input on shaving soap ?

[Aschecte]

Ok I hope this is not to weird of a question but, as a guy and a soap maker and as a clean shaved man I use traditional shaving methods ie. De razors or straight razors. I can't stand those mach whatever 65 blade get ups that a refill costs $20 for 4 cartridges. so I use high end razors, soaps, creams etc...... That said does anyone know any good recipes for a shaving soap ? I honestly don't think it would be much different than any other CP soap I have made though may contain more Shea butter or glycerin in the mix but I don't want to guess..... My calculators tell me I'm on track but what looks good on paper doesn't always translate to real life application. FWIW a shave soap should be a stable lather very cushioning moisturizing etc..... After reading some of the ingredients on the boxes of like taylors of old bond street or trufitt and Hill Isee they are using lye either sodium hydroxide or potassium for the creams or even a combo of both as well as common oils such as tallow, palm, high amounts of castor oil I assume for lather stability. Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated as I'd love to try my hand at these soaps or shall I say my face at these soaps ( sorry that was a weak joke ). :grin:

 

[Relle]

This has been talked about a lot on the forum click here to do a search - http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/how-search-soapmakingforum-like-pro-34885/

 

[chicklet]

There are a couple of shaving soap threads going right now over on the recipe feedback board. Here's a link to one where I posted a recent recipe:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f34/mwf-others-shave-soaps-35449/

 

[Red panda]

I have just made one myself and just waiting for my partner to try it out. I have just used Olive, castor and coconut oil which make a soft lathery soap. I have added Australian White Clay to it which is meant to be great for the skin and great for shaving. Will have to let you know if it works okay.:???:

 

[Relle]

Quoted from Judymoody - Shaving soap purists don't use OO at all.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...I honestly don't think it would be much different than any other CP soap I have made..."

Some people think so, but from everything I've seen, if you want a real shaving soap, the recipe will be quite different. The details are involved and the threads in which they are discussed are worth looking up. I recommend you follow Relle and Chicklet's suggestions to search the forum and read existing threads. Posters who have a clue include fatfacedcharlie, lindy, chicklet, judymoody, and songwind. I'm sure there are others as well.

 

[songwind]

I haven't been soaping for long, but I haven't gotten a working cold process shaving soap, yet.

Shaving soaps tend to have a (very) high percentage of stearic acid, which can cause the soap to seize. I tried one where I tried to get a good "creamy" number using mostly palm oil instead of stearic, but it's too airy and thin for shaving. Pretty stable, but way too many visible bubbles. I could still feel my fingerprints through it when I rubbed my fingers together.

It is a pretty nice face soap, though.

I made a thread about my first hot-process soap, which was made with stearic acid, coconut oil, glycerin, and essential oils.

 

[chicklet]

I'm saving my money to buy a clue - for now I'm just floundering around like the amateur I am, trying to figure a few things out. I do think my last two attempts at a shaving soap are decent. I had never used the HP method for soaping until I made the shaving soaps (although I have rebatched a couple of soaps so I did have a crockpot to use). I used HP because of what songwind said - a high percentage of stearic acid will cause CP soap to seize. I also used both KOH and NaOH.

 

[DeeAnna]

Yeah, well, hey, Chicklet, you've actually dived into the deep end of the pool -- you're working on your recipe and trying to figure out what works for you. I'm still in the kiddie wading area! :razz:

 

[chicklet]

Well jump on in, DeeAnna - the water is fine! I keep forgetting to go to that MWF thread and post my second recipe but I'll try to do that soon. Then I hope somebody (or 2 or 3 somebodies) runs both my recipes thru soapcalc and really critiques them. Even better would be for somebody to use my recipes to make some soap so we could then compare notes.

So ...DeeAnna ...what are you waiting for?

 

[fatfacedcharlie]

I'm probably a little bit late to be of much help, but I posted the recipe for my current attempt here http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/does-lanolin-saponify-35420/index2.html. It is my current favourite, alongside songwind's MdC clone which you can find here http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/my-first-shaving-soap-success-34264/. Both are HP, the high levels of stearic acid would, I imagine, make CP very tricky if not impossible.

 

[DeeAnna]

Ooooh, Chicklet, is that a friendly challenge?

 

[chicklet]

Why yes, I do believe it is, DeeAnna.

Now that fatfacedcharlie has posted his recipe, I think I'll try it too and send it out to the testers (all those bums who call and say "hey I know this is rude since you gave me free soap, but I need some more!")

 

[fatfacedcharlie]

Why yes, I do believe it is, DeeAnna.

Now that fatfacedcharlie has posted his recipe, I think I'll try it too and send it out to the testers (all those bums who call and say "hey I know this is rude since you gave me free soap, but I need some more!")

If you get any feedback from your testers I would be interested to know what they think. The only bum I get to test my recipes on is Me!