How Long Does Shaving Soap Last and how long it keeps
There are really two different topics we want to address. The first is how long shaving soap lasts, meaning how many shaves you can get from one container. The other common question is how long does it keep, meaning how long can it sit in your shaving den before going bad.
We will use the Sir Hare Classic Barber Shaving Soap in our example. As you can see the soap in the container doesn't completely fill it up. This is because we use an 8 ounce container and 4 ounces of soap. It provides sufficient room to load, and lather your soap without making a mess.
How long does shaving soap last
is influenced by several factors, but assuming your shaving soap is average size of 3-4 ounces and the soap is a medium hardness it will likely last at least 100 shaves.
Some varieties of soap such as Proraso and Tabac are measured in grams. A very high level estimate is 1 gram of shaving soap used per shave. More details are shown in the table below.
If you want to get a bit more scientific to determine the longevity of the shaving soap use the following points to determine the lifespan
- Size of shaving soap puck
- How much you load the brush during each shave
Loading a shaving brush is the process where you take the brush and swirl it in the shaving soap to transfer a thick paste of shaving soap to the shaving brush.
A typical load time is around 30 seconds and in that period of time you’ll get about .5-.75 grams of shaving soap on your brush.
These estimates are just that an estimate and you could get on either extreme .25 - 1.0 grams, but 1.0 grams is really too much shaving soap to load
There are 28.3495 grams per ounce, so below is a simple table showing the lifespan of shaving soap under normal conditions with light to heavy loading of the brush.
| | | | | |
| Size of Soap | .25 gram load | .5 gram load | .75 gram load | 1.0 gram load |
| 1 ounce | 113 | 57 | 38 | 28 |
| 2 ounces | 227 | 113 | 76 | 57 |
| 3 ounces | 340 | 170 | 113 | 85 |
| 4 ounces | 470 | 227 | 151 | 113 |
| | | | | |
As you can see if you are frugal with your shaving soap it’s easy to get hundreds of uses out of it. Go crazy and load it to the max and you still get a long life out of your shaving soap.
Considering shaving soaps are typically in the $15 price range for a 3-4 ounce tin it’s literally pennies per shave.
How long does shaving soap keep
I personally have more shaving soaps in my shave den than I care to admit. An addiction possibly, but to answer the question if shaving soap goes bad it makes me an expert.
There is no way I could use up the amount of shaving soap that I have between different types that I try out from other brands and the amount of test batches tweaking our latest recipes or different scents created by Sir Hare.
I've seen several shaving discussion boards where people have kept shaving soap for years and it works just as good as it did the day they bought it. My experience is very similar.
If you leave a shaving soap exposed it will dry out and some water will remedy that situation. Leaving it closed up tucked away in a cool dark and dry place will give you the longest life from your soap.
There is not really such a thing as going bad. Your soap will lose scent over time and might need more water to activate it. Other than that soaps can be kept as long as you can whip up a good lather from them.
Before you buy find out how to identify the Best Shaving Soap