Turning Bath Soap Into Shaving Soap?

[conroygc]

Hello gentlemen,

I am interested in learning how to make my own shaving soaps. I have done some research the past couple days to become familiar with the ingredients used, and in reading have found that making your own soap isn't an easy thing to do.

What I would like to try is to take a bath soap, melt it down and add ingredients that would make it into a decent quality shaving soap. Has anyone done this before? Is it possible?

Can you simply add some mixture of bentonite clay, castor oil, or some other compound to a soap and turn it into a good shaving soap? I realize this may take a lot of experimenting to get right.

I searched several resources for information on this, but didn't find anything satisfactory. If there is already a thread for this, please let me know.

Here are some of the soaps I currently have on hand (ignore the other stuff):
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6117/6311958393_b06ec88b33.jpg

Grandpa's Oatmeal Soap
Yardley Oatmeal & Almond
Yardley English Lavender
Sappo Hill Aloe Oatmeal

Thank you in advance!
~Connor Lawrence

[kingfisher]

The short answer is that you can't really make a good shaving soap by melting down a bath soap and adding clay, certain oils, etc. It is not that simple.

If you want to shave with a bath soap, my suggestion would be to buy a bar of Hugo Naturals soap in whatever scent interests you, and then lather that up for your shave. Or use it for your shower and for you shave. It makes a really nice shaving lather. All other bar soaps I have tried don't really make a great shaving lather.

[mmack66]

If the soap was made with lye and tallow, such as the Yardley soap, you can't melt it down without ruining the soap. Don't know about the Grandpa's soap, but that green one in the front looks like it might be the type that could be melted.

You can buy soap base such as this- http://www.brambleberry.com/Bulk-Melt-Pour-Soap-Base-C126.aspx and add your own ingredients.

[conroygc]

If you want to shave with a bath soap, my suggestion would be to buy a bar of Hugo Naturals soap in whatever scent interests you, and then lather that up for your shave. Or use it for your shower and for you shave. It makes a really nice shaving lather. All other bar soaps I have tried don't really make a great shaving lather.

I used Grandpa's Pine Tar soap for about a year as shaving soap. It's long enough ago that I don't remember how the lather was, but I loved the smell and it was a great product to use with my safety razor.


You can buy soap base such as this- http://www.brambleberry.com/Bulk-Mel...Base-C126.aspx and add your own ingredients.

Thank you for that link! I've seen a few products like this, even an unscented shaving cream base. This would be a good place to start.

When I get home today I'll post the ingredients to the different shave soaps above for comparison. Either way, I'll likely be trying this and I'll let everyone know how things turn out.

[kingfisher]

the brambleberry stuff has been around for a long time and is actually the base for many smaller vendors shave soaps. It is guaranteed to give you a decent shave lather because it is really a SHAVE soap, not a hand soap or bath soap.

[Price]

I know there is a certain quality in many of us that wants to make something with our own hands, which is why so many of us enjoy restoring razors, brushes, etc.

However, my first thought upon reading the OP was "Why?"

There are so many fantastic shave soaps available to you, what would be the benefit of making your own "frankensoap", other than just to say that you did it?

[conroygc]

Price,

You nailed it in your first sentence. I enjoy making things that I use, and I've wanted to make soap since even before I started old school shaving. I also clean up old safety razors and sell shaving sets to my friends on occasion; it would be really cool to include some homemade soaps with those.

[finnmcool]

Get yourself a book on soap making. Or at least check out some of the websites with detailed directions. Also, decide how old school you want to go. If you like fiddling with gram scales and careful measurements you can use the cold method, if you like to work more by the seat of your pants you can go with hot method. If you burn wood regularly you can even make your own lye. Soap making isn't hard, per say, but can be tricky.

[oc_in_fw]

Price,

You nailed it in your first sentence. I enjoy making things that I use, and I've wanted to make soap since even before I started old school shaving. I also clean up old safety razors and sell shaving sets to my friends on occasion; it would be really cool to include some homemade soaps with those.

I appreciate the feeling of using things you made, but will leave the soap to the pros (I could never top DR Harris). So, to have more things to do, I am going to move to straights, and learn how to totally maintain them myself. Then, I will never have to buy another razor again (okay, you can stop laughing now :biggrin:)

[The Nid Hog]

After reading a thread about it here, I shaved with Grandpa's Pine Tar. It's certainly doable, but it's a terrible shaving soap. It might be neat to make your own soap but I bet it's going to end up being about as costly as buying a good one. Have you ever tried Williams? It doesn't get much love here--except from its fans--but I think that it works just fine. Don't be skimpy with the product and you'll get a great shave. It's cheap and available everywhere.

[Luc]

I have a frankensoap that I made from 3 soaps.

1 of them was *not* a shaving soap even if it was sold like that (1st Ingredient olive oil), second was Col Conk Amber which I thought the scent was too chemical compared to other shave soaps. Finally, there was a tallow soap that I didn't like the scent...

Big mix (2 melts and 1 chopped) and I now have a very strange scented shave soap that works very well!

Is it worth it? IMO no. I think that you should look at buying the right thing (something labeled Shave Soap with good reviews). I got a bath soap Rose scented, it's sad that I can't use it as a shave soap but it gives me an excuse to get GFT Rose! :biggrin:

[michiganlover]

You can buy soap base such as this- http://www.brambleberry.com/Bulk-Melt-Pour-Soap-Base-C126.aspx and add your own ingredients.

Brambleberry actually makes a shaving soap base (the one you linked too is a bath soap base), and the shaving soap base is said to be quite good on it's own. Seems you could save yourself some experimentation by starting out with the shaving soap base:

http://www.brambleberry.com/Shaving-Melt-And-Pour-Base-P4384.aspx

[conroygc]

Get yourself a book on soap making. Or at least check out some of the websites with detailed directions. Also, decide how old school you want to go. If you like fiddling with gram scales and careful measurements you can use the cold method, if you like to work more by the seat of your pants you can go with hot method. If you burn wood regularly you can even make your own lye. Soap making isn't hard, per say, but can be tricky.

I need to stop chomping at the bit and just do this, since this is what I really want to do. I'm a Physics student, so I've taken a few classes where I've had to work in a lab. The idea of measuring ingredients, monitoring reactions, writing down EVERYTHING and making an awesome soap is way more appealing than doing all that and making...salt and water, for example.


I appreciate the feeling of using things you made, but will leave the soap to the pros (I could never top DR Harris). So, to have more things to do, I am going to move to straights, and learn how to totally maintain them myself. Then, I will never have to buy another razor again (okay, you can stop laughing now :biggrin:)

I would really like to maintain and even restore my own straights as well, but I don't have any of the necessary tools needed to restore straight razors. My mom used to make candles, so she has lots of molds and things that would be useful for soap, so all I really need is the ingredients (I think). I understand most people would prefer to just go out and buy a quality product when it's not that expensive (I don't make my own socks, for example), but soap making is something I have an interest in. We'll see how it goes!


After reading a thread about it here, I shaved with Grandpa's Pine Tar. It's certainly doable, but it's a terrible shaving soap. It might be neat to make your own soap but I bet it's going to end up being about as costly as buying a good one. Have you ever tried Williams? It doesn't get much love here--except from its fans--but I think that it works just fine. Don't be skimpy with the product and you'll get a great shave. It's cheap and available everywhere.

I agree that making or cock-tailing soap isn't a money saver unless you make a ton of it (soap lasts a long time, who wants tons of soap?). I haven't tried Williams, but there's a few stores around here that sell it. I'll pick up a puck next time I'm at the store.


I have a frankensoap that I made from 3 soaps.
1 of them was *not* a shaving soap even if it was sold like that (1st Ingredient olive oil), second was Col Conk Amber which I thought the scent was too chemical compared to other shave soaps. Finally, there was a tallow soap that I didn't like the scent...
Big mix (2 melts and 1 chopped) and I now have a very strange scented shave soap that works very well!
Is it worth it? IMO no. I think that you should look at buying the right thing (something labeled Shave Soap with good reviews). I got a bath soap Rose scented, it's sad that I can't use it as a shave soap but it gives me an excuse to get GFT Rose! :biggrin:

Noob question, what is GFT? You guys are getting closer and closer to convincing me that frankensoap isn't the way to go...which makes me more interested in just cutting the crap and making soap!

[conroygc]

Brambleberry actually makes a shaving soap base (the one you linked too is a bath soap base), and the shaving soap base is said to be quite good on it's own. Seems you could save yourself some experimentation by starting out with the shaving soap base:

http://www.brambleberry.com/Shaving-Melt-And-Pour-Base-P4384.aspx

Thanks for the tip!

[oc_in_fw]

I would really like to maintain and even restore my own straights as well, but I don't have any of the necessary tools needed to restore straight razors. My mom used to make candles, so she has lots of molds and things that would be useful for soap, so all I really need is the ingredients (I think). I understand most people would prefer to just go out and buy a quality product when it's not that expensive (I don't make my own socks, for example), but soap making is something I have an interest in. We'll see how it goes!


Good luck to you, then. Who knows, maybe you will come up with the next "must have" soap :001_smile

[Luc]

GFT -> Geo. F. Trumper

This is the soap I was referring to: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/GFT_Rose_Shaving_Soap

[urr-lord]

As was posted earlier you can make a really good shave soap out of bath soaps and low grade shave soaps.I have chipped up partial bars of williams,colgate,pears transparent and pressed them into a mug.That way you got the glycerin"slickness" and herbs/spices of the Pears and the "cushion" of the shave soaps.You ended up with a glycerin-tallow soap that worked really well and was pretty cheap.

[conroygc]

As was posted earlier you can make a really good shave soap out of bath soaps and low grade shave soaps.I have chipped up partial bars of williams,colgate,pears transparent and pressed them into a mug.That way you got the glycerin"slickness" and herbs/spices of the Pears and the "cushion" of the shave soaps.You ended up with a glycerin-tallow soap that worked really well and was pretty cheap.

I'm glad to hear that it works. Pretty simple too!

I shaving with the Sappo hill bar yesterday. Used some shave secret oil, then whipped it up in a mug. Didn't quite get stiff peaks out of the lather, but surprisingly it made for a really great shave! Much thicker than the Dr. Bronner's I had used in the past.

[Go West Young Man]

Considering you can buy a puck of hard shaving soap for $12 that'll last you 6-8 months of solid use, why would you go out of your way to McGuyver up an inferior product?

[conroygc]

Considering you can buy a puck of hard shaving soap for $12 that'll last you 6-8 months of solid use, why would you go out of your way to McGuyver up an inferior product?

It's not about the price. I want to start making shaving soap/cream (from scratch). I am starting out this way as a "stepping stone" to test what different scents I like and what ingredients work well. But really, I need to cut the crap, buy a soap making book, and get to work.

[GreekGuy]

I have a magical stone which turns ordinary dove bath soap into vintage yardley

[conroygc]

I have a magical stone which turns ordinary dove bath soap into vintage yardley

:confused1

[Crog]

I've read elsewhere that Yardley is one of those non-shaving soaps that can be better for making one's own custom shaving soap from, so he's being playful, conroygc.

[Go West Young Man]

I have a magical stone which turns ordinary dove bath soap into vintage yardley

I will trade you these magic beans for your stone!

[charles_r]

Hi, i've done shaving soap. But I didn't do it melting down another bar and adding stuff. have a look here http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...e-shaving-soap

there is plenty of information on the web concerning how to make cold process or hot process soaps. It's not too difficult except you have to be careful using lye (wear gogles, etc). The startup costs are reasonable(100 or so bucks). see this as a hobby investment. Start off making bath soap. It won't be any cheaper than buying a bulk pack of Dove at costco (but close), but what you'll get is a quality product. When you're familiar with the process, try shaving soap.

The thread contains my recipe (and a few failed recipes). I'm not going commercial so I didn't mind sharing.

Just don't try any recipes you find elsewhere on the web. Most of them are just bath soap with added clay and they suck. I learned the hard way... with a burning face. lol

I've had lots of help from the people here, so if you have any questions, let me know.

Good luck to you!

[GreekGuy]

I will trade you these magic beans for your stone!

Do your beans jump? I'm only interested in magical beans that jump.

[conroygc]

Hi, i've done shaving soap. But I didn't do it melting down another bar and adding stuff. have a look here http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...e-shaving-soap

there is plenty of information on the web concerning how to make cold process or hot process soaps. It's not too difficult except you have to be careful using lye (wear gogles, etc). The startup costs are reasonable(100 or so bucks). see this as a hobby investment. Start off making bath soap. It won't be any cheaper than buying a bulk pack of Dove at costco (but close), but what you'll get is a quality product. When you're familiar with the process, try shaving soap.

The thread contains my recipe (and a few failed recipes). I'm not going commercial so I didn't mind sharing.

Just don't try any recipes you find elsewhere on the web. Most of them are just bath soap with added clay and they suck. I learned the hard way... with a burning face. lol

I've had lots of help from the people here, so if you have any questions, let me know.

Good luck to you!

Charles, I'm glad to hear that, thank you for posting. Unfortunately the link to the other thread did not work for me.

[conroygc]

I have school everyday and work almost every night, so it will be slow going on the soap making. But I did experiment yesterday. I was going to spend some time with my girlfriend, so I took the girly smelling yardley soap and ran about 1/4 of it through the cheese grater. The plan was to grate some and simply press it into the bowl, viola!

That did not work at all. Perhaps my cheese grater is too fine, but the pieces of soap would not pack down.

So, since I was trying to form it in a metal shaving mug, I thought "hell, I just throw it in some hot water for a few minutes and that soap will melt right down." Long story short I couldn't get the soap to melt at all.

Any tips on using the double boiler method to melt soap?

[conroygc]

I have a magical stone which turns ordinary dove bath soap into vintage yardley

Would that be the clay we have been referring to, or something else?

[franz]

Don't waste your time melting down Yardley bath soap in the vain hope that you can adulterate it into something usable as shave soap. You'd be much better off making soap from scratch (since you have a scientific bent I would suggest learning cold process soapmaking, which rewards precision). I've heard from soapmakers much the same advice that you got from charles_r; learn the process with hand soap and work your way up to shaving soap.

[conroygc]

Franz,

Thanks for the advice. I'll take it :)
I'm ordering a soap making book on my next paycheck.

[franz]

Franz,

Thanks for the advice. I'll take it :)
I'm ordering a soap making book on my next paycheck.

:thumbup1: Let us know how it goes!

[mblakele]

Best of luck with the soap-making. You could probably learn a lot from older books, too: good shave soaps don't need to change, and a lot of the old techniques are documented in freely-available books.

Link: https://www.google.com/search?q=soapmaking+shaving&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1#q=soapmaking+shaving&hl=en&tbo=1&tbm=bks&source=lnt&tbs=bkv:r&sa=X&ei=ycW4TuVq5KOIAq7szMcE&ved=0CCgQpwUoAw&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=1a65daf5e34c9e70&biw=1436&bih=806

[Luc]

It always depends which type of soap that you want to do (tripled-milled, tallow or glycerin)... I got a 2kg of unscented glycerin soap off eBay as SWMBO needed something unscented. I tried the soap as a shaving soap (it contains ~10 ingredients from memory) and it worked well... I use the soap to do superlather when I get something that doesn't work well.

I didn't do the soap myself but it seems that glycerin would be easier to make. Again, I know nothing about soap making but those were my observations.

[mmack66]

I have school everyday and work almost every night, so it will be slow going on the soap making. But I did experiment yesterday. I was going to spend some time with my girlfriend, so I took the girly smelling yardley soap and ran about 1/4 of it through the cheese grater. The plan was to grate some and simply press it into the bowl, viola!

That did not work at all. Perhaps my cheese grater is too fine, but the pieces of soap would not pack down.

So, since I was trying to form it in a metal shaving mug, I thought "hell, I just throw it in some hot water for a few minutes and that soap will melt right down." Long story short I couldn't get the soap to melt at all.

Any tips on using the double boiler method to melt soap?

A soap made with lye and tallow, like the Yardley, will not melt.

[ramon]

Considering you can buy a puck of hard shaving soap for $12 that'll last you 6-8 months of solid use, why would you go out of your way to McGuyver up an inferior product?

You have a very good point .

[ramon]

Please show us the result of your experiment when you done , maybe something good are there , you sound very enthusiastic , I like that , people when have that actitud have great result .
Sorry for my english , good luck!