shaving soap numbers check

[Hazel]

I'm glad you could save it. Please let us know what he thinks of it.

 

[Lindy]

Stearic acid creates a thicker, denser lather which is needed for shaving. A true wet shaver, the connoisseur, does not want to see any air bubbles in his lather. I am willing to help you create your own recipe, but my shaving soap is for sale on the shaving forums and doing well so I am only going to give you pointers and not the %ages that I am actually using which is higher than the 40%.

You are going to find that people like myself who have a whole division/product line surrounding the shaving soaps is not going to give you any more info that I am, and most aren't going to give you that much. What you need to do now is do up some small batches and play with your stearic as well as ingredients. The reason the stearic seizes when the lye hits is that it is an instant reaction between the lye and the stearic which is why in general for regular bath soap you aren't going to go over 5%.

You are looking for lather that looks like this and even this has room for improvement....

Keep experimenting and then get some testers who are super, duper fussy that are going to give you honest feedback. And most important - have fun, it's why we do what we do....

 

[marghewitt]

I think it turned out very well just as it was. I bought a shaving brush and love it. I can't wait to give some to my friend.

 

[sudbubblez]

Looks great marghewitt!

 

[Lindy]

Looks wonderful...

 

[sudbubblez]

lindy, have you ever rebatched a shave bar to up the steric? That lather pic looks lots stickier than mine and I want it; it will do that but I'm about sweating by that time. How do you think I should do this? shred and melt the bars with the steric then add lye?

 

[Lindy]

I haven't. If the soap isn't giving me what I need from it, I call it soap and move on to the next batch until I have the lather I'm looking for. Stearic acid is a lather enhancer and stabilizer. So if it were me, I would adjust my recipe to up the stearic and make a small 1000 gr batch to see what it gives me.

 

[Cally]

I suppose I'm coming into this conversation a bit late, but I also am looking for a shaving soap, not necessarily for the men in my life...or even for ones not in my life. But I would like it for myself, my legs specifically. I find that commercial shaving creams give me a bit of a rash and nobody wants that. At least nobody I've ever met. I have tried one shae butter/honey/bentonite clay shaving cream which was nice but it left my razor gunked up and I think the honey was a little crystalized so that didn't work super well, lol. Okay, enough blabbering on. I hope. Knowing me...

I have read and reread and reread some more and then forgotten, and reread, and forgotten again... but I think I've come up with something that might work and I'm really hoping for some input from people that have made shaving soaps before, some tips on how to make it better, what more I should be looking for.

To be a little bit annoying. I don't want to hot process it, I'm very new to soapmaking so that is not in my comfort zone. I'm not going to be using essential or fragrance oils in at least the first batch. I've yet to have something seize on me and I would not want to start now. lol

 

[sudbubblez]

Have you ever used arrowroot powder in your soap? I have started adding it to all my bases. I read some people's comments on arrowroot powder in blogs and some are saying that when they add it to shaving soap they don't get irritation. One of the shave bars I've made is similar to your fatty acid profile and I can CP and pour it. Your low INS indicates that it shouldnt move too fast. Castor oil adds density to the lather, you may want to increase the percentage. A touch of lanolin is a great addition to shave soap too.

 

[Cally]

I have never heard of using arrowroot in soap. I do plan on getting some for a body powder so adding a bit shouldn't be too hard. When would I add it to the recipe?

Also, I've been checking out some shampoo bar threads and they mention using beer as it increases the lather. Would beer in a shaving soap do anything for it? Any thoughts on that would be much appreciated.

Third, now that I have just thought of it. If I where to get some tins or plastic jars, would it be alright to pour the soap directly into that? Or would that not be a good idea?

 

[sudbubblez]

arrowroot can be added at trace or to the base oils.

Beer would be a great addition to shave soap. I've made it with beer and I like it.

you could pour soap directly into plastic but not tins; fresh CP soap may react with the tins. I don't know what tins are made out of but if they are nickel thats okay b/c lye doesn't react with nickel. Stainless is okay of course.

 

[Hazel]

you could pour soap directly into plastic but not tins; fresh CP soap may react with the tins. I don't know what tins are made out of but if they are nickel thats okay b/c lye doesn't react with nickel. Stainless is okay of course.

The containers I've seen for balms are tin plated steel. The tin protects the steel from rusting but alkalis can corrode tin so you'd be better off not pouring raw soap into a container.

Nickel may not react with lye but it will eventually rust or corrode. It might take awhile if it's of good quality but eventually it will happen. Because of this, I wouldn't recommend pouring raw soap into a nickel container since there would be excess liquid to evaporate by curing. (I am also leery about pouring raw soap into any metal that isn't stainless steel no matter what is said about its non-reactivity to lye.) I don't know how well the liquid would evaporate from the soap and it might take longer to cure. Then the excess liquid would be in contact even longer with the inside of the container. I think you'd be better off pouring the soap into a PVC tube for a mold, then cutting it to size and allowing the soap to cure before putting it into a tin. Then you could turn the soap for even curing on both sides. However, this is just my opinion. It may be someone has poured soap into tins and it actually would work out fine. Hopefully, someone will be able to give a definite answer.