alaskazimm
Well-Known Member
I've read through Songwind's thread and have made a couple batches of that. It's very well received by my shaving friends, but I can't use that recipe myself. In about the middle of the first pass my face begins to tingle as if it's reacting to something in the formula. Happens with both scented and unscented.
Long story short, I want to develop my own formula and after kicking around for a bit I came up with a cream type soap using a 4:1 of NaOH:KOH. I've read that shaving soap needs anywhere between 20 - 40% stearic acid content. Using mostly beef tallow, I got to a total stearic acid of 21% (I didn't have any straight stearic acid on hand to boost the total). It lathers very nicely with just an almond size scoop, is decently slick and thick.
Here's the problem, if left to sit on its own (or even on my face) the outer layer quickly dries to a crusty looking outer shell. A quick swirl of the brush seems to restore it again but only for a minute or so. Is this a lack of stearic acid content? Or is something else in play here?
The recipe:
beef tallow 47.1%
shea butter 16.5%
castor 16.5%
coco butter 10.6%
avocado 9.4%
after cook:
1 tbsp bentonite to 1 lb oil
10% glycerin (42 gr)
Long story short, I want to develop my own formula and after kicking around for a bit I came up with a cream type soap using a 4:1 of NaOH:KOH. I've read that shaving soap needs anywhere between 20 - 40% stearic acid content. Using mostly beef tallow, I got to a total stearic acid of 21% (I didn't have any straight stearic acid on hand to boost the total). It lathers very nicely with just an almond size scoop, is decently slick and thick.
Here's the problem, if left to sit on its own (or even on my face) the outer layer quickly dries to a crusty looking outer shell. A quick swirl of the brush seems to restore it again but only for a minute or so. Is this a lack of stearic acid content? Or is something else in play here?
The recipe:
beef tallow 47.1%
shea butter 16.5%
castor 16.5%
coco butter 10.6%
avocado 9.4%
after cook:
1 tbsp bentonite to 1 lb oil
10% glycerin (42 gr)