This morning, I decided not to take the 150th shave on my Taylor of Old Bond Street soap. Yesterday, I had a poor lather because the soap broke into several small bits and it was hard to load the brush. This happens at the end of just about any cake of soap. If you're going to use the same soap again -- even if you're not but aren't engaged in a comparative soap exploration project (also known as a "Soap Opera") -- you can just meld the bits into your new cake and end up using 100% of a cake. In my case, though, I want to continue on to George F. Trumper's Limes Shaving Soap. And I want to give Mr. Trumper and independent test.
This is where my weight data becomes valuable. Based on weight, I know that I threw away about six shaves worth of Taylor. That one cake of Taylor of Old Bond Street soap turned out to contain at least 155 shaves worth of lather. And it was good, rich lather with the perfect balance of lubrication and cushioning, quick to build and clean to rinse. While I balked at paying $14.50 for a cake of soap, I now see that it is try true that these English products are very concentrated. This one cost 9.4 cents per-shave. Canned lather typically costs about $4 for a can with 20 shaves in it, about twenty cents per shave, over twice as much.
I was initially worried about the blue/violet color of the Taylor product, that it might stain my brush. 149 consecutive shaves later, I can report that this fear was unfounded. No staining has occurred at all.
In conclusion, I highly recommend the Taylor of Old Bond Street hard soap product.
This morning, started using the George F. Trumper's Lime Shaving Soap. At $18, this is an expensive soap. It's also sold as only 80 grams. Most every other cake I've tried has been 100g. However, the Trumper's product did tilt my scale at almost 90g. I'm eager to see how many shaves it gives.
It was just slightly too large to fit into my bowl, the first soap I've had this problem with. I was able to quickly shave it down with a knife. I put the shavings into the bowl to be used. This is an added step, but only necessary when starting a new cake; it's not unacceptable.
The lather today was rich to a fault... clearly too much soap. It worked fine, but was very rich. I clearly do need to adjust a bit. But that's normal when changing soap, especially for the face-latherer. A bowl-latherer has better control of his process; a face-latherer has to rely on a consistent process.
Obviously, I'll keep you informed as I use the Trumper's product.