Post shave cleanup

Greetings,

This morning was my first safety razor shave with normal out-of-a-can shaving cream. This weekend will be my first shave with soap lather now that I stopped and picked up some proraso soap and pre-shave cream on the way home.

I've been watching tons of videos, lots of searches, the usual for a beginner.

One question I have that I haven't been able to find an answer for. How do you care for the soap after you are done? Do you rinse off the lather from the soap/container or do you leave it alone and let the lather just dissipate?

First off, welcome!

I'm sure everyone has their method, but I usually pat the puck dry with a towel or toilet paper and then leave it out with no lid while I actually shave.

Welcome to B&B! Glad to see you jumping right in with questions.

I think with soap it is a personal preference. But I'm fairly sure everyone will agree to not leave it wet. If you leave lather on your soap it will dry fine. Won't cause any issues. I'd say just make sure there is no standing water around it or on it.
I have soap (van Der Hagen) in a dish to large for the puck. After I'm done with it I just tip it up to drain any excess water and leave it sit on my counter as is, uncovered. It does get dry but it's soap, doesn't hurt it. A little water on it and it softens up and loads just fine once again.

I remember as a kid when I learned the technology of keeping bar soap dry and it would magically last much longer. I get the impression this proraso soap is intended to be kept in its plastic container, but that also seems like it would retain water, hence the dilemma

I think you will be fine just dumping excessive water off and putting the lid on.

I have Cella that is in a red container with a screw on lid. I load the brush right from the container. And a really wet brush at that. Then face lather. It's a thick cream (think playdoh). No issues with simply screwing the lid back on after dumping excessive water.

A hard soap, I rinse it quickly and shake off the excess water. My hard soap is stuck in an old wooden bowl.

I had the same question you have about your Proraso; but my Italian softish soap in a tub is Cella. Which I used for the first time today. (Fabulous shave, by the way.) Afterwards, I quickly rinsed off the surface and left it on the counter to dry. Covered it us in an hour or so.

I tend to face lather from my soaps. I notice that the softer Italian soaps pretty much burst into lather whenever you touch them but I put them away with a little lather on them and don't notice any adverse effects.

Just drip dry the puck. It's not like the soap is going to evaporate. I think you might cause other problems if you start drying it with toilet paper.

I'm still newer with the high-end gear I've discovered here at B&B, but I've been shaving with a brush and soap for over 30 years. I've never had any problems just leaving soap alone after dumping any standing water in the mug.

+1 to all of this.
After I load my brush, I just let the soap air out while I shave. Drain off any excess water when you are done and it is fine to store.

I just use cold water. I know it's better off to use some skin softener / conditioner ... but shaving takes up all the time I have.

+1 on this. It won't mildew if that is your concern.

speedwell said:

Just drip dry the puck. It's not like the soap is going to evaporate. I think you might cause other problems if you start drying it with toilet paper.

Click to expand...

Welcome.. I leave the lather in the mug. Its only soap. When you go to shave the next day or when your ready to shave, it will lather up again. Look at it like recycling your soap. Just make sure you don't have water in your mug or bowl.

Welcome. I just leave it on the soap.

I have lather on the puck in a small ceramic bowl. I cover it up with a folded washcloth when done shaving. It's worked fine.

I just leave the soap or cream open and cover it up when I get home from work. Whatever residual suds are there just dry out without any problems.

The only soap I use is MWF.
The puck naturally adheres to the base of the ceramic dish, so after the shave I simply rinse the remaining lather out with cold water & invert the container on the edge of the sink to drain.
After I've done my alum bar or AS splash routine, I put the lid back on the MWF dish & job done.
The soap benefits from being left a little moist, so this simple approach works well for me.

I just pour off any excess water. I leave the excess lather to dry. It's soap and I'll use it again for the next shave.

I normally just give it a quick rinse with warm water after I'm done loading and let it sit until it's dry then I put the lid back on it and put it up. If I used the same soap every day I might not bother putting the lid back on it but I have nearly twenty soaps in my current rotation.

As you can see there are differing ideas on what to with excess soap and any remaining water in the bowl following your shave. To each his own I guess. If I'm left with a lot of soap lather on my brush following my morning ritual, I squeeze it back into the bowl (I don't think this would be a good idea with left over cream...any thoughts?).
The recycling of soap makes me wonder about the integrity of the left-over soap...is this stuff chock-full of hairs and dead skin? If I want a good clean shave every day, should I be using stuff that's already been near my face? Or is my Scots heritage too strong to allow me to rinse off that excess soap from my brush and no doubt congealing in my drain's p-trap?