I think that is the best approach. Worrying over expiration dates doesn't really bring any benefit. If a shaving soap is so old it no longer works well, then it can be used as a bath soap or discarded. The proverbial cool, dry place also has its benefits for storing all manner of semi-perishable items.

Most men buy a soap and then use it until it is finished, so extreme longevity is not usually a consideration. Most of them do not have rotations or keep large numbers of soaps, that is primarily a forum hobbyist thing. Some of the artisan soaps, more focused on that demographic, might place more emphasis on longevity.

I originally purchased a bunch of soaps with the intent of having a rotation. But I haven't opened any of them, besides Jeff's to take a whiff. I store them all in my dresser, same with my spare blades.

Yes! I do the same thing! I've been sealing my soaps and deodorants that the artisans made in bulk inside of ziplock bags to store long-term. So far, no issues. The softer soaps I was told would do just fine if they dried out and would lat longer as a result. I've found that to be true. In my bowls with loose lids I only have a small amount of soap that I took out of the soap storage container. The soft soap takes about a month to harden in the bowls but they work really, really good even with no blooming. I just wet the brush and load then lather. I think they smell even better after the soap dries up in the bowls. If I want a super moisturized slick/protective shave, then I bloom before loading or just use pre-shave oil before lathering.

I try to mostly conserve my soaps but occasionally indulge with a bit more soap in the brush.

My experience with vintage soaps is limited, but I was gifted a puck of tallow Williams, about my age, recently. It's getting better with each shave, and I'm guessing that is down to blooming SOAKING it, thus reversing the loss of water it may have experienced over those about 40 years. Can't tell what scent if any there was back in the seventies, but it smells virtually nothing now. Beyond loss of water and scent, thus, I see no expiration issues.

There's also a distinction to be made between unused and used soaps, methinks, when talking about expiration. I was advised by a soap artisan to always rinse the tub out with cold water [like you do with dish cloths after use, right???] in order to remove any unwanted spoiler potential. (There's another added benefit from the artisan's perspective, too, obviously...)

@Halvor , That's good to know about rinsing the soap. I find lathering on the puck works best for me, so my soap tends to be a mess after and I have to rinse it.

Thank you. I hate the term "blooming."
Newbies have no idea what it is. Then someone has to explain it is just soaking your soap with a bit of water. "Well, why didn't you just say that in the first place?!?!"

I don't soak my soaps. Am I the only one ?

I dont soak, just load with a damp brush. Even with hard soaps like Tabac I have no issues loading.

Nope. I don't soak my soaps, either.

My soaking or not depends on the soap. Croaps, no. Hard soaps, definitely. Amount of water also varies. Optimal is little enough to pour it into the palm of my hand and rub it into my whiskers after the shower, while the soap and brush has soaked (separately). I find it improves the lather and shave. My shave, enjoying it my way, eh?

At the very least, I suggest you give it a try if you haven’t!

I've tried soaking soaps and I find it did not work for me. I just use a really wet brush and lather on the soap. It's easiest for me, and the lather is consistent and good.

No bloomin' soaking for my soaps!!

I lather with a dry synthetic brush and even the hardest of hard soaps load up with no issue!

The whole idea of having to soak the soap is baloney!!

Hmmm... No soaking the soap, a dry brush... with no water, how do you get a lather?

And for those who want to soak their soap, more power to ya. It's your shave. Enjoy it your way.

If they are old just add a little more water than normal!

Dry as in, a fully shaken out synthetic brush. There's probably only a few drops of water at most and loading up a soap for under 10 seconds leads to a very dry paste, indicating there was minimal water in the brush.

Then i add water dip by dip and work it well during face lathering.

Then it isn't dry, it is slightly damp.
Dry is dry.
A few drops left isn't fully shaken out.

Can you fully, 100%, dry out your brush just by shaking it out? If you can, that's quite a skill!!

You're correct. And that was my point when you stated you use a dry brush. You do not.

I did clarify in my response to your dry brush statement, that by dry brush, i meant the brush was totally shaken out and being a synthetic, it doesn't absorb any water so what was left couldn't be more than just a few drops, which is evident by the fact that the loading process goes for under ten seconds as the lack of water doesn't allow further loading than that.

I don't then dip the tips and load more. I just take that 6-7 seconds of load and proceed to face lather, which requires a ton of water to be added and a lot of work to get it to go from basically dry soap to proto lather to thick lather to frothy lather and then to a creamy, slick lather.

This is the process for every soap and i never soak any soap.

The point of my original statement is that people who say soap needs to be soaked in order to get a good load is just not true.

I even use hard soaps that don't have a good reputation, with no issue at all. I get a great, stable lather using the above technique.

Don't take the above as retaliation... Just a clarification and also to illustrate my point

I must apologize for my snarky-ness. I was in a mood. Sorry.

I agree. Soaking soap is completely unnecessary. For those who do, press on!