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?
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?