Alum Block quality differences

[Ecosse]

I'm surfin around the internets and looking to pickup an alum bock on my next purchase. Although I've found brand name blocks for roughly $10 and no name blocks for about $3. Is there any difference in quality? I thought alum is just a mineral that's mined.

[ChemErik]

Just be sure it's Potassium Alum (NOT ammonium alum) and get the cheapest one. IMHO the only thing you get for paying more are as follows:
1) A smoother surface when new. The cheap one will have a mildly rough surface until used a couple times.
2) A less cloudy appearance. Yes, the cheap ones have a fraction of a percent more impurities that give them a cloudy look, but I have noticed any difference in performance.

[Squire]

I'd go for the more costly one in the pretty box. Even if you use it as part of your post shave routine we're talking about pennies.

[Ecosse]

OK, thanks lads!

[jww]

I have used 3 different brands of alum block:
1. Em's Place own brand
2. Osma
3. TOBS

The Osma and TOBS blocks are far superior to the Em's Place product -- not sure why, but they are. Also -- longer rectangular shaped blocks are easier to handle than square blocks. Be very careful, however, as over time, these can become slippery when wet with use -- and can fall. Alum is very fragile and will shatter into shards if dropped on a sink, counter, floor, etc.

It will soon be time for me to replace my current block. I'll probably go with the Osma at Fendrihans -- they no longer stock the TOBS version due to its fragility.

[rsp1202]

Shavex. Eight bucks, lasts forever.

Ron

[faceslice]

hi
they sure vary in price ,all seem to work the same .i use some of the deodorant ones , same thing ,half the price .

[Marlborough]

I have a block of GF Trumper Alum that has served me well for many years. It is a great product.

[bordeaaj]

In the 6 years or so I've been DE shaving I've tried several of the big name brands and a few of the lower cost brands...including several RazoRocks and even a couple of crumbly, sharp edged $1 blocks from Tulumba.com. My very favorite and the one I use on a daily basis almost exclusively now is the larger 4oz rounded oval block from Em's Place which sits perfectly on the nice little 2 piece wooden soap dish from Mama Bear. While determining my favorite alum blocks, I've used most of them side by side for literally months (and still have remnants of a few name brands I haven't given away) however, unlike what jww reports above, I have never been able to detect any brand superiority by effect on the face...but I do love the rounded edges, size, and heft of Em's larger 4oz block...the superiority here is comfort in application, easy handling vs small blocks, sturdiness, and decent price per ounce. Plus, the big rounded block looks great on the wooden soap dish (even my wife approves) which allows the block to air dry on all sides while keeping any salt from dripping onto and etching my stone tile countertop (the way the RazoRock did). I eyeballed this big block of alum for about 4 years before I finally decided to try it out...now, I wish I had decided to try it out about 4 years sooner. Both block and dish highly recommended!!!

Em's Place 4oz Alum on far right

http://www.emsplace.com/shaving/wet_shaving.aspx

Mama Bear's 2 Piece Soap Dish

http://mamabearssoaps.com/index.php?mai ... ex&cPath=8

[KAV]

Alum salts are not mined and brought by camel to Timbuktu. The salts are leached from bearing clays and shales and even in the past human urine and allowed to recrystalise. There are processes for each, and their uses and history fascinating.
Given that ancient peoples valued alum for many purposes and usually considered blocks with impurities inferior modern users can be equally demanding.
Impure blocks are like 'antiqued' furnishings and decorator swords full of forging marks no caravanseri would sit on or defend his favourite camel with.

[bordeaaj]

Alum salts are not mined and brought by camel to Timbuktu. The salts are leached from bearing clays and shales and even in the past human urine and allowed to recrystalise. There are processes for each, and their uses and history fascinating.
Given that ancient peoples valued alum for many purposes and usually considered blocks with impurities inferior modern users can be equally demanding.
Impure blocks are like 'antiqued' furnishings and decorator swords full of forging marks no caravanseri would sit on or defend his favourite camel with.

Whether mined from the alum deposits of Dashkesen and brought by heavily laden camel along the Great Silk Road to Timbuktu or leached from bearing clays, shales, or human urine, do you mean to imply that neither ancient caravanserai nor self-respecting modern forum member would sit on, defend his favourite camel with, or apply to his demanding visage the impure, inferior blocks of alum one might obtain from Em's Place of which I so heartily recommend? If this be true, I say that you have this day done a damnable deed...mayhap God has a place for such souls where fire and sacrifice may cleanse them of their dross as fire cleans the Forest of fungous things...and, mayhap, I'll meet you there!*

By the way, that favourite camel wouldn't happen to be a she-camel, now would it? I thought so...those crazy caravanserai!







* Disclaimer: If no such implication was intended please disregard any reference to damnable deeds, souls, fire, sacrifice, dross, cleansings, Forests, and/or fungous things.

[KAV]

Im'sh'allah We all buy the best.

photo credit F.Paolinelli

[bordeaaj]

Im'sh'allah We all buy the best.

photo credit F.Paolinelli

Indeed, indeed!

[jww]

Allow me to update my adoration of the alum block. Back in the summer I restocked as my alum blocks had all reduced to small chips with use. I purchased a Razor Rock -- mainly because of the portability of the case it comes in. Performance-wise I would place it with the Osma block, and the integral container/handle makes handling it a breeze.

Nothing more annoying then dropping an alum block and watching it shatter when it hits the sink, counter, floor, etc.

[KAV]

Annoying? imagine having your package opened and a overzealous inspector thinks it's lab drugs. My nieghbor, last week.

[jww]

Annoying? imagine having your package opened and a overzealous inspector thinks it's lab drugs. My nieghbor, last week.

Too funny.

[EL Alamein]

Egads! What the hay are you guys doing with your alum blocks? I have one that's near a decade old and it still looks darn near pristine. I only use it to staunch a nick here and there which I admit is rare indeed. That's it's intended use.

I understand that there are those that run it over their face as an aftershave but at the rate at which mine is disappearing I thought even that such custom would require near half a lifetime to deplete a whole block.

At the rate I'm going they'll bury me with my current block.

Chris

[KAV]

Ah grave goods for the afterlife.My specialty.

[jww]

Egads! What the hay are you guys doing with your alum blocks? I have one that's near a decade old and it still looks darn near pristine. I only use it to staunch a nick here and there which I admit is rare indeed. That's it's intended use.

I understand that there are those that run it over their face as an aftershave but at the rate at which mine is disappearing I thought even that such custom would require near half a lifetime to deplete a whole block.

At the rate I'm going they'll bury me with my current block.

Chris

My alum goes to the face after each and every shave, I let it sit and do its thing for a couple of minutes while I clean up the sink and counter, and then I rinse it and set it on the shelf to dry off. A medium sized block lasts me a couple of years -- but if it slips out of my hand and breaks, then it's a shorter lifespan.

So far the razor rock has been perfect -- yes alum is alum, but the container it comes in is brilliant - the knurled based which it sits in is almost slip-proof.

[m3m0ryleak]

I'll second the Shavex choice, shaped like a soap bar and comes in a plastic hinged case. The Razor Rock has to be commended for its ingenuity but once the base gets wet, the crystal will slip out and bounce across your bathroom tile floor (much like a Semogue 1305) .

If your pockets are really deep and the rational part of your brain called in sick, The Art of Shaving sella an alum block for $18 !.