Some Thoughts on Soap Rotation.

[FonGu]

You know the old saying - Variety is the Spice of Life!

I've posted before that I am a bit of a self professed soap whore. Currently, I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-70. I am on a self imposed sabbatical, trying to reduce this and keep my AD in check....however, I did put some soap on my Father's Day wish list .....

In the past my rotation has been a different soap everyday. Given the volume in my den, it could easily be several months before I would revisit a particular soap. Lately, I've been sticking with a soap for a week before moving on. In doing so, I've noticed some subtleties to fragrance that I've missed before. In others, I've noticed lather properties that I had missed. One thing's for sure, I'm starting to see a noticeable dent in some of my software!

The change could be from me being better dialed in on a particular soap because I'm using it longer. Or it could be that the soap is remaining more supple from an increased frequency of use - I really don't know. I do know that some soaps that I formally considered 'good' or 'very good' I now think more highly of.

 

[mctmatt]

My shave den collection of soaps has had a massive growth spurt this past year. My rotation really is based upon which soap I want to use at that time. What I really hope to do probably after Labor Day is go through my collection and select those soaps and creams that I either have more than two of or that I know I will not use then decide which ones will get sold at the B/S/T and which ones will get PIF'ed. My problem is not buying to many soaps, but really letting go of the ones I will not use.

 

[johnniegold]

Sounds like you are a prime candidate to join the 3017's.

 

[redrako]

Interesting post.

There are many wonderful soaps and creams easily available it's no wonder that we jump from soap to soap like bees in a flower garden.

Yet I think that your onto something about really dialing in a particular soap. I try to focus on one particular soap for a week.

This week Mitchell's Wool Fat gets the call after an excellent run with Mike's Natural Lime.

 

[FonGu]

Sounds like you are a prime candidate to join the 3017's.

3017's? Tell me more please....

 

[BrookR1]

I have about as many soaps as you and I've been doing weekly rotations as well for over a year. My collection is roughly divided into warm weather and cool weather. For most of my soaps, I also have matching aftershaves. I find that the weekly rotation lets me experiment with different soap/razor/brush/AS combos. Because I have so many soaps, I only try to keep the really good ones and I will toss or sell the average ones.

 

[johnniegold]

3017's? Tell me more please....

Check it out...

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/128392-My-Guess-3017

 

[Mick]

I agree with your assessment of fragrances being more pronounced when a product is used more than once.

Also that the soap seems to perform better when used more than once every other blue moon.

I need to burn through some creams then I will look at my soaps.

 

[redrako]

3017's? Tell me more please....

3017 - the only guaranteed method to gain room in the shave den other than buying a new house.

 

[texaninkc]

I do a partial 3017 with a four soap rotation. I use each soap for 15 shaves (about a month) and then move on to another in that 4 soap rotation. When i finish one off i add another. It keeps me limited to just four so I can eventually finish them off but allows me the slight bit of variety I need given that like you I also have about 60 soaps.

 

[njpaddy]

Every time I use one continuously until it's gone, I find that I like it so much that I wind up reordering. Again yesterday I reordered a Harris Almond refill to replace one I finally finished off and then to make matters even worse I added a sample pack of 12 SRD soaps to the cart. Maybe I'll give your weekly rotation a try as the 3017 isn't working for me. Most of my reduction this year has come from tossing products I no longer like.

 

[strop]

The change could be from me being better dialed in on a particular soap because I'm using it longer. Or it could be that the soap is remaining more supple from an increased frequency of use - I really don't know.

These are two very important points that I did not/could not appreciate until I joined the 3017ers. Even if you don't use a soap to completion, using it for an extended period really is beneficial.

 

[FonGu]

Check it out...

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/128392-My-Guess-3017

Thanks for the link. Holy cow, 106 pages! It's going to take a while for me to get through that. Interesting concept, but I don't think I could stick with just one soap until its completely gone - I like the variety! As a side note, products that I can think of that I've competed in recent memory include a tub of Arlington cream, a tube of Bigelow, a puck of QCS Key Lime, a puck of Col. Conk Bay Rum, and several miscellaneous samples.

 

[Shadowsforbars]

I only have 9 soaps and 3 creams so I use a 4 to 6 week rotation. That is long enough to get to know a soap really well, but short enough that there is always another soap on the horizon.

 

[5savages]

I do a partial 3017 with a four soap rotation. I use each soap for 15 shaves (about a month) and then move on to another in that 4 soap rotation. When i finish one off i add another. It keeps me limited to just four so I can eventually finish them off but allows me the slight bit of variety I need given that like you I also have about 60 soaps.

I may have to switch to something like this. In my first year of shaving (2012), I amassed 60 soaps and creams, plus dozens of samples. If I count duplicates (like my 10 pucks of Colgate Cup Soap or my 14 Akros) it's probably close to 90.

After struggling last year to use each one for a 3 day run, this year I decided to go to a 10 soap & cream rotation. To help my efforts, I boxed up all my others and put them in the closet. It still seems like 10 is too many, so I'll have to consider dropping the number even further. It was hard enough narrowing it down to 10 though.

 

[brucered]

Since starting in with the 3017 thread and method, I have put all my soaps and creams out of site. They are in a tupperware under the sink and only the 1 current soap/cream is out.

This year, I have managed to finish off 5 partial tub/pucks of soap/cream (working on #6) and have no desire to go back to a rotation of soaps that I switch out daily or weekly.

There is something comforting knowing how to lather the product properly and what type of lather you will get from it, day in and day out.

 

[Ron Scott]

OP is onto to something. Jumping from one thing to another, anything for that matter including soaps, leaves you knowing nothing.

 

[Redstickjohn]

For me, the fun in collecting multiple soaps and creams is in not having any rules about what I use each day. I love just opening my soap cabinet, then saying to myself "ummm.......let's see. What will I use today?" I'd hate to restrict the fun by forcing myself to use something for a week straight--or not using something for a week straight. I find real enjoyment in making my selection each morning. And it's not just the soap..it's all my den...the razor, the brush, the blade, the aftershave. I do, however, find myself using favorites over and over--Proraso, Jermyn St., Tabac, but the lack of a set of rules makes it all the more fun.

 

[texaninkc]

I may have to switch to something like this. In my first year of shaving (2012), I amassed 60 soaps and creams, plus dozens of samples. If I count duplicates (like my 10 pucks of Colgate Cup Soap or my 14 Akros) it's probably close to 90.

After struggling last year to use each one for a 3 day run, this year I decided to go to a 10 soap & cream rotation. To help my efforts, I boxed up all my others and put them in the closet. It still seems like 10 is too many, so I'll have to consider dropping the number even further. It was hard enough narrowing it down to 10 though.

I'm a little on the crazy side and have an excel sheet with all my shaving items. included is info on how much i paid for them (or traded) and how much it would sell for now based on the amount of soap it has. As a result, it helped me really get an idea of the stuff I do and do not like. I have sold or traded the stuff I know I wont use. I still have a handful of soaps that I would like to get rid of but I'm in no rush.

The way I went about narrowing it down to my first four soaps was to look at usage left. My most used products ended up being a bowl of AOS lavender soap, a tub of AK 1869 cream, a tub of Arlington cream (that hardened), and a jar of MdC scented. Not a bad way to start my 4 soap rotation. It ended up being that I have two creams and two soaps in there. I will likely keep this pattern and start off knocking off the stuff that is worth less. If I realize I don't like it, off to the BST. With 60 soaps (mine include repeats... 90 wow), I realized I dont need to bother with stuff I wont like.

Oh and like you, the rest is boxed up. Once in a while I take the box out and smell stuff.

 

[alpster]

The only time I purposely use a cream or soap every night is when I participate in one of the "Item of the week" threads. Even at that, this week is DR Harris, I have enough different scents, that I still wind up using something new every night. Its still an interesting twist on my usual, just pick one, style.