I am guilty of using too much soap per shave

[AimlessWanderer]

I've had to throw two soaps away for turning nasty, and use them differently now. I keep the parent puck dry, and serve up a portion of it in a dish/bowl. When that's used up, I'll serve up another portion, either of that or something different, but the parent soap goes nowhere near brush or water. I've not had to throw any soaps away since doing that.

 

[Racquet]

I average 65 shaves per blade

I'm at a loss on this, that's an extraordinary number of shaves per blade even if you didn't have whiskers.

 

[TexOkie Shaver]

I'm at a loss on this, that's an extraordinary number of shaves per blade even if you didn't have whiskers.

Not really, we have several shavers over at the Excalibur brotherhood that routinely get that many shaves. Some average over 100 shaves per blade. I personally have taken a Feather to 20 and binned it while it was still giving good shaves, just so I could try something different. That is nowhere near the record of 140 shaves on a Feather. Before switching to DE blades, I put over 300 shaves on a Sensor Excel cartridge.

 

[FarmerTan]

If I could still buy Sensor blades without a second mortgage you folks never would have met me.


Aren't you lucky!

 

[TexOkie Shaver]

If I could still buy Sensor blades without a second mortgage you folks never would have met me.


Aren't you lucky!

That is exactly why I came back to DE razors. Once I relearned how to shave properly, I wondered what foolishness it was to give Gillette all that money and put up with sub par shaves. I feel like I wasted 30 years.

 

[thombrogan]

Aren't you lucky!

I‘m spoiled rotten. Even moreso now that my recently acquired stash of ARKO! will last much longer thanks to this thread.

 

[blethenstrom]

When I found out the puck had the same ingredients as the stick, my mind quavered. Now you’re telling me it’s even harder and I find myself at a loss.

Not going to bite the soap. Doesn’t smell like marzipan.

I know this is an old thread, but I could not help myself. You can list ingredients two ways on soap pre- or post- saponification. If they list it as a post saponification they list what the different fats turn into after saponification. Arko does that on their ingredient list. Therefore, you cannot tell if they used single or a dual lye process. Single lye (Sodium hydroxide, NaOH) will produce a harder soap than a dual lye process (Potassium hydroxide, KOH and Sodium Hydroxide, NaOH). I have the Arko sticks and they are definitely dual lye since with that much tallow in the soap it would have been a much harder soap using single lye process. I cannot speak for the Arko in a bowl. If it is harder it may be a single lye process or a higher percentage sodium hydroxide vs potassium hydroxide.

You can tell the difference in a pre or a post saponification ingredient list by if they list the lye used. If the lye, potassium hydroxide and/or sodium hydroxide is on the list it is pre saponification ingredient list. Otherwise it is post. Also fats change their names Potassium Tallowate, post and Tallow, pre etc.

 

[thombrogan]

Thank you for the explanation, @blethenstrom ! Very good to know

 

[FarmerTan]

Thank you for the explanation, @blethenstrom ! Very good to know

Ditto.

 

[Racquet]

Tonight I decided to use only a bare minimum of soap and see how far I could stretch it, to see if I could get a full lather with it, adding a little bit of water repeatedly until the desired result is achieved. Well, yeah, turns out I'm a wasteful inefficient bastard when it comes to lathering. I use way, way too much soap normally.

Gonna be much more efficient from now on!

Why though?