Checking my calculations on a Shave Soap Recipe

[MrsSpaceship]

Grab a cuppa, cause it's going to be a long one. The plan is to get a nice combination of Songwind's and TEG's shave soaps.

for a 1.5 lb batch using 90% KOH

50% Stearic Acid (340.19 gr)
30% CO (204.12 gr)
20% Tallow (136.08 gr)
1% superfat

full water 258.55 gr. TEG did goats milk as 50% of his water. I don't have GM, but would like to use some yogurt powder I have. I was thinking 1 tblsp dissolved in a portion of the water. ( I have no basis for that measurement.)

Now comes the part where I'm really unsure of my numbers.

Post cook I want to add Lanolin and Avocado oil so I'll have about 6% total superfat. I'm coming up with 34.01 gr to do that

Additives
Glycerine 84 gr (I was basing this off of Songwind's 1.5 tablespoons/8 oz. in "The" recipe. I just looked up how many grams a tablespoon of glycerine weighed and multiplied that by 4.5.

EDTA I made a 39% solution, and based on IrishLass's instructions HERE, I need to add 15.979 grams of the solution (This is going to be part of my water, right???)

So am I off my rocker on this? I'm kind of worried that between the post cook superfat and the glycerine that I'm going to cut the lather.


Edited to add words.

 

[snappyllama]

Disclaimer: I haven't played around with shaving soaps with much, because I'm pretty happy with the one I've been making. I've tweaked it about 5 times so far. I'll share my best recipe below so you can compare it. My next batch tweak will be to add EDTA and GM/yogurt. My recipe has a lot of the same elements as your proposed one - especially regarding the superfat. I don't think you're going to have a problem with lather. Mine is thick, cushiony, and very stable. DH is of Scottish descent and loves it for his crazy-thick whiskers. Our climate is very dry, and it's easy to get chapped skin working outside in the winter so I went for skin conditioning and protection with the lanolin, shea and jojoba.

Stearic Acid: 48%
CO: 19%
PKO: 18%
Lanolin: 2%
Lard: 13%

Superfat for that at 1% using 30% lye concentration. Lye divided into: NaOH @ 55% KOH @ 45% (I wanted a firm puck soap).

Additives:
3% SL & Tussah Silk

Post Cook Superfat:
3% Shea
2% Jojoba
15% Glycerin

So you're just adding an additional 1% SF oil from mine, and doing a soft soap instead of a hard puck. Long story short (too late), I think you'll be fine with the lather.

 

[MrsSpaceship]

Thank you!! I was worried that I was being excessive with ingredients and additives, so I actually cut the silk and shea from mine, but yours looks lovely. May I have permission to try it on my next round?
I haven't yet gotten comfortable with the thought of combining NaOH and KOH, because I'm afraid I'll royally bungle things up, but maybe a few more batches and I'll be ready to try it.

 

[IrishLass]

I agree with Snappyllama- I think your soap will not suffer at all in the lather dept. For comparison sake, I use a lot less coconut than you, a higher superfat, and from the looks of it- more glycerin..... and my soap produces great shaving-type lather.

I usually make mine with a 64% KOH/36% NaOH, which makes a lovely croap, ie., a shave soap that's firm enough to be sliced into pucks that are able to stand up on their own and that take to being wrapped in paper wrapping, but pliable enough (when firm pressure is applied) to be smooshed/form-fitted into whatever container I desire. Next time I make a batch, I'm going to try 100% KOH.


IrishLass

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

To combine lyes, work out what 100% of each would be and then use x% of it.

So if 100% of each would be 100g NaOH and 150g KOH, a 50/50 split would be 50g NaOH and 75g KOH.

Note - these are not real figures! Just a made up example

 

[MrsSpaceship]

Thanks everyone, It's rather nerve wracking when you're creating your own recipe, but I feel much better about trying it out. Kind of excited really. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[snappyllama]

Feel free to use it. Let me know what you think of it. It's based on folks' recipes on the shaving thread with my tweaks along the way.

 

[MrsSpaceship]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their input. I made my "Rustic & Rugged" shave soap, and it turned out amazballs! The lather has a few bigger bubbles, but overall it's smooth and creamy with an almost velvety feel. The husband doesn't grow facial hair very fast (usually I like that...) so hasn't done a test shave yet, but he humored me by lathering up and says it feels really nice. We'll see what he thinks once the razor comes into play.

 

[Dharlee]

Is the only way you guys make shaving soap HP? I wondered if you can mske a CP one at all and have it be as nice?

I am not ready to attempt one yet, but it's coming at some point.

 

[snappyllama]

You have to HP soaps with that much stearic acid since it insta-solidifies.

Mrs.Spaceship, love the lather on your soap! Really nice.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Aye, very nice.

If it's bubbly, he just a needs to get used to lathering this particular soap.

Soaps can be different in how they need to be treated, in that one might need to be loaded longer than another, one might need more water than another. One might work best for one person with a badger brush while another soap is easier with a boar one.

 

[Dharlee]

You have to HP soaps with that much stearic acid since it insta-solidifies.

Thank you!

 

[MrsSpaceship]

Thanks Snappy & TEG, I was very grateful for your input. Mr. Spaceship has finally had a shave with it and the feedback was very positive (and I for one really liked the way his skin felt afterwards.). <3