In Defense of Shave Sticks

Please, help me understand this trend lately to grate, mash, or in some way transform shave sticks from their natural (perfect) form – into something that will fit into a bowl. It was in the MWF threads that I first noticed the trend – people were not happy with the ‘puck to container ratio’ of the Fat, so they grated it to fit (tip: if you just soak it a bit, it will fit without grating).This habit of grating MWF, even though it was a puck, looks to me, to have started a trend (if not a movement), so that now, it seems the first thing many people do (and encourage others to do also), when they get a shave stick of any type, is to grate, mash or melt it. It's as if the idea of using a stick, as a stick, is not even an option.

It happens daily, across the board, from the elite European triple milled shave sticks, to small scale Artisan sticks, down to the drugstore specials (even Arko for cripes sake!). It appears people’s first instinct when confronted with a shave stick, is to reform it. I think that more and more, the shave stick is being looked upon as the red-headed stepchild of the shave soap form factors - and many are more than happy to apply 'a little correction', as it were.

My question is twofold : Why? And also, has it always been like this?


Now for the disclaimer: Please know that I understand a person can do whatever they please with their own soap. And whether I approve of it, like it, or even lose sleep over it, carries no weight. I get that, I really do. I'm just curious.



-s

My brother gave me an Arko, and the first thing I did was smash it into a bowl. For me it's personal preference because I don't enjoy face lathering.

Actually, I am one of those individuals who at times will grate a soap. However, I never grate a shave stick - except for the nub that is too small to shave with and that I grate and add to other odd and end soaps to make a Frankensoap.

As for MWF, my puck began to shrink and began to spin around in the bowl. So I grated it to make it fit. I previously grated a tiny puck of MWF to make a shave stick.

I grate (actually slice) because I don't like it when water runs down the stick all over my hands. That's just me.

I love LaToja and just cut it like sausage, press into a mug, and have at it.

I'm with you on this. I grated a stick of Valobra once. Never again.

I use the cheese slicer to slice one piece of the stick and press into my shaving bowl which normally lasts for two shaves with plentiful lather, but never do I grate.

msimon said:

I use the cheese slicer to slice one piece of the stick and press into my shaving bowl which normally lasts for two shaves with plentiful lather, but never do I grate.

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Methinks we're splitting hairs here, sire

-s

I didn't know shave sticks needed to be defended?

The grating a MWF puck baffles me too. I have the ceramic bowl, which the puck doesn't fill. From the first shave it stuck down with the water that dripped from the brush and the lather, since then it has not moved. So why grate it to fill that void? I would have thought that by grating the soap, you would use it up quick? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Personally I like to keep shave sticks as stick but I understand if you prefer bowl lathering that you would want to transfer the stick into a container. You cant get brands like Palmolive or La Toja in a bowl form.

Better call Saul...

BSAGuy said:

I grate (actually slice) because I don't like it when water runs down the stick all over my hands. That's just me.

I love LaToja and just cut it like sausage, press into a mug, and have at it.

Click to expand...

I understand fully, that river of soapy water running down my hand drove me up a tree also. But, like me, you must have been using one of the old style sticks, the early ones. Do yourself a favour and try the new style dispenser La Toja has out, they've redesigned them to somehow work with gravity, and allow the water to "..run downhill, away from the hand.. taking advantage of the angle of the stick while being applied to your face.." blah blah blah. I won't even pretend that I understand all this technical mumbo jumbo of course, but I will say this - it works!


-s

Shave sticks do not work well for me and I prefer to load my brush from a puck. It's generally less expensive to buy a shave stick than a puck if the soap is offered in both forms. I've never tried La Toja, but if I wanted to, I would have to buy it in shave stick form and turn it into a puck.

Eeyore said:

I didn't know shave sticks needed to be defended?

Click to expand...

-s

I use sticks the way they are intended to be used.

I do, occasionally grate pucks that are too small to fit into a one-cup pyrex or anchor hocking bowl (such as Haslinger Schafmilch and Provence Sante).

I've also made sticks out of pucks. Works very well with Stirling, which is soft enough to use the "cookie cutter" method of stick making.

I recently schmoosed a stick of Arko in to a plastic tub - I bowl lather and I find it more convenient to load from something in a pot before building up in the bowl. Travel sticks stay as sticks

bcs89 said:

Methinks we're splitting hairs here, sire

-s

Click to expand...

lathering like that works best for me, I could never get decent lather face lathering as it always came to thick/dry or runny but that's just me, and loading soap from the stick to the brush takes forever.

Arko stick used as a stick... shall never see a grater. My Dad used to say... "It takes a genius to invent something, then any *** can come along and try to make it better."

Like Sigmund Freud said... "Sometimes a stick is just a stick!"

Ah! Shave stick is a shave stick. MWF is a puck that I used as a stick! Ungrated...

I don't know. I really don't.
EDIT: I just realized.

I generally prefer to load my shave brush from the bowl vs using a shave stick, so I've transferred a couple sticks into bowls.