Search results

This will work fine for face lather - it’s how I use it when traveling and I don’t have my scuttle or bowl. If you mean just spreading it in your face and working a lather with your hands however you may be disappointed. A brush would be required to get a proper lather.

I’m glad you got something out of the writeup. I’m with @psfred ... it will always be pliable. After a week I think it’s 90% cured with only marginal improvement after that.

Well, something sweet-ish maybe? Brown sugar cinnamon comes to mind. I’m sure someone makes a FO that smells like breakfast. :)

And I'm responding to that and telling you it does not. Use what you are familiar/comfortable with and you should expect similar results.

You are ignoring other replies, like the one I posted. You can use as much or as little water as you like. More makes it a little easier to work. It also means that you either need to open cure the soap when you are done or have a very soft product. I use less water and it goes directly...

Use whatever you are comfortable with really. I use 33% of oil weight, which is a 40% lye concentration.

I think the texture helps, yes. It’s also one of the larger bowls available. There’s more than a few folks that just steal a bowl out of the kitchen, but I do prefer this one.

I recommend the captains choice bowls. They are a nice size and have a textured bottom.

@psfred can smell a drop of FO in a 5# batch. :) Each FO should have usage guidelines. For instance, the almond FO I use recommends .6 - .8 oz per pound of oils (3.75-5%). Since this is up on mah face, I go with 3%.

Welcome Megan. It's definitely like baking where if you get the ingredients and time right you can be nearly assured of a reasonable product. Lots of folks follow soap recipes and make soap and are happy to have done so. Like chemistry, there's definitely enough science here to keep you...

A necro-post expounding on the original idea is probably a good thing ... i.e. the Shaving Soap threads. "I tried this and it was great!" is always welcome too. Someone resurrecting an old post only to ask the original question and then stating "I didn't read all the posts" makes me facepalm...

Fantastic! I think people use a single mold because you only have to fill it once, and that the cut pieces are the ones that are "even." The ends are often the pieces that are kept for use by the soaper since they are quite a bit more rustic in appearance.

Tallow is the rendered fat from around the kidneys of the cow (or other ungulates), also called "leaf fat". The fat from the muscles is probably fine, but it's nowhere near as hard as tallow. Lard is okay but I find soaps made from it have a "sticky" quality I don't like as well. Not sticky...

I use 33% water as percentage of oil weight. I don't see any reason you could not add both lyes to that, they are going to mix anyway. =

Whaaaa? No way I could get 50 shaves on my DE's. I get around 10-11 no matter what brand I use. I have a beard from hell however. I really like the Polsilver Iridiums from Russia. I get them on eBay or direct from other users on a shave forum. I've always found the Feathers too delicate...

No worries about me selling. I just don't want that sort of responsibility. We just landed a HUGE contract at work, so finding time to shave will be tough, let alone to make my shave soap.

I will not go down another long hobby road! :) Didn't think about using Everclear. I just purchased some Isopropyl Myristate based on the Soap Queen tutorial, but I can try both when the FO's get here.

Thanks lsg! I remembered reading that a long time back but was unable to Google it. I guess them being out of business now is why.

Thank you! I found a lot of more authoritative sources (like Basenotes) but they assume that I am going to go buy 1000 different chemicals and create my own scents. All I want to do is give her what she wants. :)

So a roll-on sounds easy enough to try. Am I over-simplifying by approaching it as a simple oil/FO mixture?