Mixing soaps

[Lane101]

These are some good mixes. The only other mixing I have tried is to mix the Stirling Unscented Beeswax with Arko, Cella, other Stirling soaps, WTP, and some others that I wanted to be better. The beeswax really is a good performer and a good replacement for lanolin.

Looking at some of those above, maybe I need to get more creative with my mixing.

You will find that if you enjoy blending soaps as part of this hobby that, like me, your approach will evolve over time. When I returned to DE shaving 4+ years ago I started with just Williams Shave Soap that was sold in my local supermarket. Good lather but a lot of effort to build the lather with the poor quality brushes I started with. Next I tried Van Der Hagen Deluxe from a local drug store and found that while it was easy to lather it had no where near the slickness of Williams. This gave me the idea of blending the two (learned later I wasn't the first person to create a Van Der Williams soap) with the result delivering an easy to lather puck and great slickness.

My experimentation evolved from there with the addition of small amounts of bath soap (Ivory for more slickness, Dove to superlather) and Proraso for enhanced lathering ease. Later added some Arko in place of some of the Williams that was discontinued. I even experimented with pure bath soap blend of Ivory (lather of Ivory alone, while slick dissipates) and Dove Men+Care (Dove lathers incredibly easy but by itself is almost too thick) and created a reasonably good shaving soap with these two ingredients. Did consign that last one back to bath soap use as I've so many other shaving soap options with better performance though the blend would be perfectly fine for someone on a budget.

Recommend you look at the many threads here on blending and then experiment to figure out what you like the best.

 

[Marco]

Hi Marko and @brucered , Respect that approach, especially in Europe where so many great shaving soaps are available for a fraction of the price we get charged here in the U.S.

Many of the soaps that we pay $10-$20 for here are sold for just a few dollars in Europe like MWF with U.S. pricing of $15-20 versus a U.K. price of around 6-7 British Pounds ($7-8 U.S.), Prorasso that sells for $10 here versus often a third of that price in Italy or Cyril R. Salter Shaving Soap that sells for 4-5 British Pounds ($5-6) in the U.K. versus $10-15 from U.S. retailers.

With the greater U.S. pricing differential there is a greater payback on the effort required to blend different soaps especially since we've found that custom blends can deliver core shaving performance that is as good or better than products like those above for less that $2 U.S. per 3+ ounce puck.

While the economics are relevant there is also a hobbyist element to this as many of us enjoy blending our own custom shaving soaps. Even though I was able to stock up on a variety of bargain priced (e.g. MWF landed in the U.S. at under $6 U.S. per puck) quality commercial soaps including all of those noted above in the fall of 2022 when the U.K. exchange rate collapsed I still keep one of my budget blends in my primary soap rotation because it works so well and, once I 3017 my latest batch, want to further experiment with adjustments to my latest formula.

The hobbyist element extends beyond just the reduction of soap cost as many fellow B&B members like to blend more premium soaps (or superlather with a cream) that, while they are great on their own, are perceived to be even better when part of a blend.

Sir, whatever makes YOU happy is always YOUR right choice.

 

[Ravenonrock]

I have two Frankensoap creations in rotation.
#1 Williams Mug, Wilkinson Sword stick and Speick stick
grated into a tallow bomb.
#2 D.R. Harris Windsor, Vintage Old Spice and La Toja stick all grated together.

I like combining some of my good but lesser used soaps together, sometimes because of scents (lack of) or ingredient profile to compliment each other and enjoy the end product. For me, the blending of certain soaps has been part of the fun.

 

[Cleanface]

Grated half a stick of Derby and half a stick of Arko together. Voila! Derko.

 

[coops]

I use everything as a shaving stick - so blending two soaps (one scent free or close to it) can help get the right "not too hard but firm enough for a stick"... think Arko! which can indeed be squeezed into a pot or bowl if you prefer. You can rub a hard soap like Pre de Provence or Saponificio Varesino straight on your face... I prefer to mix a slightly softer easier to wipe on face stick from those two.

As both PdeP and SV are properly hard soaps... I mix them 50/50 with Myrsol Cream - the Myrsol is a firm cream in a giant 1kg tub... and has Lanolin (and glycerin) as a bonus.
PdeP Bergsmot & Thyme , and the #63 ; and then SV Morado or Argania are my main '3' (i'll probably stick with just Morado in future) and then the RR below as a 4th:-

Or you could mix MWF or Haslingers with the soft 'soaps' - i've made some with Razorock Dead Sea mix with some Myrsol and Haslingers.

 

[Zora]

For me it is just about experimentation and fun. I’ve made a number of Frankensoaps, and they all perform at least as good as the individual soaps. Some like my tallow Frankensoap made with vintage Speick, Wilkinson Sword, Palmolive sticks isn’t just good - I would say it is close to or the best performing soap I have tried (which is alot )

 

[Doc Dan]

I love the idea of mixing Sterling Beeswax with other soaps. I'm going to have to keep that in my back pocket.

Today, I am mixing Noble Otter Barbar with Stirling Unscented Beeswax to make the NO perform better. I will still get the wonderful smell, too.

 

[Hannah's Dad]

I have some Leviathan I have thought of mixing with some Stirling Beeswax just to cut the scent level a notch or two.

I also mix Stirling samples to make new scents. Most so far have revolved around Bay Rum, but I have an idea for Coniferous and Frozen Tundra.

I mixed Stirling Sheep (unscented mutton tallow) with B&M Hallows and basically doubled the pleasure.

 

[mcee_sharp]

Have only Frankensoaped once, the lime scent was so mild compared to the Fresh Vetiver however, that the scent was heavily biased toward the FV. The lather on the other hand was a performer.