Shave Soap Approach

[Goldsmith]

I dont know if this the right place to ask this within the forum but I would like to develop my own shave soap for personal use. I have done a few batches of regular CP soap with some success but I think the whole shave soap affair must be a different animal.

I was wondering if anyone can give me some guidance on coming up with a shave soap using the following ingredients and/or other ingredients ?

Tallow
Stearic Acid
Vegetable glycerin
Kokum Butter
Avacado oil
Shea Butter
Lanolin
coconut oil
Vitamin E
Oleoresin
Some kind of clay



Thanks :wave:

 

[fatfacedcharlie]

I've been messing about with with shaving soap recipes lately and have recently made a pretty good one one (if I do say so myself ) you can find it here http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f34/another-shaving-bar-critique-33141/. HTH

 

[Badger]

Charlie, did you use kaolin clay in the recipe also?

 

[Goldsmith]

Thanks :clap:

 

[fatfacedcharlie]

Charlie, did you use kaolin clay in the recipe also?

I've never really liked the idea of clay in a shaving soap. I don't know why, It's just one of those irrational dislikes that we can all be prone to from time to time I suppose. I think it's partly because I use a straight razor and I'm not convinced it it will do the edge any good, and partly because I like things simple and if you get the lather right, clay won't add anything that's not already there.

 

[Miz Jenny]

I thought the reason for kaolin clay is to provide slip.

 

[fatfacedcharlie]

I thought the reason for kaolin clay is to provide slip.

That is the theory. The thing is, shaving soap is more than just a soap with clay in it. I can't speak for everyone obviously, but the things I look for in a shaving soap are: It must be a stable lather, I like to load my brush and still use it 15 minutes later for my 'touch up' pass. It needs to hold a lot of water, dry stubble is painful to cut through and if you have water in the lather, your stubble will soak it right up. And you're right, it does need to provide glide over the skin, but if you get the water holding properties and the superfat right It glides just fine, I don't think clay adds anything to the mix. All that said, pleny of people will disagree with me, but that's all good, shaving is a very personal thing.

 

[fatfacedcharlie]

Thanks :clap:

Let me know how you get on with your shaving soap, I'd be interested to know how it turns out.

 

[SeattleMartin]

This thread helped me immensely: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/my-first-shaving-soap-is-a-success.34264/
(which also links to another great topic on another forum)

There is tons of info in these forums and there are plenty of people willing to help. I am confident you will develop a formula you like.
As for your ingredients list, it looks like you have lots of items to choose from.
You could try just Stearic and Coconut for your first go? Or throw in some Shea, Kokum and Avocado? I do recommend a high content of Stearic and/or Tallow.
Maybe try one with clay and one with glycerin? I realize some people don't care for clay and it has been said it can lessen the life of blades. I've not heard anything bad about using glycerin and it seems to provide great slip as well as acting as a humectant.
Regardless, all the best on the shave soap!

 

[shunt2011]

This thread helped me immensely: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/my-first-shaving-soap-is-a-success.34264/
(which also links to another great topic on another forum)

There is tons of info in these forums and there are plenty of people willing to help. I am confident you will develop a formula you like.
As for your ingredients list, it looks like you have lots of items to choose from.
You could try just Stearic and Coconut for your first go? Or throw in some Shea, Kokum and Avocado? I do recommend a high content of Stearic and/or Tallow.
Maybe try one with clay and one with glycerin? I realize some people don't care for clay and it has been said it can lessen the life of blades. I've not heard anything bad about using glycerin and it seems to provide great slip as well as acting as a humectant.
Regardless, all the best on the shave soap!

This post is over 6 years old. There are newer threads. Please try not to pull up really old threads. Thank you!

 

[Andrew]

Shaving soap takes a unique approach.

The first thing to consider is your base oils/butter and stearic acid. You can use every under the sun or break it down to a couple oils/butters and stearic acid. Either approach, figure out how much (stearic+palmitic) acids you want then go from there.

The second one is what oils you include that are for conditioning/skin softening purposes. Hot processing and then adding these in later is great, or you can put them in a cold process if the SAP value allows.

The third is your additives and this is where shaving soap begins to get complicated. Although you can use anything from yogurt to marshmallow root, I highly advise against clay. Clay is a common ingredient to help with slip, but a proper formulation makes clay a redundant additive.

Finally, shaving soap is a duel lye solution so you will have to figure this one out as well. Simply put, if you want a softer soap, use a higher KOH/NaOH ratio. If you want a harder soap, use a lower ratio. KOH makes more water soap so it will be faster to load with more of it.

 

[IrishLass]

This is a very old thread. Unfortunately, the opening poster who asked for the advice and that you are trying to help- Goldsmith- has not been on the forum since 2013 and won't be able to take advantage of your advice, as helpful as it is.

For those new to the forum, before posting to a thread, please look first to see how old the thread is, and also how long the opening poster that you are responding to has been inactive (you can find that out by clicking on their usename). No sense wasting your time and words if they are long gone.

IrishLass

 

[SeattleMartin]

This post is over 6 years old. There are newer threads. Please try not to pull up really old threads. Thank you!

My aging eyes must have mistake the 3 for an 8 in the date. My apologies and I will try to be more attentive. Perhaps such old and dead threads could be locked?
Cheers, M