Long term storage of Cella and Vitos Shaving Soaps

12 years ago, when I stored my soaps food vacuum sealers were not as pedestrian as they are now. Reading one Reddit poster, he cut a kilo of soap into portions and vacuum sealed them for the long term. That would work I would guess even better than my freezer bags though I would still wrap the portions in wax paper. Airtight storage, placed in a plastic bin and stored in a cool, dry, dark place and I'd think that would work for a decade. I'm a bit leery of deep freeze storage because of how damaging long term freezer storage can be with food and I'd wonder if it might affect the soap over so long a time.
 
Hanzo said:
12 years ago, when I stored my soaps food vacuum sealers were not as pedestrian as they are now. Reading one Reddit poster, he cut a kilo of soap into portions and vacuum sealed them for the long term. That would work I would guess even better than my freezer bags though I would still wrap the portions in wax paper. Airtight storage, placed in a plastic bin and stored in a cool, dry, dark place and I'd think that would work for a decade. I'm a bit leery of deep freeze storage because of how damaging long term freezer storage can be with food and I'd wonder if it might affect the soap over so long a time.
Click to expand...
I looked into it a bit more. From what I've been able to find, the biggest concern is that it will pull moisture from it's surroundings as it thaws. So yes to the vacuum seal bags, and you would want to let it come back to room temperature before unsealing the bag.

Otherwise yes, sealed, and in a cool dark environment, soap should remain pretty much unchanged and would easily last 10 years, with or without freezing.
 
Not sure about modern formulations but I have some old shaving soaps (imperial leather, Yardley, Erasmic, Sir irisch moos, and quite a few others) and all of them seem fine decades after they were made.
I don't know how they were stored before I got them (or before I was even born) and I intend to never use some, but I've used palmolive and Erasmic and goya shaving soaps from the 1950s and they've been great and even retained a lot of their fragrance.

I'm not sure at what point ingredients had to be listed on soaps sold in the UK (guessing 1970s or early 1980s) so it is difficult to say if there is something in those old soaps that keeps them better for longer than any modern equivalent.

I'd like to preserve some tallow shaving soaps since they seem to be going the way of the advent calendar (their days are numbered)
 
Interesting thing about reformulations:

Unilever clarifies Pears Soap reformulation reports

Hindustan Unilever, the manufacturer of Pears Traditional Soap, has clarified reports in the national press that it is abandoning the new product formulation introduced last year following a facebook campaign by users to reinstate the traditional recipe.
www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com
At least with Pears soap, the manufacturer claims to have not added a ton of new ingredients, but rather just disclosed all the ingredients they were using, whereas before, they only listed "key ingredients."

They said it was to increase transparency to the customer, which sounds like a crock of ****. I think it was to satisfy EU labeling requirements.
 
I agree that smells like corporate BS at its ripest. Putting a goody two shoes look-at-me spin on a regulatory mandate. Same end effect but probably not out of the goodness of their hearts. Corporations do not have consciences and the Corporate Social Responsibility statement in the annual report is for most organisations just there like air freshener in a recently used rest room. Jeez I'm cynical but it's often true.
 
NotTheStig said:
I'd like to preserve some tallow shaving soaps since they seem to be going the way of the advent calendar (their days are numbered)
Click to expand...

This really is the thing to do particularly if the tallow soap is inexpensive and one can bulk buy. 10 years from now one would feel like a genius as you would have ample supply of what you treasure and doesn't exist anymore. I am not a hobbyist any longer but if I were I know I would buy a food vacuum sealer just for soaps. LOL
 
PLANofMAN said:
My home forum will always be The Shave Den.
Click to expand...
Hi there,

I enjoyed my time over there a long time ago and even when I went away her soap was still being ordered. Yeah, I liked it a good bit. Sue at Mama Bear was a hot selling item at that time. Matter of fact, I mighta been around when you joined there. I remember JoAnna being an active owner/forum participant, which was unusual back then

It's my second all around favorite shaving forum, and I normally visit it 8-10 times a year.

Martin
 
Last edited:
dodgy said:
Hi there,

I enjoyed my time over there a long time ago and even when I went away her soap was still being ordered. Yeah, I liked it a good bit. Sue at Mama Bear was a hot selling item at that time. Matter of fact, I mighta been around when you joined there. I remember JoAnna being an active owner/forum participant, which was unusual back then

It's my second all around favorite shaving forum, and I normally visit it 8-10 times a year.

Martin
Click to expand...
I think I joined in 2010, lurked for quite a while before that. Between her failing eyesight, and caring for her special needs daughter, JoAnna doesn't post much, but she still keeps an eye on things over there.

She even made me a mod a month or so ago. I'm still not sure why.

I like the smaller forums where I know everyone and can keep up with the posts.

Lots of good info on B&B, but it feels like tossing a message in a bottle into the ocean every time I post over there. Just a daily tsunami of drivel every day. ...and the mods are aufully ban happy too, I have to watch what I post.
 
Excessive moderation to the point of enforcement of groupthink with instant bans for minority opinions or contradicting a desired message seriously undermines the validity of a lot of information on any forum. It might be a money spinning advertiser's playground but if you know you only read what they want you to, it's a lot harder to assess the veracity of what you're reading. I imagine it would also not be conducive to a feeling of well-being and relaxed banter. Ends up like a cult where the 'fun' is just being allowed to be a part of it. I looked at a handful of fora before finding TSR and most are pretty good, certain ones I would not even bother trying to join. As always, YMMV!
 
PLANofMAN said:
I like the smaller forums where I know everyone and can keep up with the posts.
Click to expand...

I remember when you joined the Shave Den and quickly became one of the regulars. I think the Golden Age of the shaving forums was 2008-2010. Each forum had its own culture, and each forum was a thriving COMMUNITY. I haven't been on the forums for many years but some months ago I perused them, and I was taken aback, they seemed like abandoned communities. I wish for all hobbyists today that I could take them back to the Golden Age and the joyousness, connection, excitement, newness, that existed on the forums back then. That time was a magnificent time to be in the hobby, but it was one fleeting moment.
 
Bogeyman said:
Yes, but for pure knowledge http://forum.shavemyface.com/ has an archive akin to the lost library of Alexandria. For quite some time it has basically become a "tomb" with a few ol' geezers posting drivel, but back in the day.... As well, Badger & Blade, before it became a commercial cesspool ruled by EMO incels, was great as well.
Click to expand...
Wow. Blast from the past. I tried to join that forum about 15 years ago, never got the registration email to activate my account and eventually joined other forums.
 
I have been sorting through some stuff and found a sealed sandwich bag of Cella. I didn't date it but I know I haven't bought this stuff in years. Found a forum message dated January 2013 which is likely to be for this particular stuff.
It's been kept at room temperature ever since I got it and probably used a handful of times when it was new to me.
It is visibly darker than I remember and opening it up half an hour ago it's quite dry. Most noticeable is the complete absence of that famous rich almond marzipan smell. This has virtually no smell except a sort of earthy nutty smell.

It lathered up really well and I had a great shave. PXL_20230521_162248083.jpgPXL_20230521_160919427.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom