One Month of Waiting.....for this?!?!

[spicyjem]

Ugggh, I'm sure you all know the feeling all too well. You make a batch of soap, and you anxiously count the days for it to be ready to test out.

I made my first batch exactly 4 weeks ago. It's meant to be a men's shaving soap: nice lather, low cleansing, no bubbles, etc.

So I made what I HOPED to be the perfect recipe based on my research and choosing the right ingredients. Today, I tested it out after LITERALLY counting the days down like a kid waiting for Christmas.

The verdict: the lather builds great, but quickly dies out. It isn't thick and luxurious. Shortly after applying it to the face, it fizzes out and all that remains is a faint remnant of where it was applied.

So I am reaching out.....begging, if you will, for your suggestions on what could make a men's shaving cream have long lasting lather. I know that Castor Oil is supposed to make a good lather, and my recipe has 15% in there. I also have a high tallow and shea butter ratio (over 25% for each one).

In SoapCalc, my Bubbly score is 23, and my Creamy score is a whopping 51, since I assume that the more creamy it is, the more lathery it would be.

Don't get me wrong, it lathers fast, but it's real LIGHT and airy, and it doesn't last more than one minute.

I am hoping to hear your suggestions and answer any questions you may have, so I can tweak the recipe and see if I get any more success on my next batch. The only part that SUCKS is that I now have to wait another 4+ weeks to see how your suggestions effect the outcome!

Thanks in advance for any help you can impart on me!

 

[nattynoo]

Did you want to post the recipe you used so we can have a look at where to improve it?
Sounds like just a basic bar of CP soap.
Did it have any shea in it? Or other goodies?
I made a bar recently that had shea, honey & silk, in it SF@12%. Its creamy with long lasting bubble.
You might consider adding some extras but its hard to say without seeing the original recipe.
Coconut milk/cream will add some creamy plus natural sugar to boost bubble.

Also, I know a bar is at its best after 4weeks, but why wait so long? You can actually try a bar after a couple of days if you really wanted to.

 

[TJ]

I've seen a lot of shave soaps with some kinda clay in it. I'm not sure if the clay would help stabalize your lather or not, but it makes me wonder why I see it so often in shave soaps...
It's called Rhassoul Clay. Maybe someone else can comment about it. Just throwing that out there.

 

[Guest]

I've seen a lot of shave soaps with some kinda clay in it. I'm not sure if the clay would help stabalize your lather or not, but it makes me wonder why I see it so often in shave soaps...
It's called Rhassoul Clay. Maybe someone else can comment about it. Just throwing that out there.

Rhassoul Clay? Are u sure for that??

 

[TJ]

I've seen a lot of shave soaps with some kinda clay in it. I'm not sure if the clay would help stabalize your lather or not, but it makes me wonder why I see it so often in shave soaps...
It's called Rhassoul Clay. Maybe someone else can comment about it. Just throwing that out there.

Rhassoul Clay? Are u sure for that??

What do you mean? I'm not sure if it will stabalize the lather, but I am sure I've seen it in a lot of shave soaps.

 

[krissy]

there are a ton of threads and discussions on here about this kind of soap and issues with it. do a search and you will even find a recipe or two
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/forum/se ... de=results

 

[Northland Naturals]

i use added vegetable glycerin and bentonite clay. both can help. give it another go and know that soapcalc is only a best guess but won't really be 100% accurate. you've got to go on instinct and experience a little more, so make smaller test batches and play around with your recipe.

 

[busymakinsoap!]

I dont know if Im imagining it or not, but my milk bars seem to have a really thickish creamy lather which I think is good for shaving my legs. Especially my 100% coconut with coconut milk - maybe its that simple?

 

[kelleyaynn]

Oils and butters high in stearic acid will help. Cream soap is made with lots of just plain stearic acid, and that does contribute to a lather that is good for shaving. The cream soap that I made was for shaving, and while not perfect (it's my first batch), it is definitely better than regular soap.

I remember there was a thread on here not too long ago where a poster shared the basic outlines of her recipe, and she got a good, creamy lather that lasted a long time.

 

[spicyjem]

@nattynoo - Yes, it had shea in it. I mentioned in my original post that I had well over 25% of shea butter in there.

I also had KAOLIN clay (one full teaspoon), since I only had 16 ounces of oils.

I also had glycerin in my recipe (10% PPO), or in this 16 ounce batch, 1.6 ounces of glycerin.

By the way, the stearic count on my recipe is a whopping 20 (in soap calc), which I heard could also help the lather, but again, my final product is more light and foamy instead of dense and thick.

In my research, the clay is more for slip rather than lather, but the glycerin is usually good for the lather. I wonder if I should INCREASE the glycerin levels to something like 20% PPO. Do you think that will work? I am not sure of any negative effects that could have, and people do make full glycerin soaps, so I wonder if simply increasing the glycerin in a regular CP batch of soap could help make the lathering properties thicker.

What I plan on doing today is to use my existing soap and add some glycerin to it to whip up the lather. I would think that if glycerin on the final product will make it have more sustaining lather, than hopefully adding more to the recipe would help too.

I thank everyone for their advice, and I look forward to anymore suggestions. I want to try a couple other batches, adding your tweaks and suggestions to each of them, and seeing how it effects the final outcome!

 

[paillo]

i use added vegetable glycerin and bentonite clay. both can help. give it another go and know that soapcalc is only a best guess but won't really be 100% accurate. you've got to go on instinct and experience a little more, so make smaller test batches and play around with your recipe.

ditto on the bentonite, the slip is great. i'd also use some kind of milk -- goat, coconut, buttermilk or greek yoghurt.

 

[carebear]

finding a formula that provides the attributes that you want takes a lot of research and development - a genuine committment of resources.

books and web sites are just the beginning...

 

[cthylla]

I'd be interested in seeing some of your results, Spicy. My husband has been asking me to try a shaving soap but I've been hesitant. That could be a lot of blood on my hands. Literally!

 

[spicyjem]

I'd be interested in seeing some of your results, Spicy. My husband has been asking me to try a shaving soap but I've been hesitant. That could be a lot of blood on my hands. Literally!

I will try to film a little You Tube clip of the soap so you can see it, and then post it here.

@Carebear - I agree.......and I am asking you guys here on the forum because I respect you all so much. You have a wealth of knowledge over years of experience, and I know that you guys are great for helping people.

 

[honor435]

your handmade soap makes it own glycerin, why add it? Just wondered. Just keep playing around with soap calc til you get a higher creamy number. Palm may help.

 

[spicyjem]

your handmade soap makes it own glycerin, why add it? Just wondered. Just keep playing around with soap calc til you get a higher creamy number. Palm may help.

A secret that some men do with shaving cream is to add glycerin to the soap or cream right before whipping it up in their shaving brush, and it creates a real THICK lather.

This is why I bring up glycerin to test AFTER the soap is made to see if it effects the latherability, and if so, then perhaps adding a higher dosage during the CP process may help with the lather as well.

 

[newbie]

Someone had shared this recipe for shaving soap some time ago. I think it was Amy W, but I'm not certain. I remember that she posted pictures of the lather, which looked pretty good and I believe she timed it, to see how long it would last and it lasted a long time, like 15 minutes or something. Since she posted it to share, I copied it and think it would be okay to repost. Sorry if I remember the source incorrectly!

3.8oz Castor
.9oz CO
4oz Lard
.8oz OO
1.6oz SB
4.1oz CB
.6oz Stearic Acid
1oz FO
1.6oz glycerin
1T Bentonite clay

Obviously, this is a small batch, but you can put the recipe in a calculator and find the percentages and then resize for a larger batch. Good luck in your search!

 

[newbie]

And here's another recipe to try.


http://www.soap-making-resource.com/sha ... ecipe.html