Do soaps expire? Do softer soaps expire sooner than hard soaps?

What do you think?

 

I think water content has a lot to do with how long they last. I picked up a stick of Williams soap that might be from the 1960's. Very dry like a triple milled soap of current manufacture. It still has a little scent, and the tallow hasn't gone rancid.
The other end of the soap spectrum is creams. Check the ingredients and they include some type of preservative. The softer a soap is, the more water is mixed in. Water and oils - either vegital or animal - are possible breeding ground for bacteria.

 

Out of older and vintage soaps I own and have tried, I would say yes. Scent dissipates the quickest (several years though). Water content wears soaps out much quicker. Older triple milled soaps can last for decades. I gave had creams change in just a few years.

 

I have a puck of Klar shave soap in it's original wooden bowl and have used it a lot. It dates back to when Germany was divided, has West Germany on sticker. It's still working great for something that's 30 years old or more.

 

Klar is quintuple (5X) milled. All that pressing squeezes out moisture. Not surprised it's still good!

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yep........

 

I have a 1kg block of cella that is about two years old. I have been told that it should be rancid by now but it is as fresh as the day I got it. Its a very soft soap about the consistency of cream cheese. I have been shaving off a chunk about every 6 months and then wrapping the block back up in the foil package it came in. It's about half gone now so maybe 500 grams left. I have two tubs of cella with about 100 grams in each tub and I rotate them and so far they are both still good. Most of my other soaps Like Mitchell's wool fat, geo f trumper's eucris and TOBS almond are 3-4 years old or so and still going strong. They may be a touch lighter in scent but otherwise are doing fine. I use a soap for a week or so and then let it sit open for a day or two in the man cave and it dries out. Then I seal it in a ziplock screw top tub till I want to revisit it again. I have had no issues with bacteria or molds. Even stored wet I can't get the soap to go bad. I have had a few pucks of soap that were sealed with water or stored "wet" break down into mush like a cream but they still worked fine. Well, they were better than fine. No more scrubbing the puck.

 

I've got almost a kg of Klar soap (the kabinett kknd) on storage, so I am happy to read that it holds up well.

I also have a smaller puck of Cella and although not rancid yet I do se signs og age on it.

My worst case appears to be a tub of TSD soap. It looks like a tub of dried paint and is rather soft to touch. I do not quite know how to describe it. But it does't look too promising
The scent is still good, if not better than I remember.
I guess I ought to try it before I declare its demise

 

The Klar is holding up well, even considering that the plastic wrapper that was on it was off the soap.

 

Thanks for your input. This question has been on my mind lately.

 

My experience, no.

I have a puck of Old Spice maybe 50 years old. Still lathers and smells great. Used up a puck of Colgate that was maybe 60-70 years. Good to the last shave.

I have a tube of Tom's of Maine 15 years or so old. No loss of performance or scent. Still in the rotation.

Soft soap? Still using the RazoRock a member gave me July 2013.

Never had anything go bad. I keep the lid or cap on my creams and my soaps are in their individual glass bowls, each sealed in a Ziploc sandwich bag, stacked in the cabinet. No refrigeration needed.

 

I've never had a hard soap or non-tallow based croap go bad, but have thrown out a number of tallow-based croaps over the years (including Vitos and Cella) as they went rancid.

Creams are a stranger beast. Some seem to dry out and still work well when used and some go the opposite way with the component parts separating.

The worst offender I've found in both these respects are Cyril R Salter creams. They just don't seem to last as long as some of the other creams in my collection.


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Some products do expire, in my opinion. If they're not exactly the same as the day you purchased them, then they're probably expired. The scent, color and consistency can differ.
They can perform and lather nicely, but still they are "expired".

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I got a puck of red/white box Colgate that I'm saving for no good reason, that's from what, the '50s, early '60s? I fully expect it to perform well, as all ancient soaps I've tried have rejuvenated at least somewhat in hot water and have been usable.

 

Different definitions of expired. I define expired as no longer usable.

 

Going passed a government required "Use by" date doesn't make it unusable. I've only had one soap turn rancid. A puck of Marvy tallow acquired the scent of spoiled ham. No great loss.

 

Some will loose water but I have found they work great, I don't worry about a soaps expiring, after all they are soaps. Heck I have a jar of MdC that's 3+ years old, still works great. I do keep my goods away from the sun and try to keep them cool.

 

Used a tub of Strop Shoppe for today's shave and not sure why I never noticed it but she put BEST BY dates on the ingredient label. Not sure if any current soap makers do the same.

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Let me rephrase: I define expired as no longer usable, regardless of any date stamped on the product.

 

Yes, and IMHO yes.