Home made shaving soap

[fuchia]

Thanks brandislee for that link. I too have been selling handmade soap for a long time and just want to master the shaving soap and with time and patience I'll get there. Well I'm happy with a test batch I just made but I was told on another forum I could do it cold process if I kept the castor at 10% and used only 20% stearic but it didn't work out the CP method. So going to rebatch it this afternoon. Is is possible to make a shaving soap without Stearic? I'm thinking that Stearic is needed based on all the research I've done. I just find hot process isn't smooth enough hence why I'm trying to keep with Cold Process. I bought a shaving brush to experiment with.

 

[brandislee]

I'm working on the hot process thing, too. I tried it CP last time and it was a hot (haha) clumpy mess (but for what it's worth, the lather was nice...). I don't care so much if it's totally perfect with HP, though, as long as it's somewhat attractive. Or at least not repulsive looking.

 

[Chaloney]

Have you seen this:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...n-Illustrated-Guide-to-a-Test-Batch-LONG-POST

 

[fuchia]

This is the result after about 4 weeks for the recipe I posted in post #146 I just used a small end piece to experiment with. I'm pretty happy with it but will keep experimenting with new batches.

 

[fuchia]

Chaloney,

Yes I thoroughly read that thread and want to try that recipe with a few tweaks. The foam looks great based on the photos posted I've seen.

 

[Ozymndius]

new shaving soap experiment video (I melted the stearic acid separately then poured it into the cold process batch as I was stirring): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEiSX8fzvCY

 

[Wendy]

sodium bentonite "absorbs nearly five times its weight of water and at full saturation it occupies a volume of 12 to 15 times its dry bulk weight." Source. Rather than dulling the blade, it contributes to razor glide.

+1 it definitely helps glide. I use bentonite and soak it in oil or glycerin first, depending on the recipe I am using. It will never be gritty nor drying if added to the recipe properly. Soak, soak, soak. : )

 

[LadyScales]

New member here finally registered after spending hours reading all of the DIY shave soap threads. I have been manufacturing and marketing artisan soaps since 2002, played a bit with shaving soaps early on - and the cream soaps when Failor's "Cream Soap" book first hit the shelves - but put it on the back burner until recently when I had a request from a new customer. I love to play Mad Scientist ;-) and my first batch today was dominantly lard/stearic with meadowfoam, avocado butter, and a bit of coconut hot processed in the crockpot. I used a 60/40 ratio of KOH/NaOH scented with Sandalwood. It's in my 3" PVC now cooling. Curious to see if it indeed sets up enough to cut into pucks. Tomorrow I'll be experimenting with John/Songbird's formula of 52% stearic 48% coconut and a second batch with the same ratios using tallow in place of the coconut. (I'll actually be using lard unless I can bring myself to use my hand rendered deer or yak tallow in the freezer). Thanks to all who have contributed, now I know what qualities you all look for in an exceptional puck of shaving soap.

 

[mrb7]

New member here finally registered after spending hours reading all of the DIY shave soap threads. I have been manufacturing and marketing artisan soaps since 2002, played a bit with shaving soaps early on - and the cream soaps when Failor's "Cream Soap" book first hit the shelves - but put it on the back burner until recently when I had a request from a new customer. I love to play Mad Scientist ;-) and my first batch today was dominantly lard/stearic with meadowfoam, avocado butter, and a bit of coconut hot processed in the crockpot. I used a 60/40 ratio of KOH/NaOH scented with Sandalwood. It's in my 3" PVC now cooling. Curious to see if it indeed sets up enough to cut into pucks. Tomorrow I'll be experimenting with John/Songbird's formula of 52% stearic 48% coconut and a second batch with the same ratios using tallow in place of the coconut. (I'll actually be using lard unless I can bring myself to use my hand rendered deer or yak tallow in the freezer). Thanks to all who have contributed, now I know what qualities you all look for in an exceptional puck of shaving soap.

http://www.badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=304534

Here I made some posts about lard and tallow based soap.

I wouldn't waste the hand rendered deer on shaving soap.

 

[LadyScales]

Wow, another greatly entertaining and informative thread, thanks so much for the input mrb7!

 

[InNae]

Nice to hear your soap base worked well! I tried a few months ago with a glycerine melt and pour. The results were not good at all.. I guess it probably depends on the ingredients used by the supplier. But I just love making from scratch now. It's really not that difficult and i'm about as non-manual, non-creative as they get.. I'm a network analyst. Geeky tech guy lol.

The next thing on my list is shaving cream. I don't use creams all that much but what i've seen from the process is very interesting. I hear there is a good book available, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

So this thread and a couple of others have caught the attention of the chemist in me (Yes, I am a chemist by trade). What book were you referring to? Have you been able to find it? Do you recommend any others for making shaving soap?

InNae

 

[CaptainK]

I tried a few months ago with a glycerine melt and pour. The results were not good at all.. I guess it probably depends on the ingredients used by the supplier.

Yeah, most melt and pour soap bases won't yield good shaving soap. What base did you use? What did you do with it?

There is one place that has a melt and pour base made especially as shaving soap: Bramble Berry (http://www.brambleberry.com/Shaving-Melt-And-Pour-Base-P4384.aspx). Many artisan soap makers who sell melt and pour shaving soap will start with this base and add fragrances, colors, clays, etc., to make it their own. It gets fantastic reviews.

 

[CaptainK]

Have you seen this:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...n-Illustrated-Guide-to-a-Test-Batch-LONG-POST

Has this thread been closed to replies? I can't find a way to do so. Perhaps I've been away from B&B too long!

 

[fuchia]

It seems like it's still open for replies. Will watch your video Ozymndius. Hoping to try another batch tomorrow if time allows.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Looks like the guy who started it started selling his soaps and became a hobbyist, so they moved it to the hobbyist forum, where threads can't be replied to.

 

[fuchia]

Question when doing the 60% Potassium Hydroxide and the 40% Sodium Hydoxide. Do I use the water amount for the Sodium Hydroxide of the Potassium Hydroxide? Or do I take each water amount and do the 60%/40% split again?

 

[InNae]

I don't think that the little difference in the amount of water would make that much difference, but I've not made all that much soap.

 

[fuchia]

I'm making a small batch using 14 oz of oils. So the lye for the NaOH is 2.08 oz and 4.86 water and for the KaOH it's 3.11 oz lye and 9.33 oz water.

Doing a 60% of KaOH the lye is now 1.866 and 40% NaOH they lye is 0.832. Do I just use the 4.86 oz of water from the NaOH side or do I take 40% of the NaOH water and 60% of the KaOH water? This just dawned on me. Think last time I followed the NaOH side of water but got stearic spots.

After looking at post 85 it looks like I want to stick with the water amount for NaOH

 

[InNae]

For the NaOH you have a 2 to 1 ratio of water to lye but for the KOH its 3 to 1. Check your numbers to see why? On a soap forum I asked a similar question and the reply was that the amount of water shouldn't matter that much. If you had stearic acid spots I would use more water.

 

[fuchia]

Thanks I'm using a completely different recipe this time compared to the one that had stearic spots in it. I'm thinking Stearic spots were because I either didn't mix it enough or adding the glycerin in later caused this.