Shaving soaps shelf life?

[deepakvrao]

Don't get much variety in India, so am planning to pick [well, already ordered, so the question is a bit late] a few packs of shaving soaps.

Do these have a shelf life, or can I open 4-5 and use them alternately over a longer period of time?

 

[RayClem]

If you purchased hard (triple milled) soaps, these can last for years, perhaps even decades. The scent may diminish over time, but the soap will still be usable. I found a bar of soap I had for at least 25 years.

Some soaps are manufactured for the international market and are likely to contain preservatives. In that case, they may last a few years.

Many artisan soaps are made without preservatives and are also quite soft. Those soaps won't last as long, but proper storage conditions (cool, dark place) should help. If you load your brush directly from the container, you might want to allow the soap to dry overnight before replacing the top.

 

[sugardaddy]

The really hard soaps can last for generations.

The softer soaps can last for years, from what I'm told. There have been some cases of some of the fats/tallow going rancid. But I don't know if those were just bad batches or if the soap actually expired.

The vegan soaps are not going to contain tallow , but I don't know if they have anything in them that is going to expire.

Some soaps will last a very long time, but they might lose their scent, to some degree . However , the performance should still be good.

But I'd say you are definitely able to go ahead and start concurrently using as many of them at the same time as you want. Almost no soaps are sealed for long-term storage . They are not like a bottle of salad dressing that can sit on the shelf for a long time, but then has to be used or refrigerated once it gets opened.

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[deepakvrao]

Thanks guys. Mostly ordered a variety of the Taylor of Old Bond St bowls.

 

[Brian C.]

I have 16 soaps in a daily rotation right now. I’ll let you know in about 7 years how they hold up. Lol.


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[SHAVEWIZARD420]

Soaps last practically forever. Scent will fade a bit with time if not convered. Allow soap to dry before putting lid back on will help keep a normal consisancy.

Dont be scared to use whatever soap you wish and enjoy your new soaps with not worries. Many of us have a rediculous number of soaps on hand, and only a very few are known for going bad over time ( Cella being one of them) but its mostly complaints of scent rather than performance.

 

[Pedict]

Forever. I have a soap made in 1948-49 that is fine. Many have older.

 

[BigJ]

Soaps last practically forever. Scent will fade a bit with time if not convered. Allow soap to dry before putting lid back on will help keep a normal consisancy.

Dont be scared to use whatever soap you wish and enjoy your new soaps with not worries. Many of us have a rediculous number of soaps on hand, and only a very few are known for going bad over time ( Cella being one of them) but its mostly complaints of scent rather than performance.

+1! Yep!! Vintage Williams, for example, is far superior to the current product IMO!!

 

[Cino]

Creams can dry out over time but then they just become soaps. Cool, dark and dry is the best environment for storing soaps and creams. Then their only enemy is oxygen. Any fat will oxidize given time, and the softer the fat the faster it will oxidize. I've had olive oil go rancid within a year but soaps seem to be more resistant. I have pucks for 20 years that are still fine but i've been into the artisan soap thing for only a few years. I can say that none of my artisan soaps going back 3 years have suffered any degradation.

I know that's not a lot of help but hopefully it's something.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I don't have any worries about my "cottage industry" soaps sitting unused in a drawer for a year or so, or for the big company triple milled soaps to sit unused for longer. What I am most concerned about, is the life of the soap from the first time it gets wet.

Once I've started a soap, I like to (predominantly) stick with that one soap till it's done. I don't want to be swapping about between a whole pile of different soaps, repeatedly getting them wet and then putting them back in storage, and expecting them to not suffer for it.

 

[sugardaddy]

Once I've started a soap, I like to (predominantly) stick with that one soap till it's done. I don't want to be swapping about between a whole pile of different soaps, repeatedly getting them wet and then putting them back in storage, and expecting them to not suffer for it.

I bet scooping from your soaps , rather than brush loading , would help this .

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[AimlessWanderer]

I bet scooping from your soaps , rather than brush loading , would help this .

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Possibly, but I'm a face latherer, and enjoy loading from the puck. I don't want to get into "sterile" contrived behaviours, so that I can use more soaps than I consider to be sensible. To me, traditional shaving has an honest simplicity to it, and veering too far from that simplicity would take something away from the experience for me, rather than add to it.

 

[deepakvrao]

I don't have any worries about my "cottage industry" soaps sitting unused in a drawer for a year or so, or for the big company triple milled soaps to sit unused for longer. What I am most concerned about, is the life of the soap from the first time it gets wet.

Once I've started a soap, I like to (predominantly) stick with that one soap till it's done. I don't want to be swapping about between a whole pile of different soaps, repeatedly getting them wet and then putting them back in storage, and expecting them to not suffer for it.

Makes sense, but I want to have a few different open, so I can rotate between them.

 

[StillShaving]

I think you will be fine if you have a number of hard soaps open and in your rotation, to get a different experience each day of the week. In comparison shave creams do tend to dry out over the years. Personally I am still working on at least 3-4 hard soaps that were first opened and used before 2010 (tallow based and glycerin). None of them have gone bad.

 

[deepakvrao]

I think you will be fine if you have a number of hard soaps open and in your rotation, to get a different experience each day of the week. In comparison shave creams do tend to dry out over the years. Personally I am still working on at least 3-4 hard soaps that were first opened and used before 2010 (tallow based and glycerin). None of them have gone bad.

Total noob here, so, does Taylor of old Bond classify as a soap or a cream?

 

[Badgerstate36]

The soap itself should last indefinetely but it will start to lose its scent after about 2 years. The soap base will still perform wonderfully, you just wont get the scent.

 

[StillShaving]

Total noob here, so, does Taylor of old Bond classify as a soap or a cream?

They make both creams and soaps. For instance if you liked sandalwood scent they sell the cream in a plastic jar with a screw-on lid, as well as in a squeeze tube. They also sell sandalwood as a hard puck, either in a wooden bowl (lid does not screw on, it just rests on top) or as a bare puck without the bowl, as well as in a shave stick form.

 

[sugardaddy]

Total noob here, so, does Taylor of old Bond classify as a soap or a cream?

They have both available. The creams are reasonable, but the hard soaps have begun to be made by another company that does not do as well.

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[Uncas]

I believe the ancient Egyptians shaved with Williams. I have some that's nearly that old.

 

[catchacoolbreeze]

I had some Cella in the back of a closet that I forgot about. I had some in a Pyrex bowl with lid that stayed perfectly white. The remainder was left in the box and wrapped in plastic (I recently put in bowls) - it turned brown. Both smell great and work the same as I tested back to back. Purchased it in February of 2012 and this is what it looks like today.