Your thoughts on soap "curing". Is it imperative for a great shave?

Not to try and one up you or anything Freddy, but my neighbor who used to drive me to school (also a high school student at the time) did the same thing while having a newspaper spread across the steering wheel reading it AND only having a tiny piece of clear glass at the bottom of the windshield to see out of as the rest of it was covered in frost. She was usually running late so we never had enough time to wait for it to clear. One morning, we actually did start to go off the road towards the ditch, harrowing to say the least!

Just a little time and life saving tip for all you polar car jockeys.

A spray bottle with 2 parts rubbing or isopropyl alcohol and one part water will remove frost in seconds. You will only need a squeegee or a rag.

Ice will succumb, without that hard scraping, if you tap it to make some cracks. As the liquid seeps through the cracks and gets between the ice and the glass, you can remove the ice in big chunks.

Beware of those drivers who really should be in a harness behind the last dog in a team pulling a sleigh.

Not to try and one up you or anything Freddy, but my neighbor who used to drive me to school (also a high school student at the time) did the same thing while having a newspaper spread across the steering wheel reading it AND only having a tiny piece of clear glass at the bottom of the windshield to see out of as the rest of it was covered in frost. She was usually running late so we never had enough time to wait for it to clear. One morning, we actually did start to go off the road towards the ditch, harrowing to say the least!

Just a little time and life saving tip for all you polar car jockeys.

A spray bottle with 2 parts rubbing or isopropyl  alcohol and one part water will remove frost in seconds.  You will only need a squeegee or a rag.

Ice will succumb,  without that hard scraping,  if you tap it to make some cracks. As the liquid seeps through the cracks and gets between the ice and the glass, you can remove the ice in big chunks.

Beware of those drivers who really should be in a harness behind the last dog in a team pulling a sleigh.

I live in a tropical country but I will surely remember this tip if and when I relocate! ^_^

Thanks for the tip Mickey Oberman. You know, I've lived in Michigan for nearly my whole life and have never heard that one before. I'm so glad winter's over but I'll be sure to try that next time around.

This has been a really funny thread hijack!  Here's my yucky milk story from my Navy brat childhood:  my Mom tried to do as much of her grocery chopping as possible at the base commissary but it was quite a distance from our home so we only went once a month or so.  With four young children to feed, we went through a LOT of milk...so she'd buy and freeze half gallons to try to cut down on buying it at the local grocery store later in the month.  When it thawed out it would be thin and watery with little chunks in it...just horrible. And yeah, she'd do the "cut it with powdered milk" trick too,  ugh.  Bless her heart.  

Re curing soap: cold process soap (primarily bath soap), in which oils/fats and lye are mixed together and allowed to saponify at room temperature, needs a more or less lengthy "curing" process to allow the chemical reaction to finish taking place; as it cures, excess water evaporates and the bars become harder and more long lasting, as well as more gentle on the skin.  

Because of the elevated amounts of stearic acid in shaving soap, it's more common to make it using the hot process method, applying gentle heat as the oils saponify, which keeps it more fluid so that all the ingredients mix together evenly and it can be molded and scented.  Hot process soap is cooked until the saponification process is complete, and all lye has been neutralized, so theoretically it could be used right away, but a curing period will allow the excess water to evaporate and the soap will last longer and lather better.  MdC is one company that has made a selling point of having a very long curing process.

Generally, when soap is sold it is ready to be used.  I think that the Tiki reference is talking about three separate things:  their soap curing procedure, how to transfer a puck into a tub, and how to bloom a soap.

A quality soap should not need additional "curing" after it arrives at your house. That's ludicrous. That aspect of the manufacturing process should be completed before the sale. Plus...if you order direct from Tiki, it usually takes about a month to get your order, so there is that additional, post-sale cure time right there...or at least it should be.

Good soap, and I enjoy using it, but I will never purchase directly...only from secondary vendors...

I bloom ALL of my soaps, both the hard pucks and the softer croaps. I live in a desert, where the ambient relative humidity is about 6% on average. I dont like to load with a super wet brush because it can be very messy, so I use a dry(ish) brush to load from a bloomed puck or tub. I find it makes the loading and lathering process that much more efficient for me. I don;t waste the bloom water, I use it as the base for starting my lather. I pour the water off the soap into my scuttle prior to loading. Blooming the soap helps to release the scent as well as softening the soap, so it fills my shaving area with the scent of the soap before I even get to lathering...

I still need to add water as I whip the lather, but this is my process. Some may find it convoluted, and it may be completely unnecessary, but I like it.

BadDad nailed it. You should not need to cure your soap for an additional time after you receive it. Usually the soap maker will cure their soap for anywhere from a day to several weeks


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Because of the elevated amounts of stearic acid in shaving soap, it's more common to make it using the hot process method, applying gentle heat as the oils saponify, which keeps it more fluid so that all the ingredients mix together evenly and it can be molded and scented.  Hot process soap is cooked until the saponification process is complete, and all lye has been neutralized, so theoretically it could be used right away, but a curing period will allow the excess water to evaporate and the soap will last longer and lather better.

Thanks for the milk story and the manufacturing process insights from a true professional!

I can't speak of the quality of Tiki Soaps as I've never used them but encouraging buyers to cure the soap due to increased demand sounds like a very very lame excuse.

Mystic Water, we had the frozen milk as well but ours wasn't intentional but happened in the winter if the milk man came early or we forgot to take in the milk off the back step or it was just too darn cold, the milk would be frozen solid and the little cardboard lids under the foil tops would be popped up from the expansion of the ice. It wasn't at its best after thawing .

Thanks for the explanation of curing - I've always thought of the soap making process in the same way as the concrete curing process - its not drying, its a chemical reaction that makes it harden. Chemistry is wonderful.
Mark

I'm not buying any Tiki soaps for sure.....
Great thread guys !!

Asking the buyer to cure the soap just rubs me the wrong way, and that's without any Tiki soap !