Letting Shaving Soap Dry

[Hollowpoint]

Hi Everyone,

After years of clear blue gel goo, 4 blade, 5 blade, 6 blade, turbo powered battery vibrating razors...I've started to make my entry into "proper" shaving partly due to the fact I have really sensitive and irritable skin and easily develop acne/bumps after shaving (don't think it's ingrowns, can't see them, but can pop them).

I've been taking baby steps into the whole process and up until yesterday I was shaving with BIC single blade disposables with Proraso aerosol shave cream. Getting to the relevant stuff, my order of Pre de Provence shave soap and Tweezerman brush arrived today and I completed my first shave with the soap/brush.

I was wondering if there is a proper way to let the puck of soap dry? I don't shave daily since my skin is too finicky for that and it's possible I go 2-3 days before breaking out all the shaving stuff again. For right now, what I did was quickly rinse out the puck of soap inside the metal tin (because of the lather still on it and some hairs from the brush) and then I left the tin uncovered on the counter in my bathroom to dry. Is that good enough? Or should I be doing something else to make sure that puck of soap dries up so it doesn't mold.

Thanks!

 

[GreekGuy]

First off, welcome to the forum! You found the right place

What you're doing now sounds fine. I usually just leave it sit uncovered for about a day, and then put the lid back on. I live in SoCal though and its pretty dry here, so if its humid where you are it may take a little more time. It helps placing it in a ventilated area as opposed to the bathroom.

Generally speaking mold isn't a huge problem for a harder soap like PdP. But if you've rinsed it and there is tons of water left in there and the lid is put back on and stored in a cool place, it could potentially be a problem. Something you can do to speed up the drying is decanting off any excess water after rinsing.

Once your tweezerman settles in and stops loosing hairs, you don't even need to rinse it. I usually just let that excess lather dry with the puck and then put the lid on. Not rinsing significantly decreases the drying time.

Hope this helps

 

[Hollowpoint]

Thanks, it does. It's been a few hours and it looks dry now, but I dont know if water has just collected at the bottom of the puck and I don't think I want to pry the puck out of the tin. I was thinking I might need to buy another container or something like that, but it looks like I'll be ok.

Living alone, I have the bathroom door open almost all the time hahaha, it doesn't get too humid in there.

 

[GreekGuy]

Thanks, it does. It's been a few hours and it looks dry now, but I dont know if water has just collected at the bottom of the puck and I don't think I want to pry the puck out of the tin. I was thinking I might need to buy another container or something like that, but it looks like I'll be ok.

Living alone, I have the bathroom door open almost all the time hahaha, it doesn't get too humid in there.

Soaps do tend to absorb some water. Just leave it overnight or something and close it up tomorrow. You can also just leave the lid loosely covered on it if you'd like. some guys don't even cover their pucks. I have 20 ish soaps, so if I didn't the scent would start to fade on them, but with 1, you have nothing to worry about

 

[Croulebarbe]

FWIW, I shave in the mornings before going into the office, leave the lid off while I'm at work, and close it again when I get back in the evening. Dries the puck out well enough and seems to make it last longer.

 

[deruitem]

I just leave it under the counter with the lid set on not screwed on. Its not a big deal if you leave it off just screw it back on when you think about it. I dont rinse it out unless I have a lot of lather in it

 

[pdillon]

I dump out any excess water but don't rinse or towel dry. I leave the lid off until I get back for the day.

The only "problem" I have had was with my proraso, which seemed to detach from the green tub when it dried out. Not really a problem though.

 

[Bejaar]

I've always poured the excess water out, left the lid off for the day, and then place it back on during the evening. There's never been a problem with water being absorbed in the bottom of the puck.

 

[Seraphim]

I just put the lid on there and never had a problem.

 

[lt114]

I usually let the puck dry out for about an hour and that's worked fine for me.

 

[Kentos]

I just put the lid on there and never had a problem.

Same here.

I would have to add all the lids to my soaps are less than airtight so they dry out on their own. Harder soaps like MWF and even Tabac like a little moisture anyways.

If you mill a soap and don't press it into the new container well, water can get caught in the little voids and stink up the puck good. YMMV of course.

 

[Hollowpoint]

Thank you guys, appreciate the information!

Now I'm just debating PdP aftershave balm, and then of course going the whole nine yards and ordering up a Merkur 23C with all the fixings to totally switch over to safety razor shaving.

 

[mhdena]

I just put the lid on there and never had a problem.

I usually load in a wooden bowl, swipe the remaining lather out with my finger and put on top of the brush, rinse the outside of the bowl, place on a paper towel, finish shaving, wipe the bowl dry and put the lid on.

Never saw the point in leaving a bowl uncovered for hours or days.

YMMV

 

[rxonmymind]

Get one of these.. takes all the guess work out of it..(old pic)

 

[jsj_297]

I do absolutely nothing. When I get done with the marvey mug and arko combo, I just put it back in my medicine cabinet til the morning. It still looks like a Williams mug soap picture when I put it away, it just dries up crusty looking is all, no it deal for me.

 

[Mick]

I leave the lid off over night then cover it the next morning when I put it away and pull out another soap to use.

The only soap I DO NOT let dry over night is MWF. That soap seems to like being wet

 

[rbaloha]

Dump out extra water and let your soap air dry. Do not suggest using a cover/lid.

 

[cluelessdude]

Thank you guys, appreciate the information!

Now I'm just debating PdP aftershave balm, and then of course going the whole nine yards and ordering up a Merkur 23C with all the fixings to totally switch over to safety razor shaving.

GET THE PdP AFTERSHAVE BALM! I really like the PdP shave soap and enjoy the ASB as well.

Nothing wrong with how you are drying them now except if you become really anal about this shaving thing then you might get depressed after the ingredients label becomes unreadable .

 

[D/E Bob]

I simply leave the lid off while shaving and when done I screw it on. - Works fine and I have never had any problems. When I use my mug, there is no top to worry about.

 

[lixor]

I will get as much lather off top of puck as possible and then set it upside down with lid on in hopes that any excess moisture will fall with gravity towards lid and not in puck...seems to work.