Refrigerator Storage

Saw a post where someone stated they store their shave soap in the refrigerator.  Believe a refrigerator's (or other cooling unit like an air conditioner) first job is to remove moisture to make cooling more efficient.


Is this a good idea or just overkill?

I live in hot and humid Miami, and do not see a need to store my shaving soap in the refrigerator.  However, I also live in air conditioning.  I expect triple milled soaps would do fine here without air conditioning, but the artisan soaps may not fare well.

Probably one of those questions that can never be answered until it is too late .. but just my take .. I have hard pucks/sticks of triple milled that were purchased in about 2009, therefore made earlier, that have survived.  I have some Mama Bear's from the same era that still perform admirably, but there may be slight loss of scent.  Creams on the other hand will go hard - but can be reconstituted with distilled water & s tongue depressor.  The only soap I've ever pitched was Cella - and that was by sight alone after a couple years in the den.

I have read of guys using hard soaps that were decades old .. I ain't got enough time left to worry about shave soap & freezer space

I live in a very dry climate (summer and especially winter) and some soaps do just fine, others (like Cella and a subset of artisan offerings) have a limited shelf life. I’ve not had issues with Mikes, CRSW, and anything triple-milled (like Saponificio Varesino)

I think the fridge might be a good idea if you bought one of those 1 kg blocks of Cella. You can only use it so fast.

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(08-16-2021, 05:42 AM)Chappy Wrote: Saw a post where someone stated they store their shave soap in the refrigerator.  Believe a refrigerator's (or other cooling unit like an air conditioner) first job is to remove moisture to make cooling more efficient.


Is this a good idea or just overkill?

I don't know if you are referring to my earlier post about the unprecedented heat wave we had. During that heat wave, I placed some of my aftershaves in the refrigerator. I did notice my musgo creams loose some viscosity, but the soaps were ok outside the refrigerator.

Ha!  Yes!  Got too many soaps and many of those are discontinued ones that I love so I vacuum pack some soaps and store I. The garage fridge.  Things other than soap in that fridge are much more interesting.  That said, it seems to me that cold beats hot in product degradation.  Seems to be working but it also seems ridiculous I’m not willing to share my program everywhere.

Factors affecting shelf-life:


1) Hardness (milled vs non-milled)

2) Substances prone to rancidity (e.g. unsaponified fat)

3) Antioxidants (e.g. BHT)


Refrigeration is probably overkill if soap is triple-milled and is devoid (or only has a paucity) of substances prone to rancidity 

OTOH, if scent loss is a concern, then an air tight container is always an option.

I have many NOS vintage Williams soaps, I forget how old the oldest ones are and have no clue how they were stored before I got them. They now live in my home with me, just room temp. They still work fine, and I have no doubt they will outlast me. I just found another today and it's on it's way to join the rest.
I opened one a few days ago and have been shaving with it this week, it's still excellent shave soap.