The Great Seasonal Shaving Soap Swap-Out! Am I the Only One That Does This?!?!

[SharpieB]

Hey all,

Fall is starting to rear its ugly head in my part of the world (Toronto, Canada) and today is the day I decided to put away my spring/summer soaps and bring the fall/winter soaps out of storage.

As someone with well over 50 soaps/creams, it is still an exciting time for me as I get to use a bunch of soaps I haven’t laid eyes on in at least 6 months. It’s like getting a new shipment of soaps.

For those of you that do something similar, what are you bringing about and what are you putting away? Might be as straightforward as putting away everything menthol (or bring out the Menthol if you live down under) of a large scale swap out like I tend to do or something in between.

What is your seasonal soap strategy?

My soaps going away until spring:
- B&M Oceana
- Stirling Island man
- B&M Paganini’s Violin
- NO Rawr
- B&M Reserve Waves
- Stirling Eskimo Tuxedo
- Chiselled Face Summer Storm
- Catie’s 95 liquid labels
- Wholly Kaw Iced tea
- Wholly Kaw Tempest
- NO Orbit

Soaps for the fall/winter:
- DG MOTI
- FCS Ace of spades
- FCS Satsumo
- FCS MFer
- Storybook Hook
- WK Denarius
- A&E Which one’s Pink
- B&M O’Delight
- Storybook Visions and revisions
- Storybook Carnivale
- SW Pomona
- Stirling Mountain Man

Let’s hear your plan.

PS. I know @FarmerTan and a few others will reply “Arko rules and all other soaps aren’t worthy“ but thats ok too (not really).

 

[Ivo4u2]

No real plan though I tend to more warm scents in winter and more fresh menthol in the summer. It only takes a moodswing to turn thing up side down and do the opposite

 

[Beefdrippings]

I’m gonna start getting back into my tub of Valley of Ashes by Southern Witchcrafts. That’s the only one I put on hold for the summer months. With the exception of bay rum, the rest of my soaps are citrusy or barber shop derivatives. I’m looking forward to smelling like ash again!

 

[tyoung]

I do this too, sort of. My den is mainly a tall bookshelf (with some backups and extras hidden around where my wife won't spot them easily!) I just started moving my warm weather soaps and splashes down to the bottom shelves, and up come the fall/winter scents to the more easily accessible shelves! I have an absurd amount to list, but some of my favorite fall scents rising to the top are:

Stirling Autumn Glory (The best fall seasonal ever IMO)
Stirling Gatlinburg
B&M Leviathan
B&M Hallows
Southern Witchcrafts (pretty much the entire collection)
CF Midnight Stag and Sherlock
PAA Sangre de Drago

 

[APBinNCA]

I have my soaps stacked in a sealed box. I can simply put the ones that I don't think are appropriate on the bottom and keep them there. I like to look through it completely once a month year round. Maybe I pull out something just for the heck of it.

I keep two sets in the bathroom for the week, one SV and one Artisan soap. I don't like to have to go fumbling through my box unless I want to.

As far as scents, I kind of have an overlapping system in my head partly because the climate does flip flops this time of year where I live. Right now, I am using some soaps with citrus and will keep them out about one more month. I am also starting to pull out the spicy or woody ones, but only use them on cooler days.

PDP No 63 is a perfect fall/winter scent to me. I am also using SV Cosmo for fall. I have some new DG coming this week and Zingari Man Watchman later. I probably won't be able to resist any specials that get released.

 

[SharpieB]

I also have a handful of all season soaps including Proraso, Canada unscented, PdP, St James Of London and a few different shaving sticks.

My soap stash will outlive me!

 

[Multum in parvo]

Nothing fancy, Menthol and citrus for summer (SMdF, Proraso green, Palmolive rinfriscante, Arko, OAM Stay Traditional) will be replaced by Vitos (Tabacco, Extra Super Coco) Tabac, Proraso red, and Officina Artigiana Milano.

 

[carluchi]

I also bring out different soaps when the white stuff starts flying. I typically move to more 'darker scents' like pine, spices and things generally not flowery - which I reserve for the spring and summer.

I'm looking forward to busting out the Captain's North, Cella, Stirling's Haverford .. etc.

 

[SharpieB]

Officina Artigiana Milano.

What is the original like?

I love Stay Traditional but that will likely go away until next spring as it isn’t really a fall/winter scent. Ethos Greenfresh as well now that I think about it…

 

[Multum in parvo]

What is the original like?

I love Stay Traditional but that will likely go away until next spring as it isn’t really a fall/winter scent. Ethos Greenfresh as well now that I think about it…

I’m bad at describing scents but it plainly works. The below is from their homepage.

Masculine and suitable for all seasons, it develops on top notes of Birch, Black Pepper and orchid to open the dance towards a steel heart made of whiskey, Havana and pungent saffron. In closing, toasted barley sits gently on a bed of amber and Guaiac wood.

I decanted a bit of the AS and use it as an EDT. Last week while leaving for the office I caught my wife using it as she likes it so much on me…

 

[SharpieB]

I’m bad at describing scents but it plainly works. The below is from their homepage.

Masculine and suitable for all seasons, it develops on top notes of Birch, Black Pepper and orchid to open the dance towards a steel heart made of whiskey, Havana and pungent saffron. In closing, toasted barley sits gently on a bed of amber and Guaiac wood.

I decanted a bit of the AS and use it as an EDT. Last week while leaving for the office I caught my wife using it as she likes it so much on me…

Cool. Thanks. So completely different than the citrusy Stay Traditional. I might have to grab that once I use up a few tubs.

 

[Multum in parvo]

Cool. Thanks. So completely different than the citrusy Stay Traditional. I might have to grab that once I use up a few tubs.

Is the AS meanwhile available in North America?

 

[SharpieB]

Is the AS meanwhile available in North America?

Officina Artigiana AS? I think Italian Barber has it and Top of the Chain will be getting it soon. The Stay Tradiation all soap pairs very well with Greenfresh AS, so I am in no hurry.

 

[DaveHStone]

I live in Continental (Central) Europe, where we have (or at least used to have) 4 seasons. How and ever, I've never subscribed to the concept of winter/fall vs. sumner/spring fragrances.

I like what I like all year round and that's that. I really couldn't care less what anyone might think about my choice of fragrance, other than SWMBO that is

BTW, I currently "rotate" the selection of 2 hard soaps (SV Opuntia, MdC Rose), 2 croaps (A&E The Undersea, Stirling Deep Blue Sea) and 2 creams (Cella Bio, Proraso Cypress & Vetiver)... It's far too much. Oh, I also got 1 stick of TOBS St. James for when I travel.

YMMV

 

[ksblazer]

Proraso Red will be getting more use and the green less.

Besides that everything will stay about the same.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Let’s hear your plan.

I only leave three lather options out at any time.

I put out one mug soap, or other hard/triple milled soap, in the smaller of my two lidded pewter soap dishes, and that stays there till it's finished. I also have one cream out, in its original factory container, and that too stays in place till it's done. The only short(er) term variation, are the tub soaps. I only put out a small sample sized serving of a soap at a time in the larger pewter dish (enough for maybe 20-25 shaves), and don't necessarily replace it with the same soap when a new serving is required. This lets me put out something "seasonal" for a while.



This is my array of options of tubsoaps. There's a few of these that would be suitable.

I'm currently using Achilles Last Stand, which is a nice woodsy soap, and feels quite apt in the weather of the moment. Berry Fields O' Blair is no longer an option (old pic) as sadly that one gave me skin issues. Empress Rising is actually a Halloween edition from last year, so I'll be giving that one a go. I think Sanskrit, Dracaris, and Stallion might be nice through the cooler months too.

 

[Tomo]

We are going into spring down under. I expect that SMN and AdP will start to make more regular appearances as the weather heats up.

 

[Leverspro]

I totally rotate for the weather and have about six tubs of soap that I haven't used in about 6 months. Really enjoyed fresh and citrusy stuff through the Summer. Green Fresh from Ethos was a revelation this Summer! Went through a lot of lime samples and finally found my keeper a week before it will go to the bottom of the drawer for six months. I've got PAA Blue Samhain lined up for the first day of Fall. The only soap that's doing all seasons right now is MdC Fougure.

 

[Slock]

I like to do a rotation of four seasonal soaps. This fall I will be using the following.

1. Stirling Varen.
2. Uncle Jon's Pipe Smoke.
3. Fine Santal Absolut Classic
4. St James of London Tonka and Tobacco Flower cream.

 

[OldSaw]

I shave indoors most of the time, so no changes are necessary. I have in-floor radiant heat, which means my bathroom is actually more comfortable in the winter as the floor below my feet radiates its warmth into my whole body. So whatever strikes my fancy when I open the medicine cabinet doors is what I use.