Newbie needs to make Shaving soap

[TheVez2]

Hello all,

I am a traditional wet shaver. Meaning I use soap and a brush to whip up a lather in order to shave my face. I have fallen in love with a soap that I cannot afford. I have come here to seek your assistance in cloning it myself. Will it be possible, will I get good results?

The Soap in question is Martin de Candre - savon à raser. It is a French shave soap, and in order to get one 150g bowl of it sent to the US would cost me $78. Insane right? But it is incredible soap and works very well. The best soap I’ve used.

The ingredient list is very simple: stearic acid, water, coconut oil, potassium hydroxide, glycerine, and fragrance. This is the first thing that made me think of doing it myself. How hard can it be?

From my research, they make it using the “famous Marseilles saponification method” (vegetable oil treated with soda at very high temperature) which as I understand it, is the same thing as Hot Process. Am I correct?

I have done a little research into soap making, and I think I understand Cold Process soap, although I haven’t read much about using potassium hydroxide in place of sodium hydroxide for the lye. I’ve seen a little bit on Hot Process, but I’m not fully spun up on it.

First question: If I use their ingredient list and make the soap using CP will it turn out anything like the HP method?

Second: Is HP hard or dangerous to do? Their website indicated that a high experience level was needed to control the process.

The saponification gives a paste in fusion at 110°, terribly capricious and only an experienced Master Soap maker can control...

If I were to try it out (simplified explaination of CP method), I‘m guessing I would mix the stearic acid, coconut oil, and glycerine together first. Add the KOH to the water, then mix the two together, then add fragrance, right? I’m mainly curious if I’m right in when to add the glycerine, or do you add it at the end?

Any pointers on trying this out myself? What are some resources to help with HP?

How soon can you use a soap after CP or HP? They say they let theirs sit for 8 months before selling.

Can you help me figure out some proportions of the ingredients? From what I've read there is usually less stearic acid than oil in a soap, yet the stearic acid is the first ingredient. Does that sound right?

Thanks for any assistance and advice.
-KJ

 

[carebear]

interesting. normally to get a bar of soap we work with SODIUM hydroxide (potassium for LIQUID), but that ingredient list sounds like they just make it a solid using the stearic acid.

you'd HAVE to HP it with that level of stearic acid, and even then you'll have to work FAST once the soap is ready to mold.

HP is no more dangerous than cooking. Just use caution with the lye. And that quote about it being dangerous is absurd. Anything with heat and caustic is going to be something that requires care. This formula, as I said, with the high stearic is a bit rough to work with but the process is no biggie.

I know you want to make shaving soap, but I do recommend starting with a "regular" soap formula first - just to get to know what soaping is like, what steps you'll have to take, etc before jumping into a high stearic acid formula. but that's just me.

 

[judymoody]

I agree, make a simple bar first to get basic technique. Read up on safety procedures!

I made a shaving bar which is curing now that had a bazillion ingredients. I did a lot of research on the forums and got some recipes out of books to figure out what to try. If you search on this forum for "shaving soap," a lot will turn up.

In brief, what I learned is that in order to get stable foamy lather like shaving cream that will stick you need high stearic acid (either as an additive or naturally occurring as in cocoa butter or both). You also need relatively high castor oil and clay at 1 T PPO for "slip." Then the usual CO, PO, OO, whatever you like. I scented mine with rosemary, mint, and sage EOs and it looks and smells great. But I haven't tried it yet - it has a week or two to go.

There are lots of soapmakers that make shaving soap who retail on the internet (try etsy) if you want to pay less than the expensive French stuff.

Good luck!

p.s. for the basics on soapmaking, try www.millersoap.com And if you try for the shaving soap, add the stearic acid and glycerin at trace.

 

[TheVez2]

Thank you both for your advice.

There are lots of soapmakers that make shaving soap who retail on the internet (try etsy) if you want to pay less than the expensive French stuff.

I know there are lots of shaving soaps out there. I have a bunch. I'm not just looking for an economical soap. I'd like to replicate the performance of the original soap. I've used nothing like it before.

And if you try for the shaving soap, add the stearic acid and glycerin at trace.

The stearic acid too? Being a fatty acid, I figured it would go in at the beginning with the coconut oil. The lye calculator I looked at included it at the beginning.

 

[BakingNana]

My regular old CP shaving soap with silk and clay lathers great. The lather is even shiny, like whipped egg white meringue. Sure is simpler to make.

 

[judymoody]

Hmm, I'll have to check the recipe. I may have misremembered on when I added the stearic acid. I adapted a recipe from "Dr. Bob's" Essentially Soap book.

There is also a shaving soap recipe on the brambleberry soap teach site that looks stone simple. Might be worth trying for a first time out.

I am now about to try to duplicate an expensive commercial soap for a friend of mine. Read their ingredients list and will try to give it a shot. I'm curious how close I will get. Good luck with your project.