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Wow. "If all of you know so much about soap making..." Just... wow.

First, no one chastised you. If YOU don't even understand what it is you are asking, how can you expect anyone else to? All I asked for was a clarification. "Natural" has no standardized definition and means different things to different people.

Second, you have been given an answer to your question, you apparently just don't like it because it isn't what you wanted to hear.

Many people on this forum know how to make shaving soap, and the reason they know how is because they worked at it, they researched the properties of the oils, they searched the posts and read suggestions, they learned and they formulated and they tested. They have put a lot of time and effort and expense into developing their recipes. Time and effort and expense that YOU have flat out said you are not willing to invest. I am happy to help anyone that wants to learn, again as are many others here, but I am NOT willing to spoon-feed you answers and tell you exactly what to do and how to do it because you can't be bothered. Sorry, but that isn't what I worked for.

The answer to your question is stearic acid. There ya go. That's it. Like it or not, take it or leave it. You can add stearic acid, or you can use oils and butters that have a high stearic content, your choice. I will even give you a free bonus: If you want to only use stuff you can get locally without having to order it online, some craft stores carry stearic acid.

If you wish to make soap, any kind of soap, shaving soap, face soap, hand soap, or laundry soap from scratch, even just as a part time hobby, you really need to put the effort into learning about what you are using and what you are doing or you are never going to understand what you are trying to accomplish.

Have a nice day.
 
Not to make anyone mad at me, but we get super long lasting creamy lather without the isolated stearic acid. I use enough cocoa and shea butters, no palm and no tallow either. I add extra glycerine and castor oil. The lather lasts over 15 minutes, it is super creamy, lots of razor slip and it is very nice and conditioning. It is also lasting us forever and a day, a very hard soap.

I had been researching shave soaps for a while before I took the plunge. Of course I plugged in numbers in soapcalc to figure how to get the stearic high enough, since as we all know, stearic acid is our friend here. However, you can get the numbers high using different butters that are naturally high in it. The down side is that it is not cheap to make. I sell my shave soaps and I have to charge more than if I used palm, tallow, and/or stearic acid. Since I sell several lower priced soaps, my customers understand that if a soap is priced higher, it is because of the ingredients. Yesterday I sold (lavender is vegan, the others have goat milk) the vegan version to a young man who was really happy to find a vegan - palm-free shave soap that works well!

To answer the question on why someone would not want to use stearic acid. Stearic acid is derived either from palm or tallow. I do not use either palm or tallow, so no stearic either. I am not saying there is anything 'wrong' with these ingredients. It is just not what my customers want, and not what I want to make and use either.
 
Once you get past all of the squabbling there's some really valuable information in this thread. Shaving soap is something that I want to try and master so thanks for all of the great info, everyone!

Now let's have a group hug:-D
 
green soap said:
Not to make anyone mad at me, but we get super long lasting creamy lather without the isolated stearic acid. I use enough cocoa and shea butters, no palm and no tallow either. I add extra glycerine and castor oil. The lather lasts over 15 minutes, it is super creamy, lots of razor slip and it is very nice and conditioning. It is also lasting us forever and a day, a very hard soap.

I had been researching shave soaps for a while before I took the plunge. Of course I plugged in numbers in soapcalc to figure how to get the stearic high enough, since as we all know, stearic acid is our friend here. However, you can get the numbers high using different butters that are naturally high in it. The down side is that it is not cheap to make. I sell my shave soaps and I have to charge more than if I used palm, tallow, and/or stearic acid. Since I sell several lower priced soaps, my customers understand that if a soap is priced higher, it is because of the ingredients. Yesterday I sold (lavender is vegan, the others have goat milk) the vegan version to a young man who was really happy to find a vegan - palm-free shave soap that works well!

To answer the question on why someone would not want to use stearic acid. Stearic acid is derived either from palm or tallow. I do not use either palm or tallow, so no stearic either. I am not saying there is anything 'wrong' with these ingredients. It is just not what my customers want, and not what I want to make and use either.
Click to expand...


Thanks Greensoap! This is what I was hoping to see when I originally posted. Thanks. I have played around with soapcalc alot to get to where I am with my shave soap now. When you use glycerin do you just add it at trace or what do you do? I am thinking on my next batch I am going to up the castor oil from 13% to around 25%ish and add a shot of glycerin. What is your number on your stearic content?
 
barred rock said:
Thanks Greensoap! This is what I was hoping to see when I originally posted. Thanks. I have played around with soapcalc alot to get to where I am with my shave soap now. When you use glycerin do you just add it at trace or what do you do? I am thinking on my next batch I am going to up the castor oil from 13% to around 25%ish and add a shot of glycerin. What is your number on your stearic content?
Click to expand...

Glad to help. I added glycerin (at 10% of the oil weight) to the oil blend before I added the NaOH and water, or NaOH and goat milk. I added bentonite clay and my EOs at trace.

My stearic number is 24 as per soapcalc.

My castor is just 7.5% but you should experiment and find what you like best. Some say that the soap gets sticky if you use more than 10% or so. Was your last batch sticky?

I have made a couple of batches of these soaps and I posted pictures of my approach in the photo section of this forum. We poured some in one of our own containers at home (a little clay creuset pot). We have been using it for almost six months and it still looks full, like we only used 10% or so? So even though the ingredients were pricey I am no longer mad at it.
 
green soap said:
Not to make anyone mad at me, but we get super long lasting creamy lather without the isolated stearic acid. I use enough cocoa and shea butters,
Click to expand...

Yep, this is exactly what New12soap just said in the post right above this one. that if you don't use stearic on it's own you would have to use butters/oils with a high enough stearic content to get the stable lather.
Either way it boils down to stearic.
For a nice shave soap and one with a stable long lasting lather there has to be a stearic content in it, regardless of how it gets in there.
 
green soap said:
Glad to help. I added glycerin (at 10% of the oil weight) to the oil blend before I added the NaOH and water, or NaOH and goat milk. I added bentonite clay and my EOs at trace.

My stearic number is 24 as per soapcalc.

My castor is just 7.5% but you should experiment and find what you like best. Some say that the soap gets sticky if you use more than 10% or so. Was your last batch sticky?

I have made a couple of batches of these soaps and I posted pictures of my approach in the photo section of this forum. We poured some in one of our own containers at home (a little clay creuset pot). We have been using it for almost six months and it still looks full, like we only used 10% or so? So even though the ingredients were pricey I am no longer mad at it.
Click to expand...

Nope, mine isn't sticky and my castor was 12.5% and my stearic is at 12. I am thinking that glycerin is where its at and will fix me up. I am thinkin i am going to add it at trace though. my line of thinking is that i don't want any of those glycerin molecules to bond to any of the lye so i will wait till all the oils bond with the lye and then add it so i dont loose it. so i will try that on my next batch. i am tempted to try to rebatch but i think it wont help.
i used my soap again this morning and i just have to spend a little more time with it than commercial soap to get a good workable lather but once i get it...it actually does a good job! I got a nice shave with it this morning and no burn when the aftershave went on so that is a good score. other than the burnt milk smell it has...I also want to use no EO or FO to scent it so any ideas on adding some scent and a little color?
 

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