In 2009 or 2010 I bought a kilo each of Cella and Vitos Super. At that time, I read about how Italian barbers stored such soaps for a decade. Based on their procedure I wrapped the kilos in wax paper and placed them in gallon size freezer bags and into a lidded plastic bin I had knocking about. I then stored them in the attic and have used them over the years as part of my soap rotation and after 12 YEARS the soaps lasted fine. I'm on the last bit of soap with the remnants of both in a shaving bowl. Both soaps became firmer but still malleable. In the last years the last bit of Cella became quite hard. Both lost quite a bit of scent with the Vitos retaining the most. The Vitos didn't change color over that time much at all, but the Cella did and in the last year it took on a greyish color but was still usable. Over all those years the performance of both soaps remained the same. So, is it possible to safely store the Italian soap kilos for a decade? My experience says, yes.
Long term storage of Cella and Vitos Shaving Soaps
- Thread starter Hanzo
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I bought a kilo of Vitos Supercrema in the early 2010s.
Chexked on it recently and it still looks good. Mine was wrapped in cellophane and kept at room temperature for the intervening time.
A bit that I cut and put into a plastic bowl went dark and hard but was still useable.
I am about to take delivery of a kilo of 3P so I'm hoping that will last just as well.
In fact, even more important, I hope I like it!
Chexked on it recently and it still looks good. Mine was wrapped in cellophane and kept at room temperature for the intervening time.
A bit that I cut and put into a plastic bowl went dark and hard but was still useable.
I am about to take delivery of a kilo of 3P so I'm hoping that will last just as well.
In fact, even more important, I hope I like it!
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I bought mine over 5 years ago, and it's not gone rancid or anything, so I have no reason to believe that it won't last.
I started off with half a kilo block of Vitos Red Coco and I have the last 100g or so left, and it's not like the croap it once was but dry and powdery. The lather seemed to be lacking in the properties it had before. I've tried adding some glycerine to see if I can revive it.
It's a shame the tallow version has been discontinued, it never quite got the adulation of some other tallow soaps but it was a classic.
I started off with half a kilo block of Vitos Red Coco and I have the last 100g or so left, and it's not like the croap it once was but dry and powdery. The lather seemed to be lacking in the properties it had before. I've tried adding some glycerine to see if I can revive it.
It's a shame the tallow version has been discontinued, it never quite got the adulation of some other tallow soaps but it was a classic.
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- #5
I should have been clear in the original post that the Vitos was the tallow version, the Extra Super. I agree with your assessment and I bought a couple of kilos of extra super from McQuire's Barbershop on ebay as replacements for the originals. I rate Cella but the kilo price was more than I wanted to pay. I use the inexpensive Vitos Cream and Extra Super to make pretty good Super and Uber lather .
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- #6
I have never tried that and honestly don't know if it would work. I think the fact that the soaps were stored in my attic had something to do to with their preservation as the attic where they were stored is very dry. Sealed in the freezer bags perhaps also helped as that is fairly airtight.
I store my Cella tallow once opened in the fridge, as they have gone rancid quite quickly. Not sure how long the vegan versions last.
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My Vitos Red is doing fine wrapped in cling film in the cupboard. Bought it around 2016 and have only used the top of a 100g bowl’s worth. It’ll take me two decades at this rate…
Two decades? Sounds like you need more soap.
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Four cakes of Kent inbound and four and a half of Salter. Umpteen (a very specific number) sticks of Wilkie, Palmo and ARKO (I’m piffing that though). Spitfire, Britannia, Coria, Cella, 3P plus 4 or 5 tubes Palmo, 8 or 9 of vintage Ingram. I think there’s a good few Godrej shaving rounds knocking around too plus a couple of Boot’s shaving bowls and probably more stuff that I’ve nae seen since God was a boy. So after that impromptu stocktake and weighing up the associated facts, you’re absolutely fucking right! I desperately need more soap!!!
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Aye, umpteen clever a multitude of sins.This would be a good answer to my "How Many?" thread.
The short answer being umpteen
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If you don't want the soap to change at all over time, you'll do all the packing and suchlike, but throw them in the deep freezer instead of the attic. That's what I've always heard recommended over the years.
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Hey fella, nice to see you posting here.
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- #16
That's interesting, the deep freezer instead of the fridge, never thought of that. This was a lot of years ago and I maybe misremembering the exact details, but I learned about how the Italian barbers stored Italian soap from Marco at B&B. My hobby was barberiana so I put a lot of stock into how barbers did things and felt his description of their method would work. I think? he said they stored the soap in a cool, dry, dark place, that's probably why I chose the attic.