Okay! As promised- I present to you my hubby's answers to my questionaire/survey that I put together for him to rate the croap I made for him a few days ago.
But first, a little background on my formula. The croap was made using my regular 100% NaOH 'hard puck' shave soap formula that I've been making for hubby for years (but with 2 modifications that I'll mention shortly). I won't give away the exact percentages of the oil/fat amounts in my formula, but for reference sake, it consists mostly of a combo of beef tallow and high-stearic butters (such as Kokum, Illipe and/or Mango), with the remaining bulk of the oil/fat amount being made up of the following (in no specific order) palm kernel oil, avocado oil, castor oil, olive oil, coconut oil, and rice bran oil. My regular additives consist of kaolin clay, coconut milk, vegetable glycerin, sodium lactate, sugar, scent, and tetrasodium EDTA. Sometimes I use a colorant and sometimes I don't. Whenever I add them (the colorants), I do so with a light hand, and they have so far never affected the soap's performance.
The total stearic acid amount for my formula, which is derived solely from the fats and butters alone (i.e., no added stearic as a stand-alone additive), comes to 21%. And I superfat it at 8%.
As mentioned above, I made 2 modifications to my formula for my experimental croap batch:
Modification #1) Instead of using 100% NaOH via the CP method as I normally do, I used 64% KOH and 36% NaOH via the HP method (and I HP'd all my hard fats/butters with the KOH, while simultaneously HPing all my liquid oils with the NaOH, and then mixed them together and cooked until zapless).
Modification #2) I increased my added glycerin amount from my usual 10% to 15% (for no other reason than I simply just wanted to try it to see what would happen).
Everything else in the formula was "business as usual".
Okay- now onto the questionaire. Using a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being excellent), I had hubby rate the croap in each of the following categories: Slickness, Cushion/Protection, Post-Shave, Closeness of Shave, Longevity of Lather, and Ease of Lather, and I also asked him to compare it to my usual 100% NaOH 'hard puck' version of the formula.
A) Slickness, i.e., a soap's ability to allow the blade to smoothly glide over the skin without 'catching' or 'grabbing'. Hubby says the croap's lather is "super-slick" with beautifully smooth glide, just like the hard puck version. He gave both the croap and the hard puck version a 10 in this regard.
B) Cushion/protection, denseness of lather, i.e. how much of a barrier does the lather provide between skin and blade? Hubby gave this one a 10, too. He experienced no nicks or cuts or weepers with the croap, and said that the croap gave him the same level of great protection that he's used to with the hard puck version (which never gives him nicks, cuts or weepers).
C) Post Shave, i.e. how does the face feel after shaving? Is it dry or tight? Hubby gave the croap a 10 in this category, too. He said his face felt great after shaving. No dryness or tightness, and no stinging either when he used aftershave- the same great results as he's used to with my hard puck (which he also rated with a 10) . He went on to say that the only time he's ever had a bad post-shave with my soap was last week when (as an experiment) he shaved with a botched batch of my shave soap in which I had forgotten to add the clay. He said that the clay-less puck gave him the 'crappiest' shave he's ever gotten with one of my shave soaps. He said that besides there not being any protective cushion with the clay-less puck, it also made his face feel dry/tight afterwards, and his face stung when applying aftershave.
D) Closeness of shave- Hubby thought this to be a rather silly category and didn't give me a rating on it. The reason he thought it was silly is because he's of the mind that believes anyone can get a baby-butt soft shave given enough time with the right technique, even if a soap isn't all that perfect. Anyway, he was able to get a baby-butt soft shave with the croap, and he says he's also able to achieve the same with my puck, but it all depends on how much of a rush he's in. Case in point- he shaved with the hard puck today and he had me feel his face. One side was baby-butt smooth without a hairy stubble to be felt anywhere no matter what direction I rubbed. The other side felt the same way until I rubbed cross-wise, and then I felt a little stubble. He said he was in a bit of a rush and spent about a minute's less time or so shaving on the second side as he did on the first.
E) Longevity of lather. Hubby gave this a 10. He said the lather lasts through his usual 3 passes without having to re-load (just the same as with my puck). He said on the 3rd pass, although it was getting fairly thin, there was still plenty enough glide, moisture and protection present to get him through without a re-load (same as what happens with my hard puck). Also- when I tested the longevity of the croap's lather out the other evening by placing it in a bowl and letting it sit, although it had dissipated some, half of the lather was still standing at the end of 2 hours.
E) Ease of lather. No rating with this one either, although he did say that it lathered quicker/easier than my hard puck version (Yay! Looks like my experiment worked!). The reason why he didn't give this category a rating is because 'ease of lather' is not on his list of things that he believes make for a great shave soap. He said that the only things that matter, or that count for anything with him are smooth, slick glide, good protection, and great post-shave feel. He said that if those 3 things are present and accounted for in the soap, then it doesn't matter to him how little or hard he has to work at things.
Out of curiosity, I asked him to tell me about his normal shaving routine. He said that normally (with my hard puck), he pours hot water over the puck in the mug, lets it sit (along the brush) to soak 10 minutes while he showers. Then he dumps the water out, shakes the brush out about 3 times and swirls it around on the soap for about 50 - 60 revolutions. Then he face-lathers with the brush for 30 seconds, squeezes the excess lather out of the brush and slathers it on his face with his hands, and then shaves. He makes 3 passes and does not have to re-load.
He said that with the croap, it took less than 50 revolutions of swirling on the soap to get a good enough load for 3 passes. He then told me that if the croap is this good now, he is very curious to see how everything fares after cure.
To summerize, he says that the croap is every bit as good as my puck (which he already thinks is the bee's knees), but with the added improvement that it lathers easier/quicker.
This has been a wonderfully positive experiment for me, and I can hardly wait for him to try out the croap after cure!
IrishLass
