Ivan Der Williams Shave Soap Blend for Ideal Lather and Slickness

[FarmerTan]

Or a stick of Arko, but I heard an
unsubstantiated rumor that it has a polarizing scent.

Brother, you HAVE to stop reading threads started by @Owen Bawn .... HE'S a polarizing character.

 

[Steve56]

Did I ever tell y'all about the time my Dad made us pancakes and fried them in the fat from the "night before's" pork chops? Yeah, it was about as good as it sounds, but I ate it.

In those days for us it was eat it or go hungry. It's amazing how much more sweet those memories get the older I get.

The rule in my family regarding meals was ‘You have two choices, take it or leave it.’

 

[FarmerTan]

The rule in my family regarding meals was ‘You have two choices, take it or leave it.’

Ours was pretty much the same. My folks let us serve ourselves, and have seconds if they were available, but if you put it on your plate, you sat at the table until you ate it.

I was stubborn, but I never out-stubborned Dad!

 

[Lane101]

Hi everyone, thank you for your comments. Surprisingly adding a small amount of Ivory (20% by weight) did enhance the slickness of the Ivan Der Williams blend without a noticable reduction in lather structure. One of the runner up blends in my original post was a pure Van Der Williams without a third soap and, while good, was not as slick as the blend with a bit of Ivory. When I added too much Ivory (40% of the blend) in another experiment the soap lather, while slick, did not last through a shaving pass requiring reapplication.

Fully understand that the Van Der Hagen Deluxe (VDH) is adding the structure to the soap lather from its foaming agent ingredient. Ivory is only for added slickness and you are right that is does nothing for the structure.

Regarding Dove, that is a great suggestion for my next blend experiment. My teenage son uses Dove Men+Care soap. Recently test lathered it with my plissoft brush and found it easily makes a lot of slick lather by itself. Better structure than Ivory though still not enough that I'd want to use it as a stand alone shaving soap. Adding a 40% Williams/40% VDH/20% Dove to my possible future experiments list once I work though the shaving pucks of my most recent blend above.

P.S. Noticed that Dove changed the Men+Care soap formula recently and is now marketing it as a 3-N-1 soap for face, body and shaving.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

Brother, you HAVE to stop reading threads started by @Owen Bawn .... HE'S a polarizing character.

Duly noted.

 

[Lane101]

Agree, though experimenting is fun. But I suspect that the results aren’t up to a stick of La Toja for $4.

Yes, it is fun, that's why many of us do it. Really enjoy seeing how all the different variables from soap ingredients to tools and technique impact the shaving experience so will continue to experiment.

To your point I've now found I can generate similarly thick and slick lather from the Williams alone when I use a good boar brush versus my plissoft synthetic and lather right on the puck. Where I live that Williams puck is just 99 cents at the grocery.

My soap rotation now oscillates between Ivan Der Williams/Plissoft and straight Williams/Boar with an occasional side trip to Prorasso or Van Der Hagen Luxury.

 

[Steve56]

It’s a little known secret, but a good boar can solve most lathering problems.

 

[geneaut]

I enjoy reading about projects like this. I used to do stuff like this more often, but now that I have a vast collection of some really good shave soaps I've moved away from trying to get Williams to behave like an artisan product. That said I did buy some Ivory last year to test out as a shaving soap so the 'testing bug' bites me occasionally.

If you tweak the formula more I'd love to hear about it.

 

[Lane101]

Hi everyone, quick update. Recently mixed up a modified version of my Ivan Der Williams (IVDH) blend. Formula includes 2 pucks of Williams Mug (3.5 oz), 2 pucks of Van Der Hagen Deluxe (VDH) (5.0 oz), a bit of Ivory (2oz) and one ounce of Proraso. Again the goal is to get the optimal balance of slickness from the tallow bases soaps (Williams/Ivory) and structure from the VDH foaming agent with the Proraso. Good overall result with even more structure/viscosity to the lather than my best blend in the original post above though the slickness, while good, did drop a bit. Easily lathers with my synthetic plissoft brush. Similar slickness to the Van Der Hagen Luxury soap many of us like that I also enjoy as part of my rotation. The original IVDH blend has excellent slickness similar to Williams alone.

Above based on just one use so the softer VDH/Proraso may be overly represented in this first shave since these softer soaps tend to coat the grated harder soaps during the mixing process. Will report back if there is a noticeable change in lathering characteristics after a few uses.

Bottom Line: It appears once the portion of tallow based Williams/Ivory drops below 60% there is a noticeable trade off of slickness for lather structure/ease of lathering. My personal preference is to have more slickness so I'll likely dial back future blends towards the original Ivan Der Williams above.

Of course the biggest problem is with the Proraso added in is this does not lend itself well to an easy name like Ivan Der Williams . Somehow πvan Der Williams or Pivan Der Williams doesn't quite roll of the tongue like the original Ivan Der Williams

Quick update on my modified version of Ivan Der Williams (IVDH) above as promised now that I've used it for four shaves.

After the first use the results improved significantly. Slickness is now as good as my original IVDH while the lather has retained the improvements noted above. Suspect, as hypothesized above, that my mixing method is the cause of the initial variability since I grate the Williams and Ivory, next mix in the Proraso and finally blend in the Van Der Hagen Deluxe (VDH) soap after melting it in the microwave. While it blends well the VDH does coat everything in its melted state likely resulting in an initial shave that is mostly VDH Deluxe as the root cause of the drop in slickness.

Very happy with the end result here will continue to use this blend going forward.

Happy Holidays everyone!

 

[steveclarkus]

Agree with those who say Ivory is probably not doing much for you when shaving. Maybe substitute some Arko for its slickness benefits. I'm at a loss for a catchy name.

Wilco