Shaving Soap SF Preferences?

[KristaY]

I'm planning to make another batch of shaving soap in the next week or so. I've only made 2 so this is another experiment. For those of you who use shaving soap, what SF level do you prefer? I usually use 3% SF in my regular CP recipes but keep reading about a 5% SF in shave soap recipes. Is this because 5% is a default or because you like how it feels on your face? (or whatever body part you shave) Or do you base it on the amount of CO (or other high cleansing oil) used? My recipe will be:

40% Stearic Acid
25% PO
25% CO
5% Shea
5% Lanolin

KOH, 90% purity, 3:1 water:lye, 10% glycerin as part of water portion.

Thanks for any advice/input!

 

[IrishLass]

I use 8% in mine based on how hubby says it feels on his face (it never, ever leaves his face feeling dry or tight, but it's not so oily that it ever leaves it feeling greasy- he really loves how it makes his face feel), but then again, my overall formula also plays a part, so I can't put it all down to the superfat level.

For what its worth, 60% of my shaving soap (croap) is made up of a combo of stearic acid, tallow, illipe butter, kokum butter, and the remaining oils (in incremental order) are castor, avocado oil, coconut oil and hydrogenated PKO (the coconut & PKO only make up a combined 10% of my formula, btw). I also use 20% glycerin and part of my liquid amount is coconut cream. Oh, and I use 80% KOH and 20% NaOH.


IrishLass

 

[Obsidian]

I use 5% coco butter for sf, added after the cook of course.

 

[KristaY]

Thanks IL! I was considering using a split lye so I'll look into that. I appreciate your detailed input, as always!

Thanks for reminding me of the cocoa butter, obsidian. I was thinking I should swap the shea for cocoa so it's on my list of changes!

 

[Obsidian]

I normally like shea better in soap but I found the coco butter to be much better in the shave soap. It helped produce a creamier, more moisturizing lather.

 

[snappyllama]

My recipe uses 1% during the cook and then 3% Shea and 2% Jojoba after the cook. I've haven't spent much time tweaking that part of my recipe... I really should try Mango or maybe something exotic next time!

Weirdly enough, my skin doesn't like Cocoa Butter when it gets wet. I can use lotions with cocoa just fine or even regular soaps, but anything B&B that I use in the shower causes me to breakout. Maybe it's the heat opening my pores?

 

[KristaY]

That's interesting, snappy, that you break out with the cocoa butter. I'm still going to make the swap so I can compare it to my previous batch that has shea in it, but I'm going to watching for anyone breaking out!

I like the idea of jojoba as part of the SF after the cook. Last time I added 2.5% shea and 2.5% lanolin as the SF. I might switch that up too. Not this batch, but maybe next.