Okay, Songwind, FatFacedCharlie, Chicklet, and Mark the Box Guy ... I did it. I made Songwind's shaving soap recipe yesterday and it turned out fine. I tried a slightly different approach based on the old soap making books I've been reading and also from sheer necessity.
The necessity part -- I used a double boiler (bain marie) for the soap because I didn't have a small enough crockpot to handle a small recipe (200 grams of oils in total). I kept the water in the boiler about 180 deg F (80 deg C). Well, actually I used two double boilers because I melted the stearic acid separately from the coconut oil. The stearic had to be heated up a bit higher, so I started at 180 and upped the temp as needed just until the stearic liquified.
The old books -- I did a two stage saponification. The old boys used to do this to ensure slower reacting ingredients were saponified fully, then they added the faster reacting components. I knew from my reading and from Songwind that the stearic acid will react quickly with the KOH, so I thought this method might let me get the soap started in a more civil kind of way. I melted the coconut oil in my soap making double boiler, added the KOH solution, and stick blended and hand mixed the batter to a pudding-like consistency. It took only 5 minutes. I then added the melted stearic and stirred the batter into a waxy mashed potato consistency. That took, well, um, basically no time at all.
I covered the soap pot, let the soap cook for about 20 minutes, and then tested for zap. It didn't, so I figured I was done. I added the glycerin and stirred well, let the soap cool for 15 minutes, and added my essential oils. Based on the scent description for the Martin de Candre product, I used 4 g lavender, 2.5 g rosemary, and 0.5 g wild mint (mentha arvensis, a softer, sweeter variation on peppermint).
After the glycerine and EOs were mixed in, I scraped the sticky warm soap onto parchment paper and formed a long roll about 1 1/2 - 2 inches in diameter. (Exactly like refrigerator cookies, if you are familiar with that type of cookie). I cut the roll into disks about 1" to 1 1/4" high tonight. The soap today is pliable like clay or soft wax -- not at all sticky or goopy. The scent is really nice -- the tiny dab of mint sweetens the lavender and rosemary just enough so the overall fragrance is spicy, not sharp or harsh.
I doubt I'm going to lather up my legs and underarms with a badger brush -- sorry, guys! But even the light lather that develops from rubbing the soap directly on (stubbly) skin is dense, lubricating, and creamy. And the shave is much closer -- my legs feel like silk. Wow.
And the soap is just a day old. Wow.
Okay ... so I had no idea what I have been missing all these years by not using a proper shave soap ... and I ain't even a guy. I can't wait to see what DH and DS and my other male friends have to say when I share this soap with them. Wow.
Did I say wow?
Only issue is the soap makes the shower floor slick. But I can live with that.