For those of you who make shaving soap

[thefarmerdaughter]

Which is prefered a solid bar made with sodium hydroxide, a paste with potassium hydroxide, or something in between. I've settled on a recipe to try, but I'm not sure which lye to use. I'm also curious what a man would prefer,(bar vs in a jar). Also This isn't being made for customers...just a fella.

 

[jean1C]

My husband likes the bar. I bought a shaving dish at drugstore dot com and he takes it with him in his carryon when he travels weekly and the brush at WSP. I make the soap in a PVC pipe to get the round shape. It fits nicely in the shaving bowl.

 

[Sapwn]

We wet shavers like both dear farmer daughter. That’s why you can find in the market both creams and solid bars. Just take a quick look to a shaving specialist e-shop to see the variety of soaps and creams.


There is another category in between hard bars and soft creams and this is the Italian shaving soaps. Italian soaps tend to be soft bars. You can change their shape by pressing them with your hands. This is because they are usually made using both KOH and NaOH.

My opinion is that if you are going to use stearic acid in high percentage, which I highly recommend, then it would be better to use both KOH and NaOH. Stearic acid is difficult to handle with NaOH alone.

 

[thefarmerdaughter]

Sapwn, how high of a steric number would warrant the use of both KOH and NaoH? Mine is around 50. Yes I've read it should be higher, but I'm comfortable with that number. Also would they be used 50/50, could you ballpark me a ratio. And finally, if I understand correctly the resulting soap would be a soft bar? Thank you Sir.

 

[Sapwn]

If I‘d used stearic acid at 50% I would use KOH at about 50-60% and NaOH at 40-50% respectively.

The result will be a soft (but not too soft) bar, not a cream.



And please, avoid olive oil

 

[Mark the Box Guy]

We wet shavers like both dear farmer daughter. That’s why you can find in the market both creams and solid bars. Just take a quick look to a shaving specialist e-shop to see the variety of soaps and creams.

That's true: we like them all. To be fair, I don't decide which one I'll use until I'm standing at the sink.