HP shave soap Q's, wet shavers in the house.

[gemsupthepoley]

Hi folks.

Managed to do the shave soap recipe on here (52% SA, 48% CO).

First Q is about curing. I've read that soaps HP'd still need the 4 week period to cure properly. However, I read (somewhere) of someone trying a shave soap after a couple of days and it was great.

By trying did them mean 'lathering' only ie. do I need to leave it for the 4 weeks???

I had a shave tonight and it certainly lathered exceptionally easy but wasn't very cushioning and left me a bit razor burned:roll:

Have I shaved too soon with it?

Many thanks.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

What else did you put in? Glycerine or clay? How much? What kind of superfat? What kind of lye?

 

[vyadha]

If the recipe is from the first shaving soap is a success thread, Ive made the same one. I had a drying shave the day after I made it but that could be from not using enough water or because it had not cured at all.

That was about a week ago. I shaved with that soap yesterday and had a superb shave. I do think it will get better with time. And if you did add anything as Mr. Efficacious G asked that can change it all.

 

[gemsupthepoley]

10% glycerin added, no clay, 3%SF. Lye was 30% NaOH and 70% KOH.

I was definately razor burn as my face was quite red later in the evening.

I'm sensitive to fragrences and had a great big fall out with a tub of MdC. I think round 2 will be the no coconut oil one tat is in the shave thread 'somewhere'.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

No pictures of the lather? As a recipe, it really works, but does need some getting used to.

 

[gemsupthepoley]

Okay. Thanks. I'll try again and get some pics of the lather. Cheers

 

[LBussy]

Don't sub out the coconut oil - it is unlikely to cause a reaction in this form. Go up to 5% superfat. Go to 15% or so added glycerin. Use 100% KOH and for the sake of all that is holy, use enough soap and plenty of water. It should be past stiff peaks on to soft peaks (or softer) before you use it.

If you do this you will have unscented MdC and can go from there. I do find MdC drying, it is not my favorite soap. It is a superb performer in many ways however but you do have to let it do it's work. These soaps are very big "proto-lather" generators. Load your brush well; at least 100 turns. It is very easy to under-load because these soaps "explode" on initial load.

Here is a link to my still-being-developed articles on my own journey. Only part 1 (the recipe and how it was arrived upon) is up and available right now. You may find some information which will help you there. More to come: http://www.silverfoxcrafts.com/2015/04/part-1-silver-fox-shaving-soap-the-beginning/ (please don't pay any attention to the site formatting, I was not intending to open it up yet).

 

[new12soap]

Here is a link to my still-being-developed articles on my own journey. Only part 1 (the recipe and how it was arrived upon) is up and available right now. You may find some information which will help you there. More to come: http://www.silverfoxcrafts.com/2015/04/part-1-silver-fox-shaving-soap-the-beginning/ (please don't pay any attention to the site formatting, I was not intending to open it up yet).

I went to the link, and the section titled "Bringing it all together" confused me. The amounts listed add up to 47 grams.

Am I missing something? That doesn't look like the percentages you used, nor does the math work...?

 

[LBussy]

I went to the link, and the section titled "Bringing it all together" confused me. The amounts listed add up to 47 grams.

Am I missing something? That doesn't look like the percentages you used, nor does the math work...?

Grrrr ... darned editors. There needs to be a simple "upload Word to WordPress" that works.

Fixed, thanks for pointing it out.

 

[new12soap]

Thanks

 

[gemsupthepoley]

LBussy. Many thanks indeed. That's a very up front, informative shave soap tutorial.

I really wanted to include tallow and didn't want to loose the coconut. I guess I'll be doing more shave soaps then

 

[LBussy]

It's like a disease ... we keep doing it!

 

[gemsupthepoley]

It's like a disease ... we keep doing it!

I suppose I'll save money, just like when I took up DE shaving (4 razors, 800 blades later!!!!!)

 

[LBussy]

Exactly. Buy a couple Fili's and see how much you save.

 

[Obsidian]

I found songwinds recipe to be a tad bit drying so I rebatched it and added 5% shea for SF, it helped a great deal and made the lather thicker for me.

This is the recipe I use now, I save the shea until after the cook. http://www.evernote.com/l/ANgFEzd7JjhOLb6Jnngflu2CuUYDefJz9_Y/

 

[LBussy]

I found songwinds recipe to be a tad bit drying so I rebatched it and added 5% shea for SF, it helped a great deal and made the lather thicker for me.

This is the recipe I use now, I save the shea until after the cook. http://www.evernote.com/l/ANgFEzd7JjhOLb6Jnngflu2CuUYDefJz9_Y/

Sonwind's recipe (more correctly John @ LA Shave's recipe which was a repop of MdeC) is definitely drying for most. To be fair I don't think that's the same recipe Songwind is currently marketing. it is however falling off a log easy for a person making their first shave soap.

I ended up with this:

45% Stearic Acid
25% Coconut Oil
20% Beef Tallow
5% Lanolin
5% Shea Butter
5% Superfat
Additional Glycerin at 11% of the total oil weight
Distilled Water
KOH 90%
33% Lye concentration

http://www.silverfoxcrafts.com/2015/04/part-1-silver-fox-shaving-soap-the-beginning/

It is decidedly not veg/vegan however.

I purposefully used Lanolin as it's something that coats/protects the skin - holding in moisture rather than specifically softening or hydrating. Is there a veg equivalent?

 

[Obsidian]

I really want to try lanolin sometime, do you add it as the SF or cook it? With such a high amount of steric, do you find the lather to feel waxy at all?

 

[LBussy]

I really want to try lanolin sometime, do you add it as the SF or cook it? With such a high amount of steric, do you find the lather to feel waxy at all?

I have 5% shea and 5% lanolin with 5% superfat - so 2.5% of each goes in the cook and 2.5% of each is in the SF at the end with the fragrance. There's a graphic on the link above that explains it (or at least my theory) if I'm doing a poor job.

The lather is definitely not waxy. It's very dense and protective. The stearic (in theory) saponifies completely so there's no opportunity to add a waxy feeling as it will in a soap where it might be expressed in the superfat.

 

[gemsupthepoley]

LBussy. Do you do a two stage sapinification with all oils (except stearic) and lye and add stearic later or all at once. I take it the you hold back 2.5% of each SF oil and add after the cook or add them and as they are last to saponify they by default become the SF/

Many thanks.

 

[LBussy]

LBussy. Do you do a two stage sapinification with all oils (except stearic) and lye and add stearic later or all at once. I take it the you hold back 2.5% of each SF oil and add after the cook or add them and as they are last to saponify they by default become the SF/

Many thanks.

I do not do a two-stage, I don't see any reason to do so. Those who have experimented (that I have seen) did it with NaOH and KOH both being used. It was separated to take advantage of the properties of each with specific fats.

I cook everything but the 2.5% of each, and then add them in when it's all done. I documented my entire process (recipe, decisions, even a video of me mixing without using proper PPE) here:

1. The Beginning
2. Sourcing Tools and Ingredients
3. Process

Sometimes pictures do say 1000 words. In those I've combined thousands of words WITH pictures.