Castor oil in shaving soap

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Glad this was useful for you. I bought mine of eBay, it's 415 grade soy wax with a melting point of 125F, from Mets Candles and more. Make sure it's pure, fully hydrogenated soy bean oil, it's also available with paraffins added for making candles, which would not be very nice in soap, I don't think.

I would hot process, since you have more control over the superfat that way. I don't think soy wax would be very useful as superfat, it's a solid at anything near the end use temperature!

Stearic acid is also fairly easy to use, but you must hot process that, it saponifies instantly when you add the lye.

Make a tiny batch (100 gr of oils) and see how it works before making a large amount -- it takes very little soap to get a good shave, and a 100 gr batch looks like it will last me at least six months.

Razor blades are a highly individual thing, what works for one person won't for another (or they will work nicely in one razor and not another), so your husband should not be upset if he doesn't like the Wilkinsons. I find Polsilver SI blades to be a pain, for example -- very very sharp, but I get bad shaves with them every time no matter what razor I use. Even with three passes I can feel stubble by lunch, while with the Wilkinsons I barely have stubble at 9 pm. Can't be that much difference in the actual edge, the blades are only 0.005" thick.

Enjoy!
 
Glad this was useful for you. I bought mine of eBay, it's 415 grade soy wax with a melting point of 125F, from Mets Candles and more. Make sure it's pure, fully hydrogenated soy bean oil, it's also available with paraffins added for making candles, which would not be very nice in soap, I don't think.

I would hot process, since you have more control over the superfat that way. I don't think soy wax would be very useful as superfat, it's a solid at anything near the end use temperature!

Stearic acid is also fairly easy to use, but you must hot process that, it saponifies instantly when you add the lye.

Make a tiny batch (100 gr of oils) and see how it works before making a large amount -- it takes very little soap to get a good shave, and a 100 gr batch looks like it will last me at least six months.

Razor blades are a highly individual thing, what works for one person won't for another (or they will work nicely in one razor and not another), so your husband should not be upset if he doesn't like the Wilkinsons. I find Polsilver SI blades to be a pain, for example -- very very sharp, but I get bad shaves with them every time no matter what razor I use. Even with three passes I can feel stubble by lunch, while with the Wilkinsons I barely have stubble at 9 pm. Can't be that much difference in the actual edge, the blades are only 0.005" thick.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the soy info and additional tips! And I can promise you my husband won't be upset if he doesn't care for the Wilkinsons. This whole thing has opened up a new world for him and he's just been enjoying trying out new types to see which ones work - and was especially impressed by how many shaves you got with them. :)


For my shaving soaps, I use fully hydrogenated soy wax which has approximately 87% stearic acid.

@psfred beat me to posting a reply, concur! :)

Elements Bath and Body indicates the Golden Brands 415 Soy Wax is partially hydrogenated, which is where I've always gotten confused before because I've read to look for fully hydrogenated. At any rate, think I just need to give it a whirl to see how it performs.

Thank you!
 
I heard that soy wax doesn't hold fragrance very well. Is that true?

Well, there are many other factors involved in getting scents/fragrances to stick in soap, but are you planning 100% Soy Wax soap? I've had no problems so far with my EO blends for shaving soaps using up to 51% SW, but YMMV.
 
Well, there are many other factors involved in getting scents/fragrances to stick in soap, but are you planning 100% Soy Wax soap? I've had no problems so far with my EO blends for shaving soaps using up to 51% SW, but YMMV.


Could you please elaborate on the many factor you mention. Maybe I can get few tips from you. Thank you in advance.


I did have problems with scents using soy wax at 50% (100% hydrogenated soy wax - additives free). I was only using essential oils. EO don't seems to have the tenacity FOs have. The scent would vanish fro the soap with 4-5 days!
 
@mistral, the list is by no means inclusive, but factors affecting scent life are:


  • Which essential oils/fragrances are used
  • HP vs. CP
  • Temperature of soap or emulsion when the EO/FO is added
  • Which other oils/additives besides SW make up the recipe
  • Water weight (more = longer cure and evaporation, which can pull more scent out of the soap)
  • Storage environment of the finished soap
  • Size/weight of the finished soap product
  • Total amounts used of the EOs/FOs
 
Let us know how your soap turns out.

Personally, unscented shaving soap is fine by me, I'm not fond of any scent early in the morning except maybe fresh coffee, I'm barely awake. I certainly don't want any scent to linger after the shave. Just me.

I have found that most of what I've tried fades, especially lemon and lemongrass oils. By the end of a month, it's all gone. Bulk Apothecary Sandalwood seems to last well, at a VERY low rate (1 gr ppo) and is quite enough for me.

The lather is great though, I will probably make another batch soon. I have a young friend who is using up his sample at an appalling rate by my standards, but soap is cheap and he likes it much better than canned foam. I bought a 3 lb bag of soy wax, I could probably make him a lifetime supply -- I nearly have my own from experiments so far!
 

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