TOOBS Sandalwood Soap - gone off??

Mouette

Mouette

Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2019
Location
Sydney
I have a puck of Taylor's of Old Bond Street Sandalwood Soap that I picked up at the Nundle Trading Post back in 2019 when I started wet shaving. It's been a trusty soap with over 49 shaves out of the puck and still more than half of it left.

Last two or three shaves with it however, have been dreadful. Couldn't get it to lather and it just ended up as wet mush. For this morning's shave, I bloomed the puck, loaded the brush and built up a lather in a bowl. I didn't add any more water than usual but it ended up a really wet lather. Shaved with a Merkur 34C instead of my usual straight and it went on my face as wet mush and just dripped off basically. No slickness at all.

Do 5 year soaps go off and lose their soapiness? Do I just persevere as the surface may have gone off until I get to the good stuff underneath. Or do I just throw it out and buy another puck.?

anyone else had the same issue?

cheers
andrew
 
Cream tub soaps don't last longer in shelf life than crope, hard and triple mill. However, cream tube soaps do last longer during shelf life, because of different formula on how it's made.

All shaving soaps MUST be kept directly away from sunlight, MUST be kept in a dark dry cool place in a wardrobe cupboard, and NOT in the bathroom.
 
I keep my stash in a cabinet in the bedroom. This particular TOOBS soap is in a wooden bowl with a lid that I bought off ebay, so no sunlight either. The other soaps in the stash are all ok. Just this one. Very strange.
 
A puck of Taylor's of Old Bond Street Sandalwood Soap bought off ebay could end up selling a bad batch, and some soaps do missed the total ingredients during the hot pour when it was made.
 
silverlifter said:
Black Bishop? That's what immediately came to my mind... :)

It makes more sense when it is inverted.
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Mouette said:
anyone else had the same issue?
Click to expand...


I haven't come across this with a modern milled soap, but I have had 80+ year old soaps that have gone crusty on their exposed surfaces. You could try scraping a bit off the top to see if you can get to fresher stuff underneath. I once tried a sample of an ancient Colgate soap that had done this, and I put the hard bits in a little tin with a bit of water, left it for a few days, and it lathered fine.
 
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Looks like I had an old quote sitting unnoticed in the background waiting for an inopportune moment... :rolleyes: :banghead:
 
I have a 9 year old (or there about) TOBS Sandalwood Soap. When I bought it a lid came with it. Coincidentally, I used it just last week. It lathered very well for me.
 
Mouette said:
I bloomed the puck
Click to expand...
There's your issue.

You really shouldn't be blooming soaps straight from the puck / tub. They absorb so much water over time, they never really dry out and after a few years, turn into mush.

I'd recommend, scraping enough soap off the puck for your shave each time, putting it in a bowl and blooming that.
 
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