Batch #3 in my Soapin Adventure: MdC shave soap clone

[Johnez]

Hey gang, I'm about to jump into shaving soap for my third batch. I've gone through the songwind thread, and in my research came across another version of the clone online here:

https://www.ultimatehpsoap.com/post...shaving-soap-martin-de-candre-soft-shave-soap
I like this version as it lays out the options later on to improve the recipe. Glad to see the citric acid and sodium lactate additions clearly and simply accounted for. I'm curious as to how the olive oil addition affects the shave being I've heard mostly negative things from the addition.

Anyway, I've all the ingredients and am going to give this a shot. Should be fun as it's quick. Will be halving the batch, hopefully for two small portions-one to use ASAP, and one to set aside to cure and serve as a performance baseline for future improvements later. Next week or two I'll try with sodium lactate and citric acid.

Here's my soap calc recipe. I've omitted the SF and split the 55% stearic acid portion into 27.5% stearic acid and 27.5% palmatic acid due to the composition of my stearic acid that @ResolvableOwl somehow knew to ask about. A heads up to anyone purchasing stearic acid-check your SAP values and whatever documents that are attached. The soap calc tool assumes 99% stearic acid when you actually might have a 50/50 SA/PA mix (like I have!)

Based on my soapcalc numbers I got quite a bit of room to play with being the bubbly number is quite high, as is the S+P acid number. Besides the citric acid and sodium lactate adds next time, I'm thinking of carving 10% for castor oil in a future modification. I'm not sure what makes sense to add into this type of recipe, so if anyone's got some input I'm all ears. Ok, off to making this batch!

Aaaaaand it's done. Even cleaned up already. Screwed up with my scale in adding the salt. Didn't register the weight and realized after dumping probably too much in that my cup was probably over the jeweler scale limit. Dope! Guess I'm going to need some smaller plastic measuring containers to keep under the 100 gram capacity.

Anyways, scented with 3 g EO made up of:

Sweet Orange
Tangerine
Bergamot
Grapefruit

7:5:4:3 ratio

Played around with it till I got as close as I could to my dream scent heh. Went high on the EO percentage as I want to smell this at it's strongest to adjust later. I was perturbed that lime EO seemed to have not made it to my EO chest. Next time...

Anyway, it appears 150 grams oils is the sweet spot for filling exactly 2 containers that I have, getting accurate measurements is a bear tho. I may have to invest in a good scale that can read to the thousandths (in oz) accurately. The Ozeri everyone seems to have tends to jump in .04 increments which is highly annoying considering the tiny amounts I'm working with (especially when considering superfats or EOs!)

 

[Tara_H]

smaller plastic measuring containers

Personally I've found that the little plastic tubs that the dip comes in when we order pizza are just the right size for weighing small amounts of things! I use them for EO/FO and micas.

 

[Johnez]

Personally I've found that the little plastic tubs that the dip comes in when we order pizza are just the right size for weighing small amounts of things! I use them for EO/FO and micas.

Great idea!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

For measuring small amounts you'd be better switching to grams as a starter. I use a scale that does 0.1g measurements up to 7kg (that's 0.0035 oz and 15.5lb) and it wasn't expensive at all.

 

[Johnez]

For measuring small amounts you'd be better switching to grams as a starter. I use a scale that does 0.1g measurements up to 7kg (that's 0.0035 oz and 15.5lb) and it wasn't expensive at all.

Curious about this scale, happen to have a link?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Curious about this scale, happen to have a link?

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07HT34S8G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_i_SX46XAWMWVG2Y8YAQZ3D
This looks like mine, but I think mine was a different supplier. They're all made in the same factory anyway most likely!

Edit - has power supply rather than battery which is always a bonus

 

[earlene]

For US purchase, this one is close to that (5kg/0.1gm) for $23.99. But for $100+ there are a few other options on Amazon. I don't know what TEG's exchange rate is, but I'd say $24 is far more affordable than $100+ if you're in the market for a new scale.

But if you already have a good scale for the heavier items, a small jeweler's scale for the smaller items might be a better purchase.

 

[Johnez]

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07HT34S8G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_i_SX46XAWMWVG2Y8YAQZ3D
This looks like mine, but I think mine was a different supplier. They're all made in the same factory anyway most likely!

Edit - has power supply rather than battery which is always a bonus

Thanks, power supply is definitely a plus. I found various versions of this type for about $100-150. Just a bit much for my purposes currently, but definitely something I've got my eye on when I've got some spare cash.

***

The shaving soap is a smashing success, I'll be using this stuff till I run out of the first pot, the second I'll save for comparison and curing purposes. I wish I had split this batch into 3 pots to compare at 6 weeks and then at 6 months. I might split the difference and test again at 3-4 months.

I whipped up my lather with a bit of trepidation knowing I screwed up with the salt, knowing this is my first shot...and well I'll be danged it came out pretty fricken good! Pillowed on my face with the cushion of many of my artisan soaps. I'll list the pros and cons as if I bought this tub:

*Great lather, builds quickly and with staying power.
*Excellent cushion, piles on thick and pillowy
*Smells fresh, but faint
*Could be slicker, residual slickness is not there for blade buffing (if necessary)
*Leaves face clean. Not dry, not moisturized,

Great all around and shave soap. I would consider this soap on par with the performance of Proraso, and expect to pay about that price. I would not consider it elite level (such as a Barrister & Mann Soft Heart/PP8 base or even Stirling's current offerings) however there is something magical about getting something that performs as expected at such a mere sliver of the price.

Next steps/changes:
-adding sodium lactate and citric acid
-adding EOs later in the process (at lower temp)
-finding a scale solution
-trying a simpler citrus blend (Tangerine/Lime)

Pics to illustrate how well the lather holds it's shape and how well it builds up.

 

[Johnez]

I have to say I'm rather impressed with the strength and thickness of the lather, however the shave is just not as good as what I'm used to. Recent artisan offerings are just really really good right now, though with some less accessable ingredients I'm wondering if we can even match em these days. A second shave in the books, I'm considering putting it on the shelf to cure for a bit and maybe mellow out some. Time to give another batch a go at it.

So what's next? What to fix?
-slickness
-closeness
-skin feel during and after (irritation)

In my perusing of the forum I've come to some realizations in this recipe-coconut oil is perhaps a double edge sword. Great lather...but also stripping. I have a feeling the lack of general slickness and residual slickness is due to the stripping nature of CO. The cleansing number is quite high on the recipe and in playing with the numbers, lowering cleansing always lowers bubbles. I wonder how low I can get get the bubbles till lather is considered unacceptable for shave soap.

I am also considering rejiggering the stearic acid: palmatic acid ratio to be heavier on palmatic side. I've read threads attempting to do this for a better feeling bar, surely an experiment I can try with RBO. Moreover it appears I have 10 points to shave off in my S+P budget and still be at 50. Perhaps enough room for some experiments.

Speaking of RBO, it appears I may be neglecting linolenic, linoleic, oliec acids. Am considering adding RBO, Sunflower, OO, even Canola to see if I can get a nicer skin feel. The "slime" people complain about in Castile/Bastille soaps may well come in handy here in a shave soap. We shall see.

Despite the constant tinkering around, I've dispensed with the idea of playing with additives until I get a well performing base to build off of. It seems ultimately pointless to use an additive when it may not be needed or with a recipe that might be better worked on till optimal.

Soapin, what an art an science. Love it!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Great to see that it passes its field test! Of course, there are thosand things to try to improve it further, now that you know it works well . And I am in the comfortable situation that I can suggest everything, but you have to decide for/against each, and make it in the end .

Am considering adding RBO, Sunflower, OO, even Canola

I second this approach. Swapping out a few % of coconut by either won't make a big difference (it will, by adding gentle/conditioning qualities and lowering CO's drying/stripping qualities, but it doesn't matter too much which soft oil you choose for this).
From the (linoleic) numbers, RBO is slightly stronger than canola (but it also brings quite some palmitic acid). HL sunflower is the “worst” of all (most linoleic for most silky-soft lather, but also inviting rancidity), while HO sunflower is very similar to olive oil.
Almond oil would be another popular option, anecdotally it'll bring its own bubbliness that soap calculators cannot account for. And what about castor?

Another modification direction for the recipe would be to gradually replace the free stearic/palmitic acids by palm oil. In your recipe, lower each free acid by 5% and the CO by 10%, and replace them by 20% palm oil – the P+S (“longevity number”) is nearly unchanged, but your “conditioning number” magically tripled

The original recipe mentions cetyl alcohol (C12:0 alcohol). You could buy it in pure form at a cosmetics supplier, or alternatively add jojoba oil at a few % into your oil mix for a loosely similar effect. Lye will cleave it into soap and long-chain fatty alcohols (mainly C20:1 and C22:1).

Note that in the original recipe, the 5 minutes HP cook is a really short time, and only possible since coconut oil saponifies exceptionally quickly.
If you add any “slow” oil, expect increased cooking times. An incomplete saponification will finish over a few days, so it'll be safe soap. But your goal should be to fully saponify on the stovetop (to protect post-cook additives), and for this be confident that you can tell when the saponification reaction is over.

 

[Johnez]

Great to see that it passes its field test! Of course, there are thosand things to try to improve it further, now that you know it works well . And I am in the comfortable situation that I can suggest everything, but you have to decide for/against each, and make it in the end .

Thanks! This whole post, and posts in other threads have given me tons of information and roads to travel down myself.

I second this approach. Swapping out a few % of coconut by either won't make a big difference (it will, by adding gentle/conditioning qualities and lowering CO's drying/stripping qualities, but it doesn't matter too much which soft oil you choose for this).

What about.....10%? I guess there's a way to find out heh.

From the (linoleic) numbers, RBO is slightly stronger than canola (but it also brings quite some palmitic acid).

This is the reason I am sort of latching onto this oil, it gives me wiggle room to remove some stearic acid (really the 50/50 S/P combo stuff I have) and make even more room for...

And what about castor?

Ooooo....a wild fat appears. From what I read it's easy to fall in love with castor as the numbers invite ever higher additions. I've also read of the dark side however-stickiness. Not such an issue at lower percentages though. I believe it was DeeAnna who clarified for many that it is not an inherent bubble maker, but more of a bubble booster-which is perfectly awesome since we have the bubble king in Coconut Oil.

HL sunflower is the “worst” of all (most linoleic for most silky-soft lather, but also inviting rancidity), while HO sunflower is very similar to olive oil.
Almond oil would be another popular option, anecdotally it'll bring its own bubbliness that soap calculators cannot account for.

Rancidity...there is always a flipside heh. I scoured your Linoleics Anonymous thread and was tempted to reply, however I wouldn't be contributing or adding anything. The opening post however serves quite a primer for the various oils, pros and cons, and what the FA profiles are up to. Almond oil though, eh? Hmmm...

I'm envisioning experiments with the HL and HO oils. What is the least amount I can add to feel benefit, what is the most I can add until lather is affected negatively, and perhaps which is most efficient percentage wise (if I can add 8% of an oil to receive the same benefit that another oil gives at 15%, that leaves 7% for something else to pump up.

Another modification direction for the recipe would be to gradually replace the free stearic/palmitic acids by palm oil. In your recipe, lower each free acid by 5% and the CO by 10%, and replace them by 20% palm oil – the P+S (“longevity number”) is nearly unchanged, but your “conditioning number” magically tripled

I know palm oil is some magic stuff and I don't begrudge anyone for using it, but this is one of the few lines I'm drawing. I wish to avoid palm oil in any form. I know it's only soap and I know I'm not selling, this is just from a personal satisfaction POV and I'd rather avoid it if I can. However, reducing the free stearic/palmatic acids while skewing palmatic up and increasing linoleic acid is conveniently possible with RBO. Hardness goes down with v1.1 though, and kind of wondering if that is a worry with KOH.

The original recipe mentions cetyl alcohol (C12:0 alcohol). You could buy it in pure form at a cosmetics supplier, or alternatively add jojoba oil at a few % into your oil mix for a loosely similar effect. Lye will cleave it into soap and long-chain fatty alcohols (mainly C20:1 and C22:1).

I had nearly forgotten about cetyl alcohol. I may have to try this recipe with every single additive in their "perfect" form to see how it performs compared to the "basic" formula. Definitely an interesting additive.

Note that in the original recipe, the 5 minutes HP cook is a really short time, and only possible since coconut oil saponifies exceptionally quickly.
If you add any “slow” oil, expect increased cooking times. An incomplete saponification will finish over a few days, so it'll be safe soap. But your goal should be to fully saponify on the stovetop (to protect post-cook additives), and for this be confident that you can tell when the saponification reaction is over.

Thank you for that reminder. Something like this might seem totally obvious for a seasoned soap maker, but dang I could see myself wondering what the heck is wrong when the batch is not firming up-especially considering I'm not SBing with tiny 150 g batches.

Aaaaaand here's version 1.1. New and improved soapcalc numbers attached. Also old soapcalc numbers also attached.

Added: RBO, Castor. Lowered CO, and stearic/palmitic. Kept similar ratio of free S/P to CO, which might be up for adjustment with RBO in the mix. Figured I should keep something as a control to see what the other variables do on their own.

Changes:
*Improvements*
P:S ratio 28:22 (from 31:29)
Cleansing 24 (from 30)
Conditioning 22 (from 5!)

*Possible improvement*
Oleic 10, Linoleic 7 (from 4, 1)

*Not sure*
S+P 50 (from 60)

*Worsening*
Bubbly 28 (from 30)-very slight
Creamy 55 (from 60)-a little worrisome...
Hardness 74 (from 90)-also worrisome...

What I really dig about this process so far is the lack of need for "exotics" and the fact that I just might get a super shave soap by adjusting oils I already have and can source without wasting some precious thing like murumuru butter. I'm considering that icing on the cake for now. I've got cocoa and Shea butter at the ready, along with jojoba to play with should my homework and efforts turn out.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

What about.....10%? I guess there's a way to find out heh.

Well, single-digit additions more often than not aren't distinguishable at all (castor oil as an exception). Your proposed 18% RBO sound generous (but still safe). There's a reason why RBO is so popular.

I'm envisioning experiments with the HL and HO oils. What is the least amount I can add to feel benefit, what is the most I can add until lather is affected negatively, and perhaps which is most efficient percentage wise (if I can add 8% of an oil to receive the same benefit that another oil gives at 15%, that leaves 7% for something else to pump up.

I guess there's a way to find out heh. But seriously, as long as your recipe contains >50% hard fats and <15% PUFA, and you use it as shaving soap, those won't make much difference. Not the most flexible basis to work on.

I know palm oil is some magic stuff and I don't begrudge anyone for using it, but this is one of the few lines I'm drawing. I wish to avoid palm oil in any form. I know it's only soap and I know I'm not selling, this is just from a personal satisfaction POV and I'd rather avoid it if I can.

Not sure if we already talked about this somewhere else: are you sure your stearic acid itself is palm-free? Putting 55% or only 42% of a “not-sure-but-I'm-hoping-it's-made-from-hydrogenated-soy-but-it-might-as-well-be-from-beef-tallow-or-palm” ingredient into a soap might be self-deceptive. Palm oil is also a popular source of “vegetable glycerol”.

Something like this might seem totally obvious for a seasoned soap maker, but dang I could see myself wondering what the heck is wrong when the batch is not firming up-especially considering I'm not SBing with tiny 150 g batches.

It's even worse. With that amount of FFAs, the soap will inevitably harden up under any circumstances, and is very prone to what a CPer would fear as “false trace” and/or “soap on a stick”. You don't even notice if your saponification is over or not!

Changes:
*Improvements*
P:S ratio 28:22 (from 31:29)
Cleansing 24 (from 30)
Conditioning 22 (from 5!)

*Possible improvement*
Oleic 10, Linoleic 7 (from 4, 1)

*Not sure*
S+P 50 (from 60)

*Worsening*
Bubbly 28 (from 30)-very slight
Creamy 55 (from 60)-a little worrisome...
Hardness 74 (from 90)-also worrisome...

It looks like a fair evolution of the original recipe. Don't expect wonders from it, and keep an eye on how it feels in comparison to the first iteration – if you can feel an improvement (on the skin, the ease of whipping, etc.), or if it is just numbers on paper that are tricking you.

Absolutely don't worry about hardness numbers. They are way off the chart anyway (as they should for shave soap). As a matter of fact, your lower “hardness” mostly reflects the lower input of coconut, which you wanted to achieve.
And should you, for whatever reason, end up with a soap too soft for your taste, you still have the turning knob to add salt (sodium).

What I really dig about this process so far is the lack of need for "exotics" and the fact that I just might get a super shave soap by adjusting oils I already have and can source without wasting some precious thing like murumuru butter. I'm considering that icing on the cake for now. I've got cocoa and Shea butter at the ready, along with jojoba to play with should my homework and efforts turn out.

Great point! Everyone can make label-appeal-heavy “premium” products, but not everyone understands that it isn't the fact that “X butter and cold-pressed Y” is in there, but which unique properties they actually bring (and if they are unique at all!). It is clever to start with the very basics and develop an understanding about what additions to this add to the quality step by step.

One could make a 100% cocoa butter soap, it'd have exactly the S+P (“longevity”) content of your original recipe, with some wow-effect ingredient list. Though, it'll probably be of questionable worth for its purpose.
There is more to an ingredient than the pure numbers.
Only one number is guaranteed to hold true: 1.1, the version number of universal progress

 

[Johnez]

Not sure if we already talked about this somewhere else: are you sure your stearic acid itself is palm-free? Putting 55% or only 42% of a “not-sure-but-I'm-hoping-it's-made-from-hydrogenated-soy-but-it-might-as-well-be-from-beef-tallow-or-palm” ingredient into a soap might be self-deceptive. Palm oil is also a popular source of “vegetable glycerol”.

Regarding the stearic acid, yes-if the supplier's explicit "soy derived" claim can be believed. And regarding the glycerin, I just recently became aware and honestly I'm finding it quite difficult getting a clear palm free version, though I haven't done a deep search like I did with the SA yet.

I guess there's a way to find out heh. But seriously, as long as your recipe contains >50% hard fats and <15% PUFA, and you use it as shaving soap, those won't make much difference. Not the most flexible basis to work on.

Thanks for this rule of thumb. Reading about PUFAs is on my list of things to research.

It's even worse. With that amount of FFAs, the soap will inevitably harden up under any circumstances, and is very prone to what a CPer would fear as “false trace” and/or “soap on a stick”. You don't even notice if your saponification is over or not!

It looks like a fair evolution of the original recipe. Don't expect wonders from it, and keep an eye on how it feels in comparison to the first iteration – if you can feel an improvement (on the skin, the ease of whipping, etc.), or if it is just numbers on paper that are tricking you.

Absolutely don't worry about hardness numbers. They are way off the chart anyway (as they should for shave soap). As a matter of fact, your lower “hardness” mostly reflects the lower input of coconut, which you wanted to achieve.
And should you, for whatever reason, end up with a soap too soft for your taste, you still have the turning knob to add salt (sodium).

Great point! Everyone can make label-appeal-heavy “premium” products, but not everyone understands that it isn't the fact that “X butter and cold-pressed Y” is in there, but which unique properties they actually bring (and if they are unique at all!). It is clever to start with the very basics and develop an understanding about what additions to this add to the quality step by step.

One could make a 100% cocoa butter soap, it'd have exactly the S+P (“longevity”) content of your original recipe, with some wow-effect ingredient list. Though, it'll probably be of questionable worth for its purpose.
There is more to an ingredient than the pure numbers.
Only one number is guaranteed to hold true: 1.1, the version number of universal progress

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement. I'll keep the experiment progress posted. Have learned quite a bit from simply reading, now it's time for the doing.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Don't forget that the calcs are usually assuming that you're making a soap for washing, rather than one for shaving. The numbers and how they apply to a washing soap does not automatically translate in to a shaving soap.

I admit that I can't give you a lot of feedback because I don't actually understand your goal. If the performance isn't up to par with the soaps you know, how does your recipe compare to it? I get the feeling that you're trying to get that level of performance but with a very different recipe because you want to use a certain type of recipe, rather than using a recipe which will get you the performance that you're after - and while some do say that they and their husband/wife/family/friends etc get on with the soap, you know that it isn't a one-size-fits-all scenario and those sorts of recipes might not work at all for you.

 

[Johnez]

Don't forget that the calcs are usually assuming that you're making a soap for washing, rather than one for shaving. The numbers and how they apply to a washing soap does not automatically translate in to a shaving soap.

I admit that I can't give you a lot of feedback because I don't actually understand your goal. If the performance isn't up to par with the soaps you know, how does your recipe compare to it? I get the feeling that you're trying to get that level of performance but with a very different recipe because you want to use a certain type of recipe, rather than using a recipe which will get you the performance that you're after - and while some do say that they and their husband/wife/family/friends etc get on with the soap, you know that it isn't a one-size-fits-all scenario and those sorts of recipes might not work at all for you.

The goal is to simply create a really good shaving soap. The ultimate goal however is to learn about soapmaking and how certain ingredients interact.

I started with this recipe because it seems like a good entry point for a beginner, but I'm not tied to the exact recipe itself. One size most definitely does not fit all, heck there are tons of people who really enjoy the basic DIY MdC soap all over the forums and blogs and yet the recipe I pulled from adds 4 or 5 ingredients (including an oil). I've kept the bones (CO, SA+KOH) of the recipe and haven't completely flipped the board over on it yet. I'm just looking to see what I can use from that experience to get what I want-which I didn't even know really until I actually made it. Now if I decided to chuck SA and go the tallow route...that'd be totally out there and I wouldn't even bother keeping this thread going. Heck if the next few batches don't do it for me I just might go down that path and leave MdC totally behind. I think there's promise here though.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Aye, but you still have to remember that how oils interact and so on depends entirely on the use - body soap vs shaving soap, and things like hardness and longevity numbers are far from cut and dry when dealing with body soap, but even less meaningful when dealing with a shaving soap.

I think the biggest issue that you are having with the soap is the lack of glycerine. Which is surprising as the songwind thread has that very clearly there with the important reason for including it - if you're using something other than a triglyceride (eg stearic acid) in an amount that will give a benefit, you're missing out on a massive amount of glycerine. You can get responsibly sourced palm based glycerine too, if you look. But if you are using ffas without adding in glycerine, it won't perform anywhere like it should

 

[Johnez]

Aye, but you still have to remember that how oils interact and so on depends entirely on the use - body soap vs shaving soap, and things like hardness and longevity numbers are far from cut and dry when dealing with body soap, but even less meaningful when dealing with a shaving soap.

I think the biggest issue that you are having with the soap is the lack of glycerine. Which is surprising as the songwind thread has that very clearly there with the important reason for including it - if you're using something other than a triglyceride (eg stearic acid) in an amount that will give a benefit, you're missing out on a massive amount of glycerine. You can get responsibly sourced palm based glycerine too, if you look. But if you are using ffas without adding in glycerine, it won't perform anywhere like it should

Oh I'm using glycerine! I followed the "standard" (the one without additives) recipe from the blog I linked to a T, with exception of the salt which I might've gone a little too heavy on due to a scale issue. Thank you for the reminder of the limitations with regards to FFAs though. Now you've got me thinking about whether this soap truly is for me though being glycerine is supposed to address the issue I'm having. Hmm.

And yes, I'm aware shaving soap is measured FAR differently than bath soap. Soap Calcs "values" (bubbly, hardness, etc) appear to not take into account quite a few things I'm learning as well, on top of the fact that their values don't always correlate to what actually happens in the soap. I'm slowly learning that. :-/

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

The basis of that is sound, but their additions to it are things that I wouldn't touch -

it needs no salt at all. Absolutely none. This sort of soap pretty much has to go in a container of some sort, so salt can only be counterproductive.

Olive oil is a poor choice. I would add in some more coconut oil after the cook before adding olive oil!

My recipe has landed at this:

47% sa
28% tallow
25% co

Only KoH, no NaOH
2% lye discount
33% lye solution - 1/4 to 1/3 of the liquid amount as milk added after the cook. Rest used for the solution itself

Added after the cook -

2.5% Shea butter
2.5% lanolin
15% glycerine
Milk (prefer goat or sheep)
7% Scent

I'm not saying that it is the best and only recipe, but it's fairly simple with relatively easily obtainable ingredients - and it performs very well. Used it last night and the only places where I was bleeding from were either my own mistake around the lip or where some skin tags popped up recently and they got taken off. Other than that it was plain sailing with my straight razor.

If you want a sample (enough to pay the postage from Europe!) drop me a pm

 

[Johnez]

The basis of that is sound, but their additions to it are things that I wouldn't touch -

it needs no salt at all. Absolutely none. This sort of soap pretty much has to go in a container of some sort, so salt can only be counterproductive.

Olive oil is a poor choice. I would add in some more coconut oil after the cook before adding olive oil!

My recipe has landed at this:

47% sa
28% tallow
25% co

Only KoH, no NaOH
2% lye discount
33% lye solution - 1/4 to 1/3 of the liquid amount as milk added after the cook. Rest used for the solution itself

Added after the cook -

2.5% Shea butter
2.5% lanolin
15% glycerine
Milk (prefer goat or sheep)
7% Scent

I'm not saying that it is the best and only recipe, but it's fairly simple with relatively easily obtainable ingredients - and it performs very well. Used it last night and the only places where I was bleeding from were either my own mistake around the lip or where some skin tags popped up recently and they got taken off. Other than that it was plain sailing with my straight razor.

If you want a sample (enough to pay the postage from Europe!) drop me a pm

Now we're talkin'! Frankly I was a bit surprised about the inclusion of OO, however I didn't want my biases preventing me from hitting on something good so I gave it a shot. It's only part of the superfat and at 3% so maybe only a negligible effect. Anyway, I appreciate the candid words and different perspective.

 

[user 49910]

@Johnez You seem to be an intermediate level soap maker so you might want to try this recipe and method.

I have used the following recipe with great success. It makes a very rich, dense, creamy lather and is ready to go in about a week's worth of air curing / drying.

The total recipe oil weight is 500g
Stearic Acid - 60%
Shea Butter - 15%
Coconut Oil - 15%
Cocoa Butter - 5%
Castor Oil - 5%
Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) - 40%
Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) - 60%
Superfat - 6%

To calculate your dual-lye amounts, you can use the soap calculators here on this forum The Soap Making Friend or at Soapee (http://soapee.com/calculator) or Majestic Mountain Sage (https://bit.ly/234ixsG). Both calculate amounts for hybrid lye solutions.

Water = 2.6 x (NaOH + KOH) (28% lye solution)
I adjusted the lye solution to 25% to make it a little more easy to handle scooping into a 3" PVC Pipe mold.
I also added Sodium Lactate along with the glycerin and fragrance oil to make it easier to stir.
Glycerin - 10% of the total oil weight (50g for my 500g recipe)

I originally saw via YouTube. It's a Dual Lye Modified Cold Process soap. The results truly speak for themselves.

You can check out the video here: Making Dual Lye Shaving Soap | Modified Cold Process Method

Just watch out for the potential for a volcano... so far I have done two batches with no issues. ()

Regardless, good luck in your endeavors.