Shaving soap additives - salt and sugar

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Hello lads and lasses

So, I have a shaving soap recipe that I am pretty happy with so today I thought I'd try out an experiment to see what two staple additives bring to the party in a shaving soap - salt and sugar.

I made 4 batches:

A) control batch, no additives (also the largest, as I know it's good

B) 2% salt

C) 3% sugar

D) 2% salt and 3% sugar

Both batches with salt had a really odd texture, more dry than the others. I'll keep updating with the way they progress, including the all important lather!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I forgot the all important picture

 

[Obsidian]

Really interested in this, especially the salt. When are you planning the first lather test?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I'll give them a test lather tomorrow, with a shave from the control batch on Monday

 

[penelopejane]

Great experiment TEG. How did you mix in the salt and sugar?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

For this recipe I use goat milk, so I mixed the additives in with some water, added the milk and then the lye. As I was microwaving it, I didn't worry too much about scorching the milk [emoji4]

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

So yesterday I benchmarked the soap with no additives - was very good. I also checked out how each soap felt to see if the salt and/or sugar made a difference, but at this stage not really - all were sticky.

Picture of the lather on the brush, then one hour later on the brush and on the hand - it was still lovely and moist.

Next will be the test with both the salt and sugar to see what it is like

 

[Obsidian]

A hour? Thats impressive and it looks really good too. Do you use more tallow or stearic?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Around 50% sa and around 20% tallow - I can't remember the exact as I put in the lanolin which had to take some % from all ingredients. Will check tonight and let you know

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I've always hesitated to put salt in shaving soap, else I nick myself and the salt sting. I'm interested to see how this turns out.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I've always hesitated to put salt in shaving soap, else I nick myself and the salt sting. I'm interested to see how this turns out.

I'm not going to cut myself as a test

 

[KristaY]

^^^^ Party pooper, lol! :twisted:

 

[Obsidian]

Any updates on these?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Any updates on these?

After I read that, I went off to have a shave - it was long overdue [emoji106]

So I used the batch with salt and sugar. Consistency-wise, the control soap is firmer to the touch than all the others, less sticky. It is, however, the only one that had been used, so I'll see if the other batch loses some stickiness now that it was used.

As for the sugar/salt lather, it was fine. Very easy to get it going, but not 'miracle easy' compared to the control. Just slightly easier. It went on creamier than the control, too, it felt sturdier.

Post shave, not quite so good. There was more redness than usual. But as there are so many variables (how I mixed the lather, the condition of the blade, how attentive I was to shaving well) I will have to keep using the sugar/salt pot for a few more times to get a feel for the real pros and cons

 

[nframe]

Around 50% sa and around 20% tallow - I can't remember the exact as I put in the lanolin which had to take some % from all ingredients. Will check tonight and let you know

Don't forget to let us know! Please...

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Don't forget to let us know! Please...

51% sa and 20% tallow [emoji4] thanks for reminding me

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

So today I went back to the control batch - not just to control the quality but also as it is the birthday of The Admirable Lady I wanted to be assured of a good result.

There is something with the salt&sugar batch that just doesn't work well. I'll try the sugar batch alone to see how it works

As for the stiffness of the soap, it hasn't made a difference to speak of to be honest.

 

[Obsidian]

Really interesting test, thanks for the updates. Hopefully the sugar alone will still be nice.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Well, I used it this evening - it was okay. I can't really say that it made a difference one way or the other, which then makes me think that it just isn't worth adding either salt (it actually seems like the salt ones are sticker than the non-salt ones!) or sugar (the lather is not noticeably better) to a shaving soap.

Was worth a play, I am glad I did it, even though it cost me a couple of sub-par shaves. I also managed to give myself a really nasty cut, but that wasn't due to the soap at all, just my carelessness.

 

[Navaria]

Liking for the experiment and results, not the nasty cut