How many is too many?

[AimlessWanderer]

Try them all!!

Otherwise you may not be able to determine your favorites!

Or wasting time trying other soaps, is time that could be betterspent enjoying the current favourites.

Two sides to every coin




This is not a "correction" of BigJ's post, just an alternate perspective

 

[BigJ]

Or wasting time trying other soaps, is time that could be betterspent enjoying the current favourites.

Two sides to every coin




This is not a "correction" of BigJ's post, just an alternate perspective

Good point!! You need to determine what you really like in any event.
(Spoken as a guy who spent a solid year exploring Haslingers options only!!)

 

[JamesBlades]

I think I have too many soaps when the amount becomes distracting. I'm still a young man, and I need the structure of ease of simplicity at this point in my life. Thanks for this topic; I think I'll PIF some soaps soon

 

[H4nk]

I like every day to be different so I can stand a few more than 1. I eventually go back to the Williams puck, like a dog returning to its vomit. But after a few days of William's, my adulterous heart begins causing my eyes to wander to that Proraso Red or AOS Bergamot.

 

[jdp93]

I'm up over 80 at this point, and I think I have too many. I don't stress about it, but I am going to put the breaks on for a while. I'm not talking sabbatical here as I may pick up 1 or 2 soaps a year if something really interest me. I would say if the amount of soaps you own causes stress, you have too many. This is supposed to be a relaxing, enjoyable hobby after all.

 

[Rt31]

Three.

I use one soap till it's finished, then open another. As each soap will give me between 150 and 500 shaves, having more than two soaps in the drawer is ridiculous for me. I currenntly have four in the drawer, and it will be another year before I get back to the sensible level.

Swapping and changing may give variety for some, but for me, it's just inconsistency. That said, when the soap comes down to the sensible level, I will be getting in some samples to try out - so for me it's more about the duration the soap will last, rather than the number of soaps.

A puck of Mitchells will last about three times as long as the soap I'm currently using. So I'm going to change my answer from three soaps, to anything exceeding 18 months.

This is why I’ve been trying to stick with stirling samples. I have my lathering down with the base and I have a variety of scents so I don’t get bored.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

This is why I’ve been trying to stick with stirling samples. I have my lathering down with the base and I have a variety of scents so I don’t get bored.

I like your thinking!

 

[Macfrommichigan]

I'm similar to this...I use the drawer and one shelf in my wardrobe for my shaving stuff. The shelf is taken up by 50 brushes, a few razors and about 40 soaps. The drawer is full of soaps, about 80 of them. I'm pretty much done as I literally have no more space and I really don't wish to store more soaps elsewhere.

My stash of backup soaps and about 6700 Polsilver blades are in the store room.

Ah ha! Cornering the Polsilver market!

 

[warman2012]

I'm similar to this...I use the drawer and one shelf in my wardrobe for my shaving stuff. The shelf is taken up by 50 brushes, a few razors and about 40 soaps. The drawer is full of soaps, about 80 of them. I'm pretty much done as I literally have no more space and I really don't wish to store more soaps elsewhere.

My stash of backup soaps and about 6700 Polsilver blades are in the store room.

You have 6700 Polsilver blades? Really? That's...too much.

 

[ajkel64]

Just get them all @timah083, it is Christmas the time of giving. Why not give to yourself.

 

[albsat]

I think that soaps can be a dangerous area for me. I need around 300 - 350 gr per year. So too much is having more than 2 years of supply. YMMW

 

[RayClem]

Wow! You certainly work through soap faster than me, Ray. A soap tends to last me between 6 months and 18 months. I have four new soaps in the drawer, which I expect to last around three years.

I think most soap vendors indicate that a 4 oz tub should last around 3 months, At that rate my 80 soaps would last 26+ years at which time I would be 94-95 years old. Although several of the women in my family have lived into their 90s, none of the men have. Thus, I have no reason to conserve soap. I always whip up far more than I need for the shave to make sure I have plenty. The faster I use up a soap, the sooner I will have space to add another one.

 

[johnwick]

I think most soap vendors indicate that a 4 oz tub should last around 3 months, At that rate my 80 soaps would last 26+ years at which time I would be 94-95 years old. Although several of the women in my family have lived into their 90s, none of the men have. Thus, I have no reason to conserve soap. I always whip up far more than I need for the shave to make sure I have plenty. The faster I use up a soap, the sooner I will have space to add another one.

Indeed, life is too short to skimp on the soap loading! And there’s always the unknown of a tallow soap going bad so lather away!

 

[AJSharp]

There is a simple mathematical formula to answer this question which is equally applicable to brushes or razors. If an individual has N soaps then the answer to how many soaps one needs, requires or is justified can be simply calculated as N + 1

Best of luck AJ

 

[AZBronco]

My target is anything more than 10 soaps is too many to rotate through. I did sabbatical this year and focused on using up those that were dwindling and I got from 12 to 8, so I have room for a couple more. 10 soaps is probably 3 years worth for me (depending on how hard or soft they are). I like to keep a few favorites and leave room to try some new ones.

 

[draconicsonic]

I purged my collection of soaps and now I stick to one and only one. Then I'll buy a new one when the current soap is getting low. Minimal clutter makes me happier than piles of stuff ever could.

 

[emwolf]

Right now I've got 75 soaps/creams with one more on the way. I have a drawer of new/unopened soaps/creams and two drawers (one soaps, one creams and blades) of the ones in use. Out of the 75, there's probably 5 that I would never use again based on performance and another 6 that I'm PIFing away soon based on scent.

 

[Ad Astra]

I think most soap vendors indicate that a 4 oz tub should last around 3 months, At that rate my 80 soaps would last 26+ years at which time I would be 94-95 years old. Although several of the women in my family have lived into their 90s, none of the men have. Thus, I have no reason to conserve soap. I always whip up far more than I need for the shave to make sure I have plenty. The faster I use up a soap, the sooner I will have space to add another one.

Good info.

Since the 1K Dorco Plat Primes were calculated to last me 13.6 years, my 40+ soaps should also last 13 years ...

Anyways. How many is too many? That is a Zen question ... can't actually be answered.


AA

 

[mrdoug]

After the expected influx from Christmas, I should have around 20. Mind you, that includes a duplicate shave stick (Palmolive... Have it in a tub too), a container of Cremo, and Cella - which I was not super happy about.

Don't get me wrong... Cella is top tier in performance, but during a shave it smells very light and after you shave the scent left behind is best described as filtered water (aka, nothing). [emoji3525]

I have a few must try brands still (Mystic Waters, Mama Bear, Stirling...) so I'll probably up the number over the next few months, depending on the specific scents I am looking for.

I will probably use shelf space as a limit... I have room for maybe 25-30 total, I'd gander. That'll have to be my cut-off. [emoji106]

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[rodmonster]

I retired over 3 years ago. I was a daily shaver my entire adult life and on retirement I switched to shaving every other day. Well, the solution to the problem of too many soaps is........Shave More Often. I am back to shaving every day and enjoying the heck out of it.