My first shaving soap is a success!

[ourwolfden]

Thanks DeeAnna that makes sense. I guess I will wait and see if they respond to my e-mail if not, I'll run it down the drain as preventative maintenance.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Looking forward to trying this one. I'm loving the Taylors Sandalwood soap (amazing scent comes through my Bay Rum aftershave!) but willing to try a softer soap.

For the record, I love the scent of the Arko stick - sure it's a little bit 'special', but still smells manly. If anyone can advise on how to make that scent, I'd be grateful, but leaving my soap in a public urinal for 1 month is not something I'm willing to try!

 

[lsg]

Wow, I love that lather!

 

[shunt2011]

I'm going to give this a go this weekend. Hope it turns out as awesome for me. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and feedback.

 

[DeeAnna]

I'm seeing people comparing the Arko scent to the smell of a urinal block or a "chemistry experiment gone bad". Or Ivory soap with a touch of lemon. Or Irish Spring soap.

Irish Spring dupe:
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=12835
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=9001
Croco Turtle from 2/17/2013: "...Eucalyptus and spearmint, smells like Irish Spring to me..."
Kersten from 6/11/2013: "...Try this for the Irish Springs: http://www.sweetcakes.com/product_info.php?products_id=109 ..."

Ivory soap dupe:
Robert from 8/5/2013: "...Ivory soap (said to be a mixture of lemongrass & lemon)..."
Dandelion from 12/26/2010: "...i mixed equal amounts of lemon eucalyptus and scentworks lily of the valley and created the scent of ivory soap...."

 

[JessieD]

I really didn't touch it for a couple of weeks, and now, a month later, it lathers itself when I walk by it and wink.

Oh My!!! I laughed so hard when I read this that tears were in my eyes! I can't believe no one commented on it. I'm just grateful I didn't have a mouthful of coffee, I may have had to replace my laptop! You completely made my day Mark!!:clap:

While looking for lye at Rural King I found a product called Main Line Cleaner. According to the label and it’s MSDS sheet it is made up of both Sodium Hydroxide and Potassium Hydroxide. I went ahead a bought it for this project (at $10 a gallon I can deal with running it down one of my drains if I can’t use it for soap). I just sent an e-mail to their customer service department explaining what I want to do with it and asking them if they could tell me what percent of each they use. I know this maybe proprietary but it never hurts to ask!

Is it a powder or a liquid? Is there anything else in it? I'm just curious because I know that some drain cleaners have aluminum shavings in them. That's why it's so important to find ones that say 100% Lye on them. Looking forward to seeing the results of your email.

 

[DeeAnna]

The drain cleaner being discussed is a liquid product -- the poster explained it is sold in gallons.

 

[ourwolfden]

It was a liquid, but I havn't heard from them yet so I don't think I'll use it.

 

[JessieD]

Ahh...I somehow missed the gallon part.

 

[Mark the Box Guy]

I'm seeing people comparing the Arko scent to the smell of a urinal block or a "chemistry experiment gone bad".

I'm pretty sure that they actually use recycled military surplus urinal cakes in the manufacturing process and that this is an upgrade from their past source: beachside hotels and concert halls.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I love the smell of the Arko shaving stick. Not urinal blocks, though!

 

[lsg]

Thanks for the recipe. I made this for my guys and they really like it.

 

[songwind]

Holy cow! Life got pretty insane around here for a while and I haven't been able to drop in to the forum for a while. I had no idea it was listed on the front page or that this thread had blown up so much.

It looks like we've been doing some of the same experiments, too. I also have added some more conditioning oils to my formula, and added some NaOH to firm it up. I found that my formulation at 75:25 KOH:NaOH is firm enough to be sliced, and after a couple of weeks of curing could be wrapped and shipped (probably in a box) if you didn't want to use a jar. I still think I'll use a jar for the basic presentation, and wrap it for shipping with a possible "luxury" hand-thrown ceramic bowl made by my wife.

I didn't add clay to mine. None of my favorite shave soaps use clay, and I don't care for the smell. The stearic acid makes a lovely slick and protective lather, and the glycerin's ability to hold on to extra water makes it even slicker. I haven't been disappointed in the performance, even with high aggression single-edge and open-comb razors.

 

[DeeAnna]

SONGWIND -- glad to hear from ya!!! Welcome back!

 

[girlishcharm2004]

I apologize if this has already been discussed, and I missed it. My question is what percent of glycerin are you adding? I also noticed you added it at the end. Do you know if it affects lather? If not, then I might try substituting the water with glycerin. I hope that would make it moisturizing without adding too much excess liquid. I can't wait to try this recipe!

 

[songwind]

I'm adding 3T PPO. I'm not sure what, if any difference it would make to add the glycerin earlier in the process. It's not going to react with the lye, so I don't see why it would be a problem.

 

[girlishcharm2004]

Awesome! Do you know if there's a difference if I don't use it? I don't have it right now, but I really want to make this. I'm wondering if it would make the skin feel drier if I didn't add it -- meaning I better wait until I get some. Also, I wonder if it would inhibit lather if I added more! I've never worked with glycerin before.

 

[songwind]

The glycerin acts as a humectant (attracts and holds water). It's also fairly slippery, and can be used as a lubricant. So I suspect that without it, it will affect the skin feel of the soap somewhat. However, the process of making soap creates glycerin as well - I'm just adding more.

 

[girlishcharm2004]

Right. I guess my line of thought was that maybe people mentioned that it didn't seem drying was because of adding extra glycerin despite the high coconut oil content. But then again, I'm the person who thinks, "well, if it's a good thing, let's dump loads more into it!" even though often times more is too much.

 

[songwind]

I'm sure the glycerin is part of the reason it's less drying. Also, the 5% superfat helps.