Bar Soap Use Analysis

[5savages]

I thought some of you might find this interesting. Since I had a spreadsheet set up for shaving, I decided to track bar soap use one day when I was wondering how long these bar soaps last.

The spreadsheet below tracks the soaps I've used since 7/1/2012. I've deleted one line of a soap I tossed because I didn't care for the scent, leaving a slight gap. I generally used the soaps every day with a wash cloth. It's not completely rigorous because I didn't subtract any days when I missed a shower or was gone for a weekend, but I did delete some days from longer vacations.

From the data, the most expensive soaps to use were the L'Occitane soaps at 18¢/day, which were nine times the cost of the cheapest, Yardley, at 2¢/day.

Soap	Scent	Size(oz)	Start	Finish	Days	Cost	¢/day	days/oz
L'Occitane	Verbena	3.5	7/1/2012	8/10/2012	40	7	18	11.43
Good Fortune	Tea Tree & Peppermint	4.4	8/8/2012	9/26/2012	49	3	6	11.14
KMF	Olive & Lavender	8	10/5/2012	12/19/2012	75	3	4	9.38
L'Occitane	Vetiver Wood	5.2	12/20/2012	2/20/2013	56	10	18	10.77
Yardley	Aloe & Cucumber	4.25	2/21/2013	4/4/2013	42	1	2	9.88
Alchimia	Fiori	10.6	4/5/2013	8/17/2013	122	5	4	11.51
Yardley	Pomegranate Rose	4.25	8/18/2013	10/10/2013	53	1	2	12.47

Good Fortune is a soap I found in a clearance bin at a toy store of all places. it was sold as a soap for the body, hair and shaving, but it was pretty poor for shaving.

Alchimia was one of the big bars sold at T.J. Maxx. I believe it's made in Portugal. Great soap!

 

[August West]

Thanks. I really enjoy these scientific posts. Just read one the other day on Old Spice formulas compared.

Now. How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? That is my question.

 

[5savages]

I should also mention that I don't use every last bit of soap. When the bar gets so small that it's a PIA to use, I toss it. Life's too short to mess with pressing soap shards together.

 

[August West]

I should also mention that I don't use every last bit of soap. When the bar gets so small that it's a PIA to use, I toss it. Life's too short to mess with pressing soap shards together.

122 days really caught my eye. My Kirk's Castile melts in my hands.

 

[Early Morning]

Yes, it's interesting. I am certainly no expert on bar soaps or soaps in general, but I surmise that L'Occitane Verbena probably doesn't contain any tallow (or very little), and I am guessing the same holds true for the Alchimia Fiori.

 

[Toothpick]

I thought bar soap would last a long longer than 40-50 days. I feel like my body wash lasts at least 2-3 months.

 

[SiBurning]

You deserve an award for discipline, patience, and persistence for spending 15 months on this. I could never manage. There's 4 bars of soap and 4 liquid cleansers in my bath (not counting hair, just face and body) and I'm missing one or two that want replacing.

 

[5savages]

Here's an update:

Soap	Scent	Size(oz)	Start	Finish	Days	Cost	¢/day	days/oz
L'Occitane	Verbena	3.5	7/1/2012	8/10/2012	40	7	18	11.43
Good Fortune	Tea Tree & Peppermint	4.4	8/8/2012	9/26/2012	49	3	6	11.14
KMF	Olive & Aloe	4	9/27/2012	10/4/2012	tossed	3	-	-
KMF	Olive & Lavender	8	10/5/2012	12/19/2012	75	3	4	9.38
L'Occitane	Vetiver Wood	5.2	12/20/2012	2/20/2013	56	10	18	10.77
Yardley	Aloe & Cucumber	4.25	2/21/2013	4/4/2013	42	1	2	9.88
Alchimia	Fiori	10.6	4/5/2013	8/17/2013	122	5	4	11.51
Yardley	Pomegranate Rose	4.25	8/18/2013	10/10/2013	53	1	2	12.47
KMF	Olive & Aloe	8	10/11/2013	1/9/2014	80	3	4	10.00
Bubbles by Brook	Bay Rum	4.2	1/10/2014	2/5/2014	26	4	15	6.19
1001 sief soap		1.5	2/6/2014	2/27/2014	18	0	n/a	12.00
Yardley	Cocoa Butter	4.25	2/28/2014	4/13/2014	44	1	2	10.35
Dalan D'men	Blue Ocean	4.4	4/14/2014	4/15/2014	tossed	1	-	-
Ogallala Bay Rum	Bay Rum, Sage & Cedar	4.5	4/16/2014	4/22/2014	tossed	7	-	-

The Dalan D'men was tossed because of the smell. Not unlike the stink of a Turkish #6 brush, though not as severe. The Ogallala I just tossed today. I really enjoyed the scent, but the EO's were just to much for me, causing stinging on my face and lips.

Bubble by Brook is a local soap.

1001 sief soap was a small sample that was included when I bought a limited edition Valobra Lavanda shaving soap.

Next up...a small bar of Mysore Sandal Soap.

 

[Tiki]

WOW I am seriously impressed! This is pretty awesome that you were so dedicated