My first shaving soap is a success!

[soap1daze]

Going back to the original recipe page 1 by songwind there is no water amount used and I don't see a percentage. The reason I ask is because the recipe in HOmemade Shaving Soap blog that he bases his recipe on shows a great deal of water and I don't know why that would be so high. Ideas?

Stearic Acid - 8 1/3 oz.
Aqua - 8 oz.
Coconut Oil - 7 2/3 oz.
Potassium Hydroxide - 3 1/2 oz

 

[LBussy]

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

 

[slickjim]

Initially, I used 38% of oil weight. Last batches are with 33% lye concentration, which is a bit less water.

You can experiment. Actually, since I am still a newbie I wonder what are the differences? Harder soap? When I used 38% of oil weight I used different ratios for the other components as well, so don't have a direct comparison.

 

[soap1daze]

DeeAna do you know why the water amount is so high for the first recipe discussed in the homeade shaving soap blog? Way more than 40% water and I'm wondering why.

Another recipe (3rd) with a large amount of water. Why is so much water needed for these type of shave soaps? Does working with stearic acid require more water?

I finally got around to making a batch of the shaving soap listed in the first post. It was also my first experiment with HP.

218 gr coconut
236 gr stearic acid
98 gr KOH
230 gr water
3 Tbsp glycerin

I cooked it 20 min over a (makeshift) double boiler at around 160F and got no zap on the zap-test. So far it all seemed like it was going according to this thread. Unmolded it after an overnight sit and cut it into bars and it still looks wet inside. I did a test lather with one piece and it produced a wonderful lather.
Did this separate into the coconut and stearic components? Does this simply need to dry out some more or does it need to go back into the cooker for longer?

Thanks for you help.

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[LBussy]

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 into a sealed tin.

 

[soap1daze]

Thank you. I am using containers also for these experiments. I thought you/they were talking about the recipes with all the oil and butters.

I'm interested in trying the 1st recipe with majority of the stearic acid and only coconut oil. All the recipes I've seen for this recipe call for much more water than I'm use to using as I'm a 1.4:1 soap maker. I think it depends on which recipe one is interested in.

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 into a sealed tin.

 

[LBussy]

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.

 

[itchyandscratchy]

This weekend I made my first shaving soap. It was a hot process soap, and used a recipe posted by a fellow forum poster at one of the wet shaving forums.

I did a small batch (8 oz). 52% stearic acid, 48% coconut oil, saponified with KOH. I added 1.5 tablespoons of glycerin after it was done cooking, along with 1/4 oz of essential oils: 2/3 lemon & bergamot, 1/3 rosemary.

The soap making went fine, with no surprises aside from the soap never becoming truly translucent like my olive oil soap did. It passed the zap test, though.

I used it to shave tonight, and it was lovely. Nice and slick, and there was no skin reaction to the EOs. My face feels very nice afterward.

The scent turned out too lemony, and the rosemary was lost underneath. Next time, more basenotes and less lemon.

Just after pouring:

After 24 hours to set:

Whipped up a great lather:

It was very stable. This is after sitting 15 minutes while I showered and brushed my teeth:

Looks delicious. Lovely and creamy

 

[psfred]

Hot process soap can be very dry if you don't have enough water and much evaporates while you are cooking it. It will turn out fine, but will be hard to manage when finished. Packed crumbs and chunks.

More water (38% is a good starting place) will give you soap fluid enough after the cook to get scent and glycerine mixed in nicely and soft enough to press into your tins. 100% KOH soap is never going to get really hard anyway, but it's nice to be able to mix and mold it easily.

Adjust as needed to get it to handle the way you like.

 

[TheWetShavingBarber]

Where can I find this recipe? I'm new to shaving soap making and would love to try this since it seems to deliver great results - WSB

This weekend I made my first shaving soap. It was a hot process soap, and used a recipe posted by a fellow forum poster at one of the wet shaving forums.

I did a small batch (8 oz). 52% stearic acid, 48% coconut oil, saponified with KOH. I added 1.5 tablespoons of glycerin after it was done cooking, along with 1/4 oz of essential oils: 2/3 lemon & bergamot, 1/3 rosemary.

The soap making went fine, with no surprises aside from the soap never becoming truly translucent like my olive oil soap did. It passed the zap test, though.

I used it to shave tonight, and it was lovely. Nice and slick, and there was no skin reaction to the EOs. My face feels very nice afterward.

The scent turned out too lemony, and the rosemary was lost underneath. Next time, more basenotes and less lemon.

Just after pouring:

After 24 hours to set:

Whipped up a great lather:

It was very stable. This is after sitting 15 minutes while I showered and brushed my teeth:

 

[shunt2011]

Where can I find this recipe? I'm new to shaving soap making and would love to try this since it seems to deliver great results - WSB

Hello and Welcome. That is the recipe in your quote. Depending on what size batch you want to make, you'll enter the Stearic, CO and other oils into a lye calculator to get your KOH & Liquid amount. I highly recommend taking time to read as much of this thread as possible (I've been through it a time or tw0). So much information. You'll be glad you did.

 

[bristles]

Thanks in most part to this legendary thread, I made some soap! (second attempt) I used a lot of oat milk - the lye solution got really goopy and a bit clumpy, I will make sure to use a more thinned down oat milk in future.
Anyone know a scent that pairs well with oatmeal?
I scented this batch with marzipan, will be giving out all these samples to get some feedback.

 

[LBussy]

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

 

[bristles]

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

Thank you for your amazing guide Lee.
I have a question about curing, my soap was soft upon placing it in tins, I then let it 'cure' for a day with the lids off. Now it has hardened considerably, at what point do you know the soap is cured?
I cooked for an hour and used 80% KOH, 33% lye solution, 15% glycerin. So I thought it would need a few days longer before it firms up.

 

[psfred]

It will never get hard like bar soap, but it does firm up quite a bit over a week or so. Shaving soap doesn't need a long cure, but four weeks will do whatever is going to happen. I don't find much difference in most of my recipes after a week except for the high castor experiment. That one lathered better after a month or two, but never all that well.

 

[LBussy]

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.

 

[psfred]

And it will make excellent lather. My shaving soap is better than anything except maybe Haslinger that I have tried. To say nothing of very much cheaper!

I've made several variations, Stearic acid with tallow, stearic acid with lard, and soy wax with tallow, all containing 10% coconut oil and 5% each either lanolin or shea and cocoa butter. The soy wax soap is harder but lathers just as well, and the tallow ones are marginally better I think. All of them give me very very good shaves.

 

[E Birbal]

Hi Everyone!

I'm a total noob here and a total noob at soap making as well. In fact, I've never made soap in my life before, so pardon me for asking what might be a really really silly question.

I'd like to try the @LBussy recipe but I'd like the final product to have a cream/toothpaste like consistency because I prefer to lather on my face than in the bowl. Can someone please guide me how I can alter the recipe to get the desired toothpaste like consistency? Is it just a matter of having a larger percentage of water or is it more complex than that?

Thanks!

 

[DeeAnna]

...All the recipes I've seen for this recipe call for much more water than I'm use to using as I'm a 1.4:1 soap maker. ...

Listen to what the others are saying. I will add --

You sound like you only have made soap with a cold process method. I normally do too, but I make this type of soap with a hot process method. It's hard to use a CP method if you want to use a lot of stearic acid.

Hot process methods usually use more water in proportion to alkali than cold process methods, because you want to allow for more water evaporation from the soap while it's being cooked and you want a somewhat softer texture for ease of stirring and handling. A lye concentration (not "water as % of oils") of 25% is typical for HP. But you can use whatever you like as long as it works for you.

A side note -- A 1.4:1 water:lye ratio is a 42% lye concentration. This lye concentration will work fine for many soap recipes, but it might make your soaping more difficult when using recipes that have a very high % of coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or babassu oil. Many of us get better results using a lower lye concentration (higher water:lye ratio) with this type of recipe -- less chance of volcanoes, cracking, or simple overheating in the mold. In other words, it's good to be willing to adjust the water:lye ratio to fit the circumstances.

...I'd like the final product to have a cream/toothpaste like consistency because I prefer to lather on my face than in the bowl...

This type of soap doesn't ever get hard, but it doesn't have a toothpaste texture either if you follow Lee's recipe exactly. To encourage a softer texture, I'd first use a 25% lye concentration and don't cook the soap for hours -- just until it's zap free -- to minimize evaporation.

Also a little glycerin stirred or kneaded into the soap after it's cooked will help it stay softer -- you will have to experiment with that to see how much will create the right texture. Keep the soap in a covered container, not in the open air, to prevent water evaporation over time.

What you may find is the texture of this type of shave soap won't exactly have a toothpaste texture because of the nature of KOH soap, but it can certainly have a softer texture.

 

[psfred]

More water will indeed make it softer, but if you want it to be like shaving cream in a tube, you will have to prevent it from drying out somehow (which is why shaving cream is usually in a tube). If you handle it like a liquid soap you can use a pump dispenser, too -- this should work as it's 100% KOH lye.

The other alternative is to make a shave stick out of it. Get a "lotion tube" twistup dispenser, or save a deodorant container and simply pack the soap into it. To shave, just rub some soap on your face and work up the lather like usual. Might even work without a brush, but I perfer a brush myself.