Ok soap and cream collectors....................I have been getting AD pretty bad and increasing my quantity of creams quickly. Will soaps or creams go bad? Is there something that you have to do to make sure they don't go bad? I see dens here with massive amounts of soap and creams so I have to believe they will keep for awhile? After ordering 2 more creams and 1 soap tonight, fear struck me Will they go bad before I can use them all? Just 4 months into DE shaving so sorry if this is common knowledge. Thanks in advance for the advice. You guys are all great!
I've heard soaps actually get better over time because they become harder and some of the water evaporates out. Creams on the other hand can go bad I believe because they can separate. It'd still probably take years, though. I prefer soaps over creams so I'm fine because they last forever.
Generally a well made soap or cream will last about 2 to 3 years before the oils in the soap begin to go rancid. Oil rancidity can be tricky as spoilage may not initially be detected by the telltale raunchy odor. Even if all seems well, the soap oils might be developing potentially harmful pathogens over an extended time and IMHO, one should probably not be using the product past 3 years even if the soap or cream looks ok. Just my 2 pesos...
Tallow based soaps are most susceptible to decomposition. Cella Crema Sapone is kind of notorious for this. Best way to extend the shelf life of your soaps and creams is to keep them in a cool, dark dry place. I've heard of folks refrigerating and even freezing soaps with success. Should a cream dry out, if a stearic acid based cream it may easily reconstitute with an addition of a water/glycerin mix.
It depends on the soap. I wouldn't worry much about triple milled soaps, people even seek out and use vintage soaps. Artisan soft soaps that don't have preservatives can go rancid. Creams are also susceptible because they have a high water content.
I forget what soap it was, but it specifically said that if you were going to use it more than a couple times a week, to keep the lid off. It said the soap needed to dry for at least 24 hours before the next use or else you could ruin the soap and I feel like I've already messed up one of my soaps for capping it while it was wet.
I've used vintage soaps and shaving creams, with no issues. Tube creams seem to age better than tub creams.
The answer is: It depends. Pure soap just get better the older it gets. If there would be just saponified fats, the soap could be stored as long as you want. Most shaving soaps are "superfatted", meaning that too much fat was used in the process. (Soap is the end product when lye and fats react with each other.) The reason for superfatting a soap that it becomes milder as it removes less fat from the face. Also, when it comes to artisans, they do not have equipment to get the lye:fat ratio 100% right, so to avoid a lye heavy soap, some extra fat is added. Fats do get bad by the time, and if no preservative was added, you will have a bad soap.
I can't speak for creams, however when my father passed, I inherited many pucks of Williams that were 40+ years old. Other than having little or no scent left, and a few dried areas, they all worked well, producing rich thick lather. Unfortunately, he didn't keep the soaps in their original boxes and put them all in a plastic bag, some used, most brand new, but each and every one lathered well. I can't speak for other soaps as these were my only experience with aged or vintage soaps.