Leaving Brush on Soap Puck In-between Lathers

smithmts · Apr 3, 2012

Since I started face lathering, I got into the habit of leaving my brush sitting on the puck in-between passes. It didn't seem to harm anything, so I stuck with it. A couple weeks ago, I noticed all my soaps (All Mama Bears) were starting to be depleting more in the center than towards the rim of the container. At first I thought it was my loading pattern, but I just put the two together.

So I guess I am telling all those who have thought about it to not... It looks like the moisture of the brush is basically wearing down the soap and wasting it.

Snargle · Apr 3, 2012

smithmts said:
So I guess I am telling all those who have thought about it to not... It looks like the moisture of the brush is basically wearing down the soap and wasting it.

If you're face-lathering, the only place that "wasted" soap can be going is on your face. It doesn't vaporize. Your brush could be picking up additional soap, but I doubt it can be very much. It really doesn't matter if the center of the puck is hollowed out or not. The brush doesn't care where it gets loaded from...the center or the sides.

fraue · Apr 3, 2012

don't worry be happy

OldSaw · Apr 3, 2012

My soaps always wear out faster in the center. I wouldn't worry about it.

GreekGuy · Apr 3, 2012

It's just from loading. Perfectly normal

PugslyCat · Apr 4, 2012

Sounds like a perfectly normal wear pattern to me. I always wind up with just a soap donut in my mug as I get towards the end of a puck.

My concern would be that letting the brush bristles dry while distorted from lying on the soap is going to cause them to eventually distort. On the other hand, that's how guys did it for years.

Snargle · Apr 4, 2012

PugslyCat said:
My concern would be that letting the brush bristles dry while distorted from lying on the soap is going to cause them to eventually distort. On the other hand, that's how guys did it for years.

I don't think the OP was letting the brush dry in the soap dish. He was just talking about resting the brush on the soap between passes and relathers.

kingfisher · Apr 4, 2012

Harmless and normal.

Press on!

_JP_ · Apr 4, 2012

The surface of the puck always dishes out from loading the soap into the brush. There is no way around it. I challenge you to do otherwise.

Kostas1 · Apr 4, 2012

Seems normal to me

smithmts · Apr 4, 2012

Snargle said:
If you're face-lathering, the only place that "wasted" soap can be going is on your face. It doesn't vaporize. Your brush could be picking up additional soap, but I doubt it can be very much. It really doesn't matter if the center of the puck is hollowed out or not. The brush doesn't care where it gets loaded from...the center or the sides.

I hadn't really thought about where the brush is going; I agree it would have to be ending up in the brush. It doesn't result in more lather, however, so I think I will still call it a waste.

Snargle said:
I don't think the OP was letting the brush dry in the soap dish. He was just talking about resting the brush on the soap between passes and relathers.

That is correct.

A few of you said the hole in the middle is unavoidable, and just due to loading. While this may be the case, in the instance that made it click for me, I could see a difference between loading the brush and the end of the shave, so it is at least accelerating this effect. For a while I am going to put the soap away after loading, and see what happens.

texaninkc · Apr 4, 2012

Yea. That's what happens to all my pucks. If there's anyone out there that can demonstrate how to avoid that I'd be happy to learn. Doesnt drive me nuts until the end.

jwcarlson · Apr 4, 2012

texaninkc said:
Yea. That's what happens to all my pucks. If there's anyone out there that can demonstrate how to avoid that I'd be happy to learn. Doesnt drive me nuts until the end.

_JP_ said:
The surface of the puck always dishes out from loading the soap into the brush. There is no way around it. I challenge you to do otherwise.

I have my Arko pressed into a Pyrex container with 1.5-2" of glass above the puck surface. So when I load I purposefully angle my brush towards the outside and it keeps it more or less flat.

Not that it matters at all.

njpaddy · Apr 4, 2012

The puck is the perfect place to rest a brush between passes. I do it with my soaps but not creams. Both soaps and creams will wear wear out faster in the center no matter where you rest your brush between passes. At least in my case it does. But it's always nice to finally see the bottom of something even if it's only dead center.

smithmts · Apr 4, 2012

This thread is getting a lot more action than I anticipated! I think I should add (or rather, re-emphasize) that all my soaps are Mamma Bears. I imagine that glycerin based soaps are more sensitive to this sort of thing. I once dropped a used-once-or-twice Neutrogena bar in a sink of hot water, and pulled out a sliver about 4 seconds later. I imagine that with something like MWF, it wouldn't make any difference.

I should also add that I am pretty OCD. I don't think I am going to be able to accept the "doughnut effect" as a fact of life until I have confirmed that it is unavoidable.

Bobtrumpet · Apr 4, 2012

smithmts said:
This thread is getting a lot more action than I anticipated! I think I should add (or rather, re-emphasize) that all my soaps are Mamma Bears. I imagine that glycerin based soaps are more sensitive to this sort of thing. I once dropped a used-once-or-twice Neutrogena bar in a sink of hot water, and pulled out a sliver about 4 seconds later. I imagine that with something like MWF, it wouldn't make any difference.

I should also add that I am pretty OCD. I don't think I am going to be able to accept the "doughnut effect" as a fact of life until I have confirmed that it is unavoidable.

I was just going to point this out about glycerine melt-and-pour base soaps. They will be consumed faster than other types, and the doughnut effect will be more pronounced. MWF, Harris, Tabac (to a lesser extent, since it is softer) and other soaps will hold up longer.

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Leaving Brush on Soap Puck In-between Lathers

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