adjusting a bad batch of shave soap

[Obsidian]

So, awhile back I made a shave soap that was 80% stearic and 20% coconut that ended up being terrible.

I was going to just toss it but instead I got on soap calc last night and fiddled around with a recipe that seems better for shaving.

Looking for opinions on this recipe. This will be the complete recipe after the already made soap has been added in. Don't bother with the lye/water amount on this, I only need opinions on the oils/fatty acid profile
http://www.evernote.com/l/ANgwX9npT5dC24w8Hk9wkzL76sVTZshdNDU/

This will be the new soap part I need to make http://www.evernote.com/l/ANjCKWT9-_RJp6sty3ERMowIJTskk1fRvHw/

next question, when to combine the two parts? Would it work if I melted the old soap down then mixed all the new oils, blending it all together well before adding the lye and cooking?

 

[Firestarter]

I have done a few formulations in the neighborhood of your intended soap, but with more CO and less lard. It performs well even for me with whiskers of Swedish steel
When it comes to combining the two parts I would make the new part separately and then use mechanical work to combine the two. (Food processor or meat grinder?)

 

[Obsidian]

Normally I would use tallow instead of lard but I can't buy it local and I do not want to render my own. I guess that is pretty low coconut oil, I'll play around with the recipe a bit more, see about reducing lard/increasing coconut.

No need to use mechanical anything on the already made soap, its duel lye and is more of a croap texture. It will melt down with just being chopped into small chunks.

EDIT: here is the adjusted recipe
http://www.evernote.com/l/ANhhQJyLuEtLpoFPblP1KyPnPnCk1av8UXA/

 

[psfred]

Looks very similar to several of my recipes that work very well. Will take a few weeks for the lather to work really well with the castor oil in there, it tends to make the lather collapse a bit when the soap is fresh.

Definitely make the second "repair" batch separate and melt the old one, then combine.

May end up a bit lumpy but will work fine.

Tallow does indeed make a better shave soap, but the lard works fine too.

You could even reduce the CO to 10 or 15% in favor of lard and it will still be fine.

I suspect you had lather problems with the original, eh? As in the lather collapsed pretty fast, although it was very slick. Modern Williams, in a word. My "too much stearic aicd" soap made with soy wax is like that. Lovely shaves, but not if you like lots of firm lather....

 

[Firestarter]

No need to use mechanical anything on the already made soap, its duel lye and is more of a croap texture. It will melt down with just being chopped into small chunks.

I was thinking all mechanical, no melting. Quicker if one has the equipment.
The new recipe looks great, very close to one of my soaps (which I liked).

 

[Obsidian]

I suspect you had lather problems with the original, eh? As in the lather collapsed pretty fast, although it was very slick. Modern Williams, in a word. My "too much stearic aicd" soap made with soy wax is like that. Lovely shaves, but not if you like lots of firm lather....

No, the lather was plenty long lasting and thick but it wasn't slick and left my skin feeling very waxy. There was no glide either, my legs were tore up.

 

[psfred]

The lard will help a lot. The sticky/waxy feel is a result of too little water in the lather -- it takes a LOT of water to overload a good home made shaving soap! I've never shaved anything but my face, so I don't know how much lather it would take to shave legs, but it should be very wet and shiny like Dannon yogurt, not dry like whipped cream. You need slick, not fluffy to make the razor slide nicely.

Took me a while to figure out how much water to use with my soaps, also some of the better commercial ones. Easy to get too much soap in the lather, which makes it sticky and gives poor shaves.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Did you increase the amount of extra glycerine that you added in? When a recipe calls for about 50% stearic acid we add in x% extra glycerine. When you increase the stearic, you're going to be missing some naturally occurring glycerine in your soap which could well cause those sorts of issues

 

[Obsidian]

Did you increase the amount of extra glycerine that you added in?

No, I completely forgot about glycerin. You think that could affect glide that bad?

How much glycerin should be added? I used
12.8 oz of stearic.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

At around 50% sa I think I add another 15% glycerine. So with 80%, a direct calculation brings you to 24% (when I have that right)

 

[Obsidian]

I ended up not have enough glycerin but I went for it anyways. While I was at it, I added a couple tbsp of 100% coconut oil paste and about 1/2 tsp olive oil for some extra SF.

It really seemed to help, of course the big test will be actually using it to shave but so far its much slicker and not so waxy on the skin. Its also not as thirsty and is easier to work up into a proper lather. The last test I did, I let the lather sit on a brush for nearly a hour and it didn't collapse at all.

Not a perfect recipe by far but I think it'll be usable and this was a lot easier than making more soap to add. Thanks Craig for pointing out the obvious lol.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Any time! I also made a high sa batch and forgot that step myself [emoji16]