Shaving soap help

[Wendell]

I am working on a hot process shaving soap recipe, and I need a little help.
I am doing a variation of my bath bar recipe which is

50% Lard
20% Olive Oil
20% Coconut Oil
10% Castor Oil

I superfat 5% the recipe and add 2 tablespoons of Bentonite Clay per pound of oil and 1/4 teaspoon of tea tree oil per pound of oil after the cook prior to moulding the soap.

I can build a sufficient lather to shave with the soap, but the lather once applied does not last long enough to finish the job like "store bought" shaving soap.

Does anyone know how I might be able to vary the recipe to get the lather to persist longer on my face once it is applied?

Thanks for any help you may be able to render.

Wendell.

 

[ucmj22]

I'll be waiting to see responses as I am planning to make my own shave soap to replace Col. Conk (love it) but it will need a rich long lasting lather.

 

[Hazel]

In the upper right hand corner is the "advanced search" tab. Click on it, type "shaving" into the keyword box and then click search. It will bring up numerous topics about shaving soap.

 

[Genny]

You could try upping the Castor Oil some more. Maybe up to 15% or 20%.

 

[judymoody]

There have been a number of lengthy threads on shaving soap recently. If you haven't gotten the hang of the search engine, scroll down in the main CP soap section a few pages and you will find them.

High castor is key. Tallow too.

 

[Wendell]

Thanks for the input.

I think I will double the Castor Oil content on my next attempt, or replace the olive oil with castor oil to see if that will improve the durability of the lather. I do not have ready acccess to a good source of tallow, as I have for lard; therefore, I will continue to use the lard in my recipe. I am not particularly interested in making the soap as hard as if it were a bath soap. What do you think about lessening the 5% lye discount? Would you think the excess oil in the recipe woul have a detrimental effect on the lather?

Thanks,

Wendell

 

[Genny]

Would you think the excess oil in the recipe woul have a detrimental effect on the lather?

I do think it would decrease the lather. Maybe adding a little sugar to the lye water or adding sorbitol would help boost the lather.