My first shaving soap is a success!

[boyago]

Coconut acid is just the fatty acids derived from coconut oil -- mostly myristic and lauric acids with a dash of the shorter-chain and longer-chain acids. The essential difference between using coconut oil vs. coconut acid would be the glycerin you get from saponifying the oil.

I can't remember if it read tallow acid or acid of tallow but I am assuming this is would also be the remains after glycerin has been removed. Is this a bi-product of glycerin production or are there benefits to using this over the whole oils?

Also here is my whole oil shave soap gen III, 100% KOH. After a couple weeks I found it lathered up better than in the first week. Though it should be noted that I am a beginner and my lathering technique may be improving (but I think it really is the soap maturing).


I scented this one with Orangex5 which is okay but a little weird. I think next batch I'm gonna mix the orange with something like almond or something earthy.

 

[dosco]

I made several batches of soap for Christmas, one batch was shave soap. I am actually behind in my production schedule as I had planned to make 2 batches of shave soap ... so there is another batch in the near future to finish out 2014.

The batch I made was scented with Tobacco-Caramel scent from Wholesale Supplies Plus (side note: I was very happy with their performance as well as the quality of the FO I purchased ... they shipped 1 day after I ordered and I received the shipment about 3 days after my order).

The scent is fantastic. I really like how the soap came out. I actually made this soap as 2 separate batches, and interestingly one batch has clear spots in it that I presume to be a manifestation of "glycerine rivers" although it's more like "glycerin gumdrops" (lol). I'll post a picture later.

I have already given out several pucks (the soap was formed in ~3 inch diameter PVC pipe), and I've pressed some of the scrap into my lathering bowl.

Formulation is 50% stearic, 25% 76 degree coconut oil, and 25% lard. The stearic is saponified in a separate pot using KOH, the lard and CO are saponified with NaOH, and using HP the 2 pots are combined into one for final cooking.

The second soap that is yet to be made will be mint-menthol ... I have mint FO (ordered from Wholesale Supplies) and also have on hand menthol crystals. Base soap will be the same 50-25-25 formulation.

I'm starting to get bored with white soap. Anyone have any advice on colorants? Just order some from WSP?

Cheers-
Dave

 

[dosco]

To reply AGAIN, I want to add another testimonial about the basic process/recipe. I just cooked the following:

47% stearic acid
23% coconut oil
20% beef tallow
5% castor oil
5% avocado oil

Glycerin at 14% added after cook; aloe juice in place of water. FO blend of 60/40 locally purchased Eastern Sandalwood and BB Black Tea. (SO good.) Immediately after cook it had huge lather and I can't wait to test in a day or two.

Formulation looks OK to me with the exception of the added glycerine ... there should be plenty of the natural stuff to make the soap very nice.

What sort of caustic did you use?

-Dave

 

[rainycityjen]

Formulation looks OK to me with the exception of the added glycerine ... there should be plenty of the natural stuff to make the soap very nice.

Ahhh, that makes sense. I didn't even think.

I used 100% KOH.

In retrospect I think I made two mistakes: one was reserving part of the aloe juice and adding it to the crockpot with the oils. I was thinking in terms of broth for cooking and didn't remember it would probably evaporate and leave me with a stronger lye: water solution. Luckily I soap with a pretty cushy water ratio anyway.

Secondly, I didn't mix well enough, esp. added glycerin. I was going off others who mentioned not SB at all. However I definitely got glycerin pockets from spatula alone.

The soap hardened up a lot after 8-12 hours and was sliceable -- it had about the firmness of cheese, not quite as firm as a normal soap, but still much firmer than I expected for a shave soap. (Probably my water ratio coming back at me? Or just the combo of hard oils, or both.)

The scent combo of 2:3 black tea to sandalwood was HEAVEN, however. And lather is still creamy and thick like cake frosting.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Bear in mind, you get no natural glycerine from stearic acid - it is not a triglyceride. I add 15% glycerine to my shave soaps.

 

[shunt2011]

I too add 13-15% glycerine to my shave soaps. Makes a huge difference. I started lower and worked my way up. My husband and other wet shavers love the shave soap. Heck, I like it to shave my legs.

 

[boyago]

Formulation is 50% stearic, 25% 76 degree coconut oil, and 25% lard. The stearic is saponified in a separate pot using KOH, the lard and CO are saponified with NaOH, and using HP the 2 pots are combined into one for final cooking.

I've been noticing the split saponification on allot of the commercial soaps. Has anybody done side by side comparisons using this method? Does NaOH saponify more aggressively than KOH? I'm curious why this is done. With a mixed KOH/NaOH lye will the NaOH sap out the stearic faster than the KOH?

 

[IrishLass]

Boyago- have a look at this long, very informative thread. It will answer your question: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=47002&highlight=NaOH


HTH!
IrishLass

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I've been noticing the split saponification on allot of the commercial soaps. Has anybody done side by side comparisons using this method? Does NaOH saponify more aggressively than KOH? I'm curious why this is done. With a mixed KOH/NaOH lye will the NaOH sap out the stearic faster than the KOH?

There was talk about that further back in this thread. I think that the idea was to have the stearic and the KOH as a great combo, because a salt with KOH is more soluble than with NaOH.

 

[LostArkitekt]

Slightly off topic. I read most of this thread, and I was wondering if someone can tell me something. (If it doesn't belong here, you can PM me.)

I've used shave soaps for 20 years, but now, I'm kinda getting into the soft creams. There are plenty of places that tell you how to make "shave cream," but they seem to be more like brushless shave cream. I want to make a soft cream that one uses a brush, but it still lathers up like a hard shave soap.

Can anyone tell me the difference or what you'd change from this original recipe to make it much softer?

Thanks!

 

[boyago]

Slightly off topic. I read most of this thread, and I was wondering if someone can tell me something. (If it doesn't belong here, you can PM me.)

I've used shave soaps for 20 years, but now, I'm kinda getting into the soft creams. There are plenty of places that tell you how to make "shave cream," but they seem to be more like brushless shave cream. I want to make a soft cream that one uses a brush, but it still lathers up like a hard shave soap.

Can anyone tell me the difference or what you'd change from this original recipe to make it much softer?

Thanks!

I was thinking of this too. The Everything soap book has a section on it that starts "Cream soap making takes a lot of time and patience." With my personality type this is already a daunting endeavor. Though I think I will go ahead and give it a shot soon. The Recipe Mrs. Grosso suggests for a base isn't actually alien to those discussed in these shaving soap threads, Stearic leading the pack in fats and a 1:6 NaOH to KOH ratio. I looked it up after seeing that Cyril R Salter won the shaving cream honor on Badger and Blade and the guy who wrote them up made it sound very nice.

 

[LBussy]

Slightly off topic. I read most of this thread, and I was wondering if someone can tell me something. (If it doesn't belong here, you can PM me.)

I don't think we're too busted up about tangents here.

I've used shave soaps for 20 years, but now, I'm kinda getting into the soft creams. There are plenty of places that tell you how to make "shave cream," but they seem to be more like brushless shave cream. I want to make a soft cream that one uses a brush, but it still lathers up like a hard shave soap.

Can anyone tell me the difference or what you'd change from this original recipe to make it much softer?[/QUOTE]
Well is there some reason you want a cream? A croap is what most of us work with in a shaving soap. A cream is going to need some dispenser that can handle a highly viscous fluid - that's why they often come in tubes. A croap is very soluble like a cream, yet allows one to leave it in a tub/tin to load it up.

I looked it up after seeing that Cyril R Salter won the shaving cream honor on Badger and Blade and the guy who wrote them up made it sound very nice.

What B&B honor? Been there a while, never seen a soap award.

 

[normajean999]

Hi all. I just finished reading this thread and I definitely want to try this sometime. I think DH and I would love this. I am new to soaping for personal use and I have a couple questions as I haven't used some of these ingredients before. Is the Glycerin the same thing as USP 99.5 (Anhydrous) glycerin? I already have some from walmart so I was just curious. Also has anyone tried Essential Depot KOH? I found this on Amazon and was wondering if anyone has feedback on this brand. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EDK0WK/ref=gno_cart_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A16NOSQ55ZAIJQ

And then I found this SA. Will this be ok?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B3OVG28/ref=gno_cart_title_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1EQM8MSB9YKE1

Thanks in advance for any info and thanks for all the great info in this thread.:clap:

 

[boyago]

I don't think we're too busted up about tangents here.

I've used shave soaps for 20 years, but now, I'm kinda getting into the soft creams. There are plenty of places that tell you how to make "shave cream," but they seem to be more like brushless shave cream. I want to make a soft cream that one uses a brush, but it still lathers up like a hard shave soap.

Can anyone tell me the difference or what you'd change from this original recipe to make it much softer?

Well is there some reason you want a cream? A croap is what most of us work with in a shaving soap. A cream is going to need some dispenser that can handle a highly viscous fluid - that's why they often come in tubes. A croap is very soluble like a cream, yet allows one to leave it in a tub/tin to load it up.


What B&B honor? Been there a while, never seen a soap award. [/QUOTE]

Mostly I want to make it just to do it and check it out. The practical reasons are pretty flimsy. Maybe a little faster. Maybe and more likely some fascination with work "cream". From looking at the recipe Grosso prints (for a basic cream soap base) in the book it seems it's much like what we are doing here with way more water and beating after soaping.

There's a banner on the main B&B splash page 2014 awards http://www.badgerandblade.com/. We're talking about the same site right? Here's the categories:

Categories And Winning Products:
Belts – Craft & Lore Mountain Belt – Announced 12/1/2014
Briefcases – Saddleback Thin Briefcase – Announced 12/1/2014
Shoes/Boots – Alden Shell Cordovan Chukka – Announced 12/5/2014
Watches – Sinn U1T – Announced 12/8/2014
Shaving Brushes Under $150 – Savile Row 3124 – Announced 12/2/2014
Shaving Brushes Over $150 – Simpson’s Chubby – Announced 12/8/2014
Double Edge Razors – Muhle R41 – Announced 12/1/2014
Straight Razors Under $500 – Nate Zowada, Nate’s Straights – Announced 12/1/2014
Straight Razors Over $500 – Tim Zowada – Announced 12/3/2014
Strops – Heirloom Razor Strop Company – Announced 12/2/2014
Shaving Creams – Cyril R Salter – Announced 12/4/2014
Shaving Soaps – Czech & Speake – Announced 12/3/2014
Aftershaves – The Gentlemens Refinery – Announced 12/5/2014
Pens – Pilot Custom 823 – Announced 12/4/2014

I've just surfed the site a bit, but didn't notice who was considered or any mention other than those who won. Also categories like "straight razors over $500" makes me feel kind of small.

 

[LBussy]

Is the Glycerin the same thing as USP 99.5 (Anhydrous) glycerin?

That's what I use, yes.

Also has anyone tried Essential Depot KOH?

Also what I use. If you go to their website they often have free shipping on lye, although you need to compare the effective price.

And then I found this SA. Will this be ok?

That is a mixture of stearic and palmitic. It's different than what some of us use, however in the resulting soap it's quite similar.

Mostly I want to make it just to do it and check it out. The practical reasons are pretty flimsy. Maybe a little faster. Maybe and more likely some fascination with work "cream". From looking at the recipe Grosso prints (for a basic cream soap base) in the book it seems it's much like what we are doing here with way more water and beating after soaping.

Hey whatever works for ya! Was just curious.

There's a banner on the main B&B splash page 2014 awards http://www.badgerandblade.com/. We're talking about the same site right?

Yep ... wonder how they arrive at those "winners". Some are a slam dunk, others are questionable.

I've just surfed the site a bit, but didn't notice who was considered or any mention other than those who won. Also categories like "straight razors over $500" makes me feel kind of small.

A couple weeks ago I saw a seven day set with real ivory scales. I didn;t even ask.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I've also seen shaving cream in a tub, you dip the brush in to get some on the tips and then lather in a bowl or on the face. As Lee says, if you prefer creams it could be a way to go.

 

[normajean999]

That is a mixture of stearic and palmitic. It's different than what some of us use, however in the resulting soap it's quite similar.

Thanks for the info LBussy! What do you look for to know it is not all Stearic? Do you know if essential depot's SA is all Stearic?

 

[LBussy]

Thanks for the info LBussy! What do you look for to know it is not all Stearic? Do you know if essential depot's SA is all Stearic?

The CAS number (67701-03-05) for that shows it as mixed palmitic/stearic. Stearic acid is 57-11-4 and stearin is 555-43-1. A lot of folks use the mixed stuff with good results.

I don't see a CAS number or MSDS listed at Essential Depot, you could call or email them and ask.

 

[McSpin]

I read through quite a few pages, but the thread is too long for me to read it all. I bought the ingredients to try this and when the stearic acid arrived, I was surprised that it was a powder-like substance. It seems that people have heated this to melt it before mixing into the oils. Does this powder melt or do I have the wrong product?

 

[Obsidian]

You have the right product, it will melt into a oil.