dry you say? water it I'm not an expert, not an authority, have no first hand experience with this particular problem. but I'd say, if it's dry soap, water it.
Treat it like a hard soap and lather it right in the container with the wet brush ("puck lathering").
I was kind of wondering if I could add water to it or reconstitute it. I figured someone would have an answer sooner or later. It's not hard like a puck of soap but just kind of not creamy anymore.
It won't hurt to let some hot water sit on top of the soap/cream. But, to actually add water, you run the danger of adding too much water and just getting a soupy unuseable mess.
That's what I'd worry about. I had a tub of TOBS that had a hard top when I first opened it. I mixed it all up and the hard parts went away. But it sounds like the whole thing is hard, and now maybe more like a croap, and I'd think it would really easy to put too much water in it.
I have a bunch of the Coates crèmes in tubes and because they don't make it any longer, they are naturally old. Some of them are getting hard in the tubes so I just slip them into the micro for a few seconds
I had some cream that was pretty solid, I just took a chunk out, put in bowl and lathered it up, took a little longer but it lathered nice.
I'm totally picturing the shaving equivalent of trying to charging your iPhone in the microwave. Which of course caused all manner of fiery destruction.
Shaving cream is simply soap and water. When water evaporates the cream turns into croap and then soft and hard soap. You can always add water. If you add too much it will become soap soup. But don't worry, you can lather with a dry-ish brush and soap soup. Or just wait and it will evaporate and turn back into firm soap. I would buy a ziplock screw top bowl and put your soap in there. Add a few drops of water, screw the PID down and wait a day. The soap should soften up but if not repeat until it's the desired consistency. Art of shaving stuff is expensive. I would hate to throw it out.
It shouldn't affect the performance, so probably not to worry. I've actually taken creams out and let them dry uncovered for a few months in order to get a harder more soap-like consistency. They still smelled and performed great. I've read from others who took shaving creams (I think Proraso) and let them dry into a shaving stick container. So, you should be fine. Rather than adding water, I'd suggest just using the cream as is. On the up side, if you use it daily, it will absorb a lot of water and return to a more cream-like stage.
Same thing happened with my Body Shop Maca Root. All you need to do is take a Popsicle stick and a few drops of water, stir it (not too fast) while consistently putting more drops of water in it until you reach its desired consistency. Works like a charm, everytime.
It's soap and water. It dries out when the water evaporates. Simply put a wet brush in the jar and lather like a soap. Too much water in the jar, pour out the excess water. It will soften up...........