Soap is the bane of your medicine cabinet

[Zach]

Sure, there's the drP syndrome but that's somewhat rare.
For the great majority of us, it's soap, soap is the enemy.
It's soap that takes up the majority of the space in our cabinet, and it's soap that we keep looking for varieties of and spending money on.

Now naturally, razor blades are inexpensive and take up little space by comparison; also, razor blades are IMHO the most analogous components of your shave. I can get a good shave from any blade; I apologize to the aficionados of blade diversity, I mean you no harm, keep sampling!

And brushes are very expensive, so most of us have less than 10 of them. And they stack so well; you can get 20 brushes on a single shelf 6" high and 2 brushes deep. On average; I know you method men have some fathead brushes, and if you want to keep them on a stand it takes up more room, but, I digress. Brushes are not what's taking up all that space in your cabinet (unless you are, as I stated earlier, on the path to matching the good doctor).

Now the thing about razors is that like brushes, you want to keep them forever, but you likely rotate them more than you do your brushes, and you have more of them than you do brushes, and you may not like moving the blades around between them, so razors do a lot of hopping. Also, some people have really strong opinions about razors, and won't keep a razor they are not crazy about in a regular rotation, but don't want to give up on it, so you might have a carousel of them out on the counter, the ones you use, and then a stash of them in a box someplace that you get back to every once in a while. You know, the box with the mighty Gem Micromatic open comb razor that you can't figure out how to shave with without cutting the s_it out of your face, but you think to yourself "Gem made this razor for decades; people used it and loved it; why can't I get a great shave out of it?"
I don't know, Dave, that's not my point here, I'm digressing.

Still others will have a 'collection' of razors in boxes in closets; these won't affect your medicine cabinet.

So it's the soap; he is the enemy here. It's all those fat pots of Trumpers cream, and those wooden bowls of Harris or Taylor, they're just sitting there, taking up all that space. You try to find a way to shove a stick or a tube in there between the roundness of the bowls; you curse the cheap Italian plastic of your Proraso caps and wonder why they put them in a toothpaste tube that won't stack.
Your soap has crept into your wife's side of the cabinet, or into a drawer, hasn't it? You see, you need to keep your soap close, very close to you. You'll go a week with a blade and razor combo but you switch up your soap much more often, don't you? And that puck of Rose will last 9 months if you used it exclusively, which you never will, because today is 'Fat' Tuesday, and the day after that you want an almond, and you never use your Taylor's any more, and you read about some new exotic cream Giovanni has imported...
The razors are all the same, they hold a blade at a certain angle. Some do it with more style and some do it more aggressively, but essentially they are all the same.
The blades are even more alike; I doubt the majority of us would pass a blindfold test and can spot a Swede from a Feather.
Brushes, although they are very different in look and feel and scrub and how they work the soap, in the end, the result SHOULD be identical, you will get a slick, cushioning lather. I concede that all brushes are not equal and that they, like soap, are the object of collecting and appreciation, so, I'll leave it for the purposes of this diatribe that they don't take up a lot of space.
But soap? Soap is night and day. I can get 10 rose soaps and creams and not one will be like the other. Some almond soaps are floral, some are nutty, some are of marzipan. Sandalwood? Love it or hate it, same goes with floral soap. Want a menthol chill? That's not the same category of soap. Want that classy woolfat bowl? It's going to be a permanent external fixture, it will mark its territory, you will have to eventually clean underneath it. You can't not have a Tabac, it's essential. Of course you need the Valobra. Ooooh! Artisan soap! Need some Honeybee, SCS, QED, Tryphon, or Mama Bear? For goodness sake, people still buy and defend the benefits of a canned soap.
For these and for oh so many reasons, it's soaps that make you the most fickle and it's soap that is the scourge of your affliction. If you want to call it an affliction.

Now I offer that there are a lot of us who have the biggest problem with scents; they have much more aftershave and cologne than anything else. My argument there is that a bottle of GFT, when used daily, will last less than 1/3 as long as a pot of violet.

So what is the point of all this?
I think I have a solution, something that can help.
The answer?
Enjoy your soap, and use it.
But you do that already, right? What do I mean by this?
I mean, use a lot of your soap; and use it richly and luxuriously. After your first pass, run the brush under some hot water and load it up again, don't use what's left in the brush. You'll get that warm, rich, pleasant lather all over again.
Now this may seem as heresy to some of you, and certainly it seems wasteful as well, and not to mention expensive.
But think about this; what are you going to do with all that soap, leave it to your grandchildren? Or are you going to one day stop buying soap and use what you have? If either, then good for you!

Me?
I'm enjoying my shave more, and, I'm making room for more soap, which I will continue to buy, and use in this manner.
This shaving thing, it's about ME.
I do it for myself, not for they wife or the kids or for society.
It's my 15 minutes for myself daily ritual, so forgive me if my ritual is somewhat immoderate. I'll offset it somehow, or maybe I'll be forced to smoke a turd in purgatory. Either way, I'm making a lot of lather, today and every day!

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Boar can do more!®
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[notthesharpest]

I have enough soap for many years, but I hope it won't last the rest of my life. And I sincerely hope that no one here has enough to last the rest of his life either.

[Zach]

[notthesharpest]

[RJ]

Zach. You hit the nail on the head. This morning I was digging through my cabinet looking for my TOBS lavendar soap. Its not on the top because yesterday I tried a C&E soap that I hadn't seen in 10 months. The day before that it was Avacado, and the day before that it was AOS Lemon Soap. Prior to that I had been using Rose for about 2 weeks or so.

But today I NEEDED my lavendar because I was to try Penhaligons English Fern cologne for the first time, and what better way to start than a lavendar cream (don't answer that, I don't want to know!) By the way, fantastic. I'm a huge fan and I finally have found a smell that is ME. (Thanks for the rec Goose!)

Anyway, where the h@#L did all of these pots of cream and soaps come from. And I haven't even gotten a chance to order any Harris or MWF.

Starting tomorrow I am taking your advice. I will be relathering with every pass. So what if my PL8 can hold enough lather for 20 passes. I have enough cream to last at least until 2012 (at least), and there are at least a few more I MUST try and a few more I WILL, plus a few that I will be given and it truly never ends. Its like the freakin mail.

So waste I will. Anyone want to buy a scuttle?

[Zach]

Wow, RJ, I easily could have written your post. I think there's just a 'soapy logic' that permeates our lather mentality. And I like it that way!

Thanks for your post, and enjoy your soap!

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[brothers]

Genius! My sentiments exactly. I started out thinking just a little dab here and just use what I need. Then I realized how many choices there are, how much if that lovely substance I have on hand, even the Williams and VDH are lovely, if I take the time to work on them, and how much I just love looking forward to those 15 minutes of pure shaving pleasure before I have to get all serious and start dealing with life's less-pleasurable realilties. So I arrived at the same conclusion. It IS the soap! Use it up, try to use it up, enjoy it, make more if you want to, wash your face with it. My family gently says my hobby is crazy. Nothing wrong with that! Thanks!

[fallingwickets]

You gents are insane....crazy eddy style

Just use one soap, trumpers rose, and all your problems will be solved

Clive

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de gustibus non est disputandum

[Zach]

Good addition to the post, brother, thank you!
Clive, we all have Trumper Rose, I have one in the bowl and 3 spare!

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[bernards66]

Er.....a....well, yes....there ARE a fair number of them.....and they DO tend to take up quite a bit of space......yes..... . We had some serious remodeling done this spring, and my wife insisted that the ones I couldn't cram into the cabinet under the sink, or stash in the other bathroom, HAD to be brought under some sort of control. So I got one of those big heavy plastic bins, and in they went....and into the hall linen closet. At least it's better than it used to be. I used to have them stashed all over the house, they'd fall out of closets on to one's foot and so forth....sigh. So, that's some progress.... BTW, I've always used hard shave soaps the way that you describe; more water, more soap, lather it up for each pass....why would anyone do anything else? I'm into enjoying it, not seeing how long I can make it last.....sheeesh.
Regards,
Gordon

[Zach]

Gordon, your generally accepting view of my diatribe pleases me greatly! A generous reward for an hour of typing; I am indeed grateful!

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[RJ]

Today marks day one of my new and wasteful routine - one almond sized dollop PER PASS! For me, that makes TWO almond sized dollps and oh, what a difference! Lavendar flowing like the "punch" at a fraternity social! I am sure now that I will have seen the bottom of every pot and bowl by December 2010. As long as I keep the aquisitions to a minimum, that is. Anyway Zach, thanks for pointing out the obvious. No more stretching to get that last squeeze out of the bottom of the brush just to do a little touch up.

I still don't think I will be mixing soaps though. One soap per shave.

[drumana]

I use my shave soaps in that manner - load it up again for the next pass. Although, I don't rinse the remaining lather out, I just add more too it.

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-Andrew-

[TBoner]

I sometimes load for the next pass. Depends on the day and my mood and the brush and the barometric pressure and whether or not I'm depressed over the state of the Chicago Cubs or resigned to live out my life in utter disappointment...but I digress. I certainly use my soap at a faster rate than most, I think, based on the amount of brush loading I read about vis a vis my real experience. But big deal: as Squire says, we're talking pennies a shave and the experience of the bright scent of lavender or the rich warmth of sandalwood from newly created lather is worth that and then some.
I do concur with David, though: I don't have enough soap to last a lifetime. At my current rate of consumption, I'll make it to 60 years old or so at the outside. Of course I don't doubt my son will use some of these things when he comes of age, and should I move to an area with even harder water, it may increase my pace in terms of using up soaps. Indeed, I may not make 50 with what I have on hand. I believe I need to order some of that English Fern soap; never have tried it.
The insane amount of soap at my house does indeed require use of my closet, as the medicine cabinet just won't cut it. Still, soaps and creams are easier to store than colognes or brushes or razors, owing to their uniformity of shape and size. I can't stack shave brushes nor can I create neat, even rows of razors.
But when we start splitting hairs over the relative storability of our shave supplies, I suppose we've entered the realm of incurable OCD...
Good thread, Zach, and I shall continue using my shave soaps with abandon.

Regards,

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Tim

He shaved evenly and with care, in silence, seriously. - James Joyce

What is possessed is devalued by what is coveted. - John Updike

[Zach]

[Zach]

Thanks for the great addition to the thread Tim!
I am still in your debt for the mead!

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[rustyblade]

Get interested in straight razors and it will cure your soap collecting problem.

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Richard

[Zach]

[TBoner]

[TstebinsB]

I bought 15 soaps in the last 1.5 weeks. I'm selling the few I didn't like (or didn't like me - irritation) and I'm going for more. It's so sad.

And in regards to straight razors, I have five completely custom razors in production. It never ends...

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Telly

I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is. -- Albert Camus