the matter of how much you load on your brush, how often you are using the soap in rotation with others, and how hard the soap is. Not to mention how you lather. If you lather on top of the puck and have lather spilling over the sides down the drain the soap will not last as long.
Most soft soaps are also going to get eaten up faster than a milled puck.
I used to have a couple of "monster" brushes that would eat up soap a lot quicker than a standard 22-23mm brush.
Then there's the matter of how much you load on your brush, how often you are using the soap in rotation with others, and how hard the soap is. Not to mention how you lather. If you lather on top of the puck and have lather spilling over the sides down the drain the soap will not last as long.
Most soft soaps are also going to get eaten up faster than a milled puck.
Depending on the brush you use and how heavy you regularly load your brush I'd expect a full Stirling Soap jar (5.8 oz) to last for 175-225(+) shaves. It's a rough estimation only, for sure.
While YMMV a good rule of thumb for hard shaving soaps is roughly one gram of shaving soap per shave or 164 shaves for 5.8 ounces. That is consistent with @geneaut 's experience above. Per others Stirling is on the softer side so even if you use 25-30% more per shave you are still in the 125-130 shaves per container.
Lathering technique, type and size of brush will affect this so the only way to know for sure is to use the soap. For example my boar brush was lifting almost 2 grams per shave off my MWF puck (way more than needed). After changing to my plissoft and reducing loading time I'm down to 1 - 1.25 grams per shave which is exactly what I need.
Note that after 10-15 shaves you may be able to weigh the soap (after allowing it to dry from use) to see what you are using.
Lathering technique, type and size of brush will affect this so the only way to know for sure is to use the soap. For example my boar brush was lifting almost 2 grams per shave off my MWF puck (way more than needed). After changing to my plissoft and reducing loading time I'm down to 1 - 1.25 grams per shave which is exactly what I need.
Note that after 10-15 shaves you may be able to weigh the soap (after allowing it to dry from use) to see what you are using.
Mike M
...but this one IS cracked.
It depends, if you like it use a small brush and load sparingly and you will get it to last. If not grab your biggest boar or badger and load it til the brush looks like an ice-cream cone.
As you are asking the question I am guessing that you belong to that happy group who have never seen the bottom of a soap container. You should consider joining us 3017ers on the dark side where we regularly sacrifice soaps in strange blood rituals. But I warn you, once you join us there is no way back!
As you are asking the question I am guessing that you belong to that happy group who have never seen the bottom of a soap container. You should consider joining us 3017ers on the dark side where we regularly sacrifice soaps in strange blood rituals. But I warn you, once you join us there is no way back!
Depends on the individual. Some never manage to finish a puck because new soaps enter the house faster than old soaps leave.
A standard 4oz puck of most shave soaps lasts me around 3 months of daily shaves, give or take.
Estimate from 0.75 to 1.5 grams per shave. Some people load more heavily than others.
I have yet to finish a puck of soap sadly, so can offer no insight.
I just used the Stirling again with a 24mm badger. 3 passes, face lather, not thick, just normal coating. had to load again for the 3rd pass. Measured the container before and after the shave when it dried out. 1.8g which is in line with my ~2g per use so far. I have other soaps that are not as hard as stirling and I can't load more than 1g from them. but who cares, they all last long. My last soap purchase was a year ago, I'm trying to work through them
Some shavers like a very thin lather, and some try to look like Santa with tons of thick lather, so it obviously varies quite a bit from person to person.
But the soaps also vary quite a bit. I didn't keep track, but I'd be surprised if I got 2 months of daily shaves from BM Omnibus. Lots of soaps will last me 4 months. MdC lasts over 13 months. SV was around 6, as I recall (admittedly, memory is not my strong suit). I'm currently testing Canada SS and it's doing very well in the longevity department.
I think you'll find Stirling a very good value for your money. Enjoy it in good health and good shaves.
But the soaps also vary quite a bit. I didn't keep track, but I'd be surprised if I got 2 months of daily shaves from BM Omnibus. Lots of soaps will last me 4 months. MdC lasts over 13 months. SV was around 6, as I recall (admittedly, memory is not my strong suit). I'm currently testing Canada SS and it's doing very well in the longevity department.
I think you'll find Stirling a very good value for your money. Enjoy it in good health and good shaves.
Stirling (Baker Street) 26 shaves
Haslinger Salbei 27 shaves
Arko puck 30 shaves
Edwin Jagger Sandalwood 38 shaves
RazoRock Gold 41 shaves
Kent/MWF 50 shaves
Tabac Tallow 57 shaves
D R Harris 68 shaves
Haslinger Salbei 27 shaves
Arko puck 30 shaves
Edwin Jagger Sandalwood 38 shaves
RazoRock Gold 41 shaves
Kent/MWF 50 shaves
Tabac Tallow 57 shaves
D R Harris 68 shaves
Of the hard pucks I'm familiar with it looks like you load 2-3 grams of soap per shave (Arko-3 grams, MWF-2.5 grams, Razorock Gold {assume this is What-the-Puck}2.4 grams) with the exception of D.R. Harris where you use 1.5 grams per shave. On the heavy loading end of our spectrum. Looks like a preference for a really thick and rich lather.
In my case I've found that it takes roughly a gram of most of my hard shaving soaps to deliver my ideal lather. Note I tend to prefer a slicker and wetter lather from my hard soaps. Have seen posts from others who use less than half a gram per shave from some soaps due to a preference for just a thin coat of lather for each pass..
What is your loading technique and what types of brushes are you using to build your lather? Are you just face shaving?
Simple curiosity here on different shaving techniques.
You summed it up nicely. YMMV so much on lathering techniques, number of shave passes and preferences resulting in a wide range of shaves per shaving soap. Even more variability given the different soap formulas that range from dense rock hard products to softer soaps that are almost croap like.
I just use one soap at a time.
Some last longer than others.
Tabac tallow lasts awhile so does Truefitt and Hill 1805, both lasted me nearly a year of daily shaves but of course your mileage may vary.
Some last longer than others.
Tabac tallow lasts awhile so does Truefitt and Hill 1805, both lasted me nearly a year of daily shaves but of course your mileage may vary.
