Why try to "fit" soap to a container?

[mgf17]

Here is a thing I don't understand: why do people try to make pucks of soap "fit" into a container? That is, when the diameter of the soap is smaller than the diameter of the container, some people here will melt glycerin soaps or grate harder soaps or smush down softer soaps so the soap takes up the entire diameter of the bowl.

To me, it seems like a much less efficient way to load soap; if your brush can't get the outer edges of the soap you end up with a "doughnut" and eventually have to take the ring of soap and try to mash it back into the center of the bowl once you get towards the end of the puck. If the soap is smaller than the bowl, on the other hand, you have more surface area to load your brush from, since you get the outer edges, and the soap wears evenly into a progressively smaller disk. (When a puck of Haslinger is between the size of a US quarter and nickel, I know I'm done with it because I won't have enough soap for the next shave.)

The night before I start a new puck, I just wet it and press it firmly into the center of the bowl; by the time I'm ready to shave the next morning it's stuck in place and doesn't move around for the duration of the puck.

Is there some advantage to the "fit it to the container" method that I'm not seeing?

 

[Heron]

You're right, when the container diameter is larger than the soap diameter you don't get the donut of soap toward the end. It detaches easily when it's only fused to the bowl at the bottom, though.

 

[NyquistRate]

I don't like how the lather spills over the edge of the puck. I can't get it out from between the puck and side wall.

 

[OtterLunacy]

In my experience, if it doesn't fit the container a lot of protolather falls into the gap, making it slightly harder to fully load the brush. Also, increased surface area = shorter load time. That's why shave soap tends to be short and wide, as opposed to tall and narrow. But mostly it just bugs me seeing all that lather fall off the sides!

 

[mgf17]

Huh, never thought of that; I just leave that lather where it is. Usually the brush is wet enough the next day to "melt" it. Now that I think of it maybe halfway through a puck I generally give the bowl a rinse to wash out whatever lather has stuck to the bowl.

 

[Joma12]

Probably just an aesthetic advantage. I would figure after a while, the puck would look like the grimy lonely bar of misshaped soap in the bath tub. I grated and packed. Looks neat, and I could always heat the bowl up to "melt" the donut back into a level surface.

 

[BigJ]

My preference is to grate the puck if it does not fit well in the container. But this is TOTALLY YMMV.

 

[Jaidmaster]

We all have our preferences - you could also just hold the puck in your hand to load the brush, or rub the puck on your face for a face lather.

 

[mozartman]

I don't necessarily end up with a "doughnut", though the puck doesn't wear down perfectly evenly or stay firmly attached to the bottom of the mug near the end, it's true. I could melt it again in the microwave. I don't want the puck falling out or getting dumped out by a shave den interloper. ;-)

 

[Accionmutante]

Well. I keep my soap in the middle of the container for the reason you mentioned. The only downside is that you have water collected on the sides and draining it (as you should since water degrades the soap) may waste some of the soap. Also allot of lather collects there as well.

 

[LabGuy]

Here is a thing I don't understand: why do people try to make pucks of soap "fit" into a container? That is, when the diameter of the soap is smaller than the diameter of the container, some people here will melt glycerin soaps or grate harder soaps or smush down softer soaps so the soap takes up the entire diameter of the bowl.

To me, it seems like a much less efficient way to load soap; if your brush can't get the outer edges of the soap you end up with a "doughnut" and eventually have to take the ring of soap and try to mash it back into the center of the bowl once you get towards the end of the puck. If the soap is smaller than the bowl, on the other hand, you have more surface area to load your brush from, since you get the outer edges, and the soap wears evenly into a progressively smaller disk. (When a puck of Haslinger is between the size of a US quarter and nickel, I know I'm done with it because I won't have enough soap for the next shave.)

The night before I start a new puck, I just wet it and press it firmly into the center of the bowl; by the time I'm ready to shave the next morning it's stuck in place and doesn't move around for the duration of the puck.

Is there some advantage to the "fit it to the container" method that I'm not seeing?

Huh! I just bought a puck of Haslinger and I stuck it to the bottom of a TOBS Shave Cream bowl. I was going to grate it, but after reading your post, I am going to continue doing what I've been doing - I use the brush to "suck up" any water between the puck and the bowl and any remaining proto-lather can just sit there.

Thanks!

 

[BSAGuy]

Why? YMMV.

 

[Nate B]

Why? Because i hate it when the soap comes loose from the bowl and spins around when I am trying to create a lather.

 

[Badgerstate36]

Some people dont like when the puck spins in the mug while theyre trying to load their brush. Personally, when I put a new puck in my mug, I just soak it in hot water for about 10 minutes, then load my brush and put the mug away without washing the suds off of the puck. When the suds dry, they kind of glue the puck to the mug.

 

[AlphaFrank75]

It never even occurred to me that anything needed to be done with the gap between the puck and the container I put it in. It was just drop the puck in and load my brush. I didn't even bother with trying to stick the puck to the container so it wouldn't move around. I knew it would stick in place after a couple of day and it didn't matter if it ended up stuck off-centered.

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

In my case, I want to mix Carden Farms glycerine soap half-and-half with vintage Oster tallow soap and put both halves into an Old Spice mug so I can have these two soaps automatically mix. So, fitting is not only desired, it is required.

Stan

 

[Marcos1]

Spinning soap pucks drive me insane and while eventually it will happen I like to limit the amount of water getting under the puck that may not dry completely. No right or wrong answer and I see both sides of the coin having positives.