Do you let your soap dry?

Thanks for explaining that the Colt jars and the Parkway jars allow for evaporation, Barrister_N_Mann.  I wasn't aware that was what happened with those jars.  I guess I need to buy some more B&M soaps in the Colt jars now!

The humidity at my house here in Southwestern NYS is ~65%+ from May until October or November.  I have always allowed my soaps to dry the best that they can, because if we're not careful, mold, mildew, and moss will grow just about anywhere around here.

I let mine dry for about a day

I don't put water on a soap before lathering. That 'bloom' word is like 'residual slickness.'   Those hobbyist words that are pretty silly imo!

Yeah I don't bloom. I always thought it's a way to waste soaps so you'll buy more.

There are a few soap makers who actually encourage blooming their soaps. At least Local Gent Shaving Co, Mystic Water Soap and Soapy Bathman come to mind.

Then there are those who say that if you use the soap often, there’s no reason to even put the lid on it between shaves. I’ve read that on at least one Italian Barber product page, and, well, I’ve never seen a lid on a Martin de Candre brain bowl.

That being said, I would just state “do whatever works best for you” — it’s your soap, and you should find the best way to enjoy it. I do hope there’ll be more comments on this thread, as it’s interesting to learn about different approaches to getting the most out of our precious soaps.
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I'll use a soap for a week and just leave the lid off. I've got ten year old soaps that have scents that are just as strong now as the day that I received them.

Clayton

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Back in the old days before the Internet and the shaving forums came to be I left my one puck of soap open to the air on the bathroom counter in it's mug. All I did was rinse it out after I shaved. I never had any problems with a soaps performance, or scent.

Clayton

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Great Grandmother Hanna O'Donafin; daughter of himself the O'Rossa told me to always leave potcheen, milk or whatever used daily open overnight for the Good Nieghbors to share. She also said to keep firearms, food and drink secure and unnoticed as a lace curtain protestant's parlour or face the wrath of a clauricaun or saint's forbid a pooka for keeping a messy home. This left me no little bewildered and seeking rational answers to life in Joyce, Yeats, Myles na Gopaleen and later Buddhist scripture. In university I briefly dated a real Bean Sidhe name of Siobhan always catterwhalling about how I laced my shoes to spending money. She mercifully threw me over upon learning my great grandfather was excommunicated for membership in a proscribed organization and my religious training based on the fruitless efforts of a Ulsterman Vicar from the C of I.
After that I decided to confuse my enemies. Sometimes I screw on the lid of life and sometimes I don't.

Back in the old days before the Internet and the shaving forums came to be I left my one puck of soap open to the air on the bathroom counter in it's mug. All I did was rinse it out after I shaved. I never had any problems with a soaps performance, or scent.

Clayton

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I have a few soaps that have sat in open mugs for close to a year now, and I have had absolutely no trouble with them. Scent and performance all around don't seem to suffer at all from being exposed for extended periods of time. At the moment I have Spieck for Men, Crowne & Crane Cognac & Cubans, and Mike's Pine & Cedarwood all in open mugs, plus 2 others in wood bowls with loose lids. They all perform and smell the same today as the day I opened them...

I always thoroughly rinse all my soaps and pat them dry. If they're hard soaps, I leave them out until ... well until I remember to put the lid back on, when ever that may be. Croaps on the other hand get covered up right away. When I first got into wet shaving I used to just leave the soap out in the open container until it was used up. I never had any problems with loss of scent and frankly, it never crossed my mind to do anything differently.

After shaving, I rinse the soap off with cold water and leave it upside down on a paper towel until I clean everything up. then I will turn it upwards and leave the lid off for about 15-30 minutes and cap it. Never any issues and soap seems pretty dry by then. I proceed to my room to store them away until next time.

I leave them out to dry for 24 hours before I put the lid back on.

Clayton

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RR Gold shave soap