It was Spice while it lasted.

[Slivovitz]

Haven't made a shaving related post here in quite a while, because no matter how much I enjoyed my morning shaves, for the life of me I couldn't think of anything to say about them. Most of my activity in 2012 was on the Nib forum.

Some time in 2010, I bought an Old Spice mug with the original untouched vintage soap still in it. Since then, by a reasonable estimate, I might have had anywhere between two and five weeks of shaves on it, in rotation with many other soaps. Late in November of last year, I used it several days in a row, and for some reason decided just to keep on going. It's been my only soap from then until today. After shaving this morning, I faced facts and put the last few sad remaining shards in my Frankensoap mug. Tomorrow it will be back to, whatever. MWF, vintage or modern Williams (just saying, let's not have that futile argument), Tabac, Cyril Salter...I've got a wide choice at home, and supplies won't run out for a long time.

It was oddly pleasant, though, not to use a rotation, not to have that variety. Contrary to my own title, the actual Old Spice scent of the soap, faint to begin with, was gone long before the soap itself was exhausted. For weeks I've been using a pleasant tallowy soap with a nice texture, predictable and good.

Well, that's done. I'm not looking for any more vintage OS soap. Ebay prices are just too high, and making the rounds of antiques stores and flea markets doesn't interest me, except just every now and then. Still, tomorrow, when I use, let's say MWF, I wonder if I'll decide to rotate after a couple of days, or if I'll keep that up for a couple of months as well.

 

[jdo]

About a year ago, I also purchased an Old Spice mug with the original soap off of Ebay. I immediately liked the soap and has since become one of my favorites in my rotation. I have often thought about only using the Old Spice soap but that usually ends after about 3 or 4 days. Since my purchase, I have tracked some of the prices of the soap and mugs on Ebay and was surprised at how much people are willing to pay. While I think the soap is great, I can't really justify the high prices when there are so many other great soaps out there for less money. So I am with you. When I am done with this soap, I will not actively be looking for any more.

 

[rxonmymind]

My wife once found six pucks at a thrift shop. Well, couple were sold here, a few given away and the rest on the bay which left me one. In our miscommunication she inadvertently sold the last one. Sigh. But I'm of faith that I will run into some again. That I feel certain of. It rather smelled decent for an old soap.

 

[blzrfn]

I face lathered the Old Spice soap for yesterday's shave. When I face lather a soap, part of my prep is to load a tiny bit of soap on the brush and work that in to my beard to soften the whiskers. The only problem was after ten seconds of loading I was already building a luxurious thick lather. I continued on with the normal lathering process by dipping the brush in water and back to the face and had plenty of lather for 3 passes plus some touchup. What an amazing product they made at a very competitive price (from what I hear). Too bad Williams and Van der Hagen aren't this good.

 

[Hammer]

I've got an old puck here that I have been nursing for about the last 5 years. The scent has long ago disappeared. I'am still kicking myself for not hoarding some back in the 70's but then I was more interested in women and booze and not shaving. Well at least I still have an old bottle of old spice after shave from the 70's that I use from time to time it still smells great after all the years. Maybe someday someone will come across a case of old store stock. Hey at least I can dream.

 

[demaro]

I have a couple of pucks of the Old Spice soap . I shaved with OS Soap this morning. Prices are getting out of hand on ebay for them , I still look there from time to time though.. Like others have said , there are other soaps that are just as great for less money , Too bad , because Old Spice made a great soap and has a great history behind it..

 

[Topgumby]

A few years back I saw an ad on craigslist for some Old Spice shaving soap...price was silly low.

I met the lady who was selling the soap and took several NIB pucks off her hands. She said she had many more, and I tried not to drool when I offered to take every last one she could come up with. Never heard back from her. But I still got a bunch of vintage OS goodness. I've since parted with a couple, but I've got enough to last in rotation till I get to that Great Shave Den in the Sky.

I have also been lucky enough to stumble upon a few mugs with soap in them. Each one of my two boys will get one when they start shaving. Maybe, some day, they'll remember me using the soap in that mug with the ship, just like I remember my father clowning with the lather he made from what I thought, as a boy, was a funny way to get a free coffee cup. He's long gone now, but I still have one of his OS mugs.

I've got a pre-WWII mug and soap, new in the wood veneer box. Don't know that I'll ever have the heart to use it. For some reason, it's got an emotional hold on me. I sometimes wonder what happened to the original owner...why did it sit unused for all those decades before I got my hands on it? I'm not sure the unknowable tale is a happy one.

Maybe now that P&G, via AoS, is doing a US made soap, they'll bring back the OS scent in the new veggie soap one day. Of course, it would be the same, but it would at least be something.