Comparing very similar soaps

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

CTAnton

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2015
Messages
786
Reaction score
508
Location
Connecticut
I'm hitting the 2 month curing mark for 5 batches I made trying to come up with a direction to pursue on an all vegetable oil formulation. :)I've seen on you tube people taking their soap and lathering up at the sink.How does one realistically going about judging their soaps?I'd like to give them all a fair shake. I'm thinking use experimental bar at the sink all day and then take it into the shower for...I don't know...4 days? I'm like the next guy...I like them bubbles....but creamy and no stripping have their place as well.Just wondering what the other peeps on this forum do or suggest.Most soaps have a quality that I don't want to pass over...JMHO...
 
For me, the real test takes place in the shower where it needs to pass muster with my hubby, my son, and myself. If it passes there, it has a guaranteed 'in' at the sink.

The two biggest factors for us are lather, and the after-showering skin-feel. We are all bubble lovers, so in order to pass, the soap must have a goodly amount of quick-lathering fluffy-type bubbles that are supported/sustained by an underlying body of creamy oomph.

And although soap is a cleanser and not a moisturizer, the after-shower feel should nonetheless never leave our skin feeling uncomfortably tight or sucked dry of moisture. If our skins feel 'neutral' after drying off with a towel (i.e., not oily/slimy and not uncomfortably dry/tight), we have a winner on our hands.

I don't know if this helps or not, but for what its worth, when testing out more than one different formula at the same time, my normal protocol has always been to bring them all into the shower and use each one in a single shower, i.e., I'll use 'this' one to wash my legs, or 'that' one to wash my arms, etc.... I do the same over the course of a week, and I have the guys do the same. By the end of the week, we're pretty much able to weed out the clear winners from the losers.


IrishLass :)
 
A soap that disintegrates quickly isn't so good either. Another factor to consider.
 
If you are just looking for the best of the 5 then it is easier than ranking them.

Shower once with soap 1 and pay attention. Next time with soap 2. If it's not clear, next time with soap 1 again. Keep the better on of the two. Then shower with soap 3, then the "first round winner".

It's how we choose instruments- you keep the best one to compare to the others until something beats it - then you keep going with the new best one.
 
Back
Top