Most efficient way to load and store soap?

I know this is kind of a broad stupid question. I just want to hear inputs on how everyone loads and stores their soaps?

Do you press the puck into a tin or do you load the loose puck up in your hand? For some reason I feel like pressing my pucks into tins, I feel like it doesn't conserve it as much as if I just load from the puck in my hand.

Afterwards do you leave the tin or puck out in the open to dry or just throw it in something and leave it be? I have been just throwing it in a tin and into my rubbermaid drawer below the sink.

I'm just trying to make a puck last as long as possible, because here lately it seems like my soaps have been disappearing a lot faster than they used to. Maybe it's just because I'm new to stirling and barrister and mann?

Unless it comes in a tube (like C.O. Bigelow or Real Shaving Co.), I keep all my soaps / creams in some kind of container; Old Spice mug for VdH, the little red tub for Cella, small wood bowl for EJ, pill bottle for Speick stick, and a twist up container for Arko. I usually let them dry out overnight before re-capping.

I never worry about how long they last. They all seem to last quite a long time and product is cheap anyway.

Maybe it's just because I'm new to stirling and barrister and mann.. Everything like proraso and synergy seemed to last so much longer

Soap always goes into a container of some sort, wood bowl, plastic tub w/screw lid. Definitely more conserving of soap than holding puck in hand

captp said:

Soap always goes into a container of some sort, wood bowl, plastic tub w/screw lid. Definitely more conserving of soap than holding puck in hand

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Do you find pressing it into a bowl or container of some sort conserves it more?

I always keep my soaps in the origional container until it's time to use it. If it's a hard soap...I usually take a cheese grater and grate the soap into my favorite mug/bowl/scuttle and press it in. I usually keep the box if it's some expensive stuff...just in case. Soft soaps, Keep them at room temprature, creams...same thing. When it comes to getting every last shave out of your soaps...you may be lacking in your current shaves just to accomplish that goal. when I'm done with the soap, I close it up and do it all over the next morning. Trying to get every last shave out of your soap is like trying to put water in the empty shampoo container to get every single bit of soap...lol but YMMV

Pressed or grated into Pyrex/Anchor Hocking 1-cup glass bowls with lids. 4 bowls with lids for ~$6 at Big Lots stores

^ This. All my pucks that didn't come in their own containers are in these bowls, both for loading and storage. Stirling samples, too. They stack easily and don't take up much room.

My wife saw me trying to manage my soap pucks, goes to her workroom and brings me the screw together containers her sheet solder came in. They are the perfect size for my Van Der Hagan and Williams pucks-in-a-box soaps.

I couldn't find the plastic containers on the jewlery supply site but this from the Container Store looks similar.

Gaines09 said:

Maybe it's just because I'm new to stirling and barrister and mann.. Everything like proraso and synergy seemed to last so much longer

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They are both pretty soft, so will get used up a bit quicker than a super-hard puck. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it, though. The quicker you blow through them, the quicker you can buy new soaps...

I keep both my Stirling and B&M full pucks in 5" CD tins. Stirling sells them, as does specialtybottle.com. They are awesome for loading. I put samples in smaller, 4 oz plastic jars.

Two hard soaps at first: Trumper Rose jammed into a 20-year-old wooden bowl, cracked and bleached and warped; nice; D. R. Harris Almond in its wooden bowl.

I just bought that TFS Bergametto Neroli from West Coast Shaving. Got a screw-top aluminum tin that fits perfectly; any new hard soaps I obtain, without bowls, will have a tin.

Valobra, Klar Kabinett, pressed into ceramic ramekins. Cella in its red plastic tub.

I keep my soaps in the container they came in. If they come as a loose puck (whether or not in their own container), I pop them in the microwave and give them 5-10 sec bursts to mostly melt them then pour them into a container. If they came loose in a tin, then I melt them in a pyrex measuring pitcher and pour into the tin.

Gaines09 said:

Do you press the puck into a tin or do you load the loose puck up in your hand?

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Not currently using hard soaps but when I did I never held the puck. That said, if it works for you then by all means do it.

Pyrex one cup rounds. 4 for $10 at Walmart. Way cheaper than the wooden / ceramic bowls and they stack nicely too. Lather the flat side of the puck, press the lathered side into the bowl and leave the lid off overnight. Should stick well enough to load off of without moving around.

w_mcnabb said:

Pyrex one cup rounds. 4 for $10 at Walmart. Way cheaper than the wooden / ceramic bowls and they stack nicely too. Lather the flat side of the puck, press the lathered side into the bowl and leave the lid off overnight. Should stick well enough to load off of without moving around.

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I found Anchor Hocking 1C bowls with lids at the dollar store, 4 for $5. Also stackable.

I have two Old Spice mugs and I just keep my current soaps in them. No lids. I don't worry about conserving soap. It's cheap and the sooner I use it up, the sooner I can try another one.

Soaps that come in a refill puck or bar are best pushed into a form-fitting vessel. I have tried using loose pucks and bars in large coffee mugs that were way larger than the pucks themselves, and this doesn't work that well because the puck just slides around the bottom. It's best if you use a smaller mug and just smash the soap into the bottom.

I've only had a couple pucks without containers, but what I do is nag my wife, mom, and sisters for their empty containers that previously housed body butter and things of that nature. They are huge, and will hold nearly anything. Just wash the old scent out, peel off the labels, and you're good to go. They are basically the same kind of tub that many other soaps already come in. And I plan on recycling any soap/cream containers that I kill.


Like so.

Do you guys leave the soap suds after the loading the brush up in the container or do you wash off the puck afterwards? I always leave them sitting out and open after shaving either way, but I normally never wash off the left over suds.

I don't like using glass containers in the bathroom. Soap and water and heavy breakables don't mix for me.

I use Twist Food Storage containers from Container Store. 3.5" x 3" (outside diameter, so they are just over puck sized and just under 3" tall inside). $3 a piece, really nice lids, microwave safe too.

The extra height helps keep all the lather inside while you're building it, so you don't have to chase it around the edge of the container. Kind of like mug lathering.