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Chagrin Valley Shaving Soap

CV is now offering Bay Rum and Lemon Lime shaving soaps, but they won't be cured for another month. I like the CV shampoo bars.
 
"Tricky" is being very polite. Has anyone ever found a good shave soap containing olive oil? I personally haven't heard of one, but that doesn't mean too much. :biggrin:

-Andy
 
"Tricky" is being very polite. Has anyone ever found a good shave soap containing olive oil? I personally haven't heard of one, but that doesn't mean too much. :biggrin:

-Andy

The overwhelming consensus from the veteran members, is that any soap that has a high portion of Olive Oil will not lather correctly, if at all, and is thus disastrous as a Shaving Soap.
 
I don't remember seeing shaving soap on the CV site before so this may be the first batch. I've only used the Coconut Milk (lots of lather-no scent) and the Mud & Clay shampoo bars from here and I like those.

Edit: thanks for the heads up on olive oil in shaving soap.
 
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So has anyone tried the Chagrin Valley shave soap yet? I really like their shampoo bars and bath soaps.:thumbup:

No way I'll be trying these. Olive oil is among the main ingredients. Re olive oil shaving soaps, I've learned my lesson. I'd lay even money that these soaps are very nice in the bath & very rotten w/a blade.
 
I love their shampoo bars and bath soaps as well. On impulse, I decided I'd take one for the team and ordered a 1 oz lemon-lime shave soap which just arrived today. I'm concerned about the olive oil factor, but the scent sounded too good to resist. The 1 oz size is an odd (square-ish) shape that might be more conducive to "stick"-like use.

Anyhow...we'll see. I'll report in tomorrow unless my test lathers go poorly tonight.
 
I would stop in, but I can't get to their store during the week and they're closed on the weekends. Seems silly to order online from a company just down the road, but I am curious about the bay rum soap. I'll wait to hear Rich's results before I pull the trigger.
 
I would stop in, but I can't get to their store during the week and they're closed on the weekends. Seems silly to order online from a company just down the road, but I am curious about the bay rum soap. I'll wait to hear Rich's results before I pull the trigger.


Initial test lathering was not encouraging :sad:. The lather, while plentiful was thin and bubbly altho somewhat slick, but as opposed to thick and fluffy. I'm going to give it a test shave tomorrow morning nevertheless, but I think I will use it like a stick and face lather and see if that makes a difference. If it still performs poorly, I may drop CV an email and let them know about the olive oil issue. Their other soap products are great; it'd be a shame to let them fail on the shaving soap.
 
Initial test lathering was not encouraging :sad:. The lather, while plentiful was thin and bubbly altho somewhat slick, but as opposed to thick and fluffy.

Doesn't surprise me. That's been my experience with every single olive oil-based soap. :thumbdown
 
Thanks for keeping us updated, Rich. I'm a little disappointed with the news about the shaving soap, but at least I know now that they make good bath soaps.
 
Well, I took one for the team and shaved with the CV shave soap this morning. I did my usual prep and lather building with the exception of using the (sample sized) soap like a shave stick (rubbed it on my wet beard and face lathered w/ a brush). I made one full pass over my face with the razor (Merkur Classic w/ Astra Pt blade) and immediately switched to an Erasmic stick I had waiting as backup.

As predicted, the lather was very thin and bubbly. I could hear and see the lather breaking down on my face as I shaved. The lather lasted for one pass and was on the border between not-slick-enough and just-sufficiently-slick. Even the lather still in my brush was gone by the time I finished my first pass (which doesn't take me very long at all).

The scent: practically non-exsistent even tho this was supposed to be a "lemon-lime" soap. There was a noticeable background, almost tallow scent, even tho this is not a tallow soap. There were very light whiffs of the lemon-lime scent here and there... enough to just barely notice, but all together ignorable if you weren't paying attention. When lathered, the scent seemed to be even less noticeable than in the dry puck.

All-in-all, a disappointment altho no injury or irritation resulted. Doubly disappointing given the other fine soap products that CV produces. If I get the chance today, I plan on dropping CV a note to let them know my results and to recommend an olive oil-free re-formulation. I'll also point them to B&B to let them see what they might glean from us shave geeks.
 
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My email to Chargin Valley:


To Who It May Concern:

I send this email in the hopes of bringing to your attention a few issues with your current (new to your offerings) shave soap. But, before doing so, let me begin by stating that I'm an avid user of your bath soaps and shampoo bars and I am extremely pleased with both.

It may also be of interest to know that I am a member of a very large internet board dedicated to wet shaving known as Badger and Blade (www.badgerandblade.com). To say that we are shave geeks, is an understatement and we have several soapers among our membership as well. Most of us shave with double edge razors or "straights/cut throats", but some do shave with cartridge and system-type razors such as the Mach 3 and Fusion.

Now, regarding the shave soap which I recently received: the lather was extremely poor as compared to the products to which I am accustomed (both tallow and glycerin / veg based). CV later was extremely thin and bubbly and not as slick as it should be. Lather began to break down almost immediately after being applied to my face and hardly lasted long enough to complete a "once over" on my face (commonly, one makes 2 or 3 "once overs" when shaving with a double edge). In my experience and that of the B&B members, proper shaving lather is thick and fluffy, much like a good meringue and it is stable enough to not break down for two or three "once overs."

The specific problem in this area is probably CV's use of olive oil in the shave soap manufacturing. Our soapers and members have identified this specific ingredient as a literal "lather killer" and it just doesn't work well in a shave soap in any proportion. If I might suggest, your product would be served best by the elimination of this ingredient in the shave soap formulation.

One other additional item would be the scent, and I realize this is more of a personal preference and may even have been a conscious decision on your part. Namely, the scent was nearly unnoticeable in its present concentration. For most of the shave, with the exception of a couple of easily over looked whiffs, I thought I was shaving with an unscented soap. But, in addition to the lack of lemon-lime scent, there was a heavy (tho not off putting) "earthy" type scent which may be the result of the saponification process.

As I mentioned earlier, I am extremely pleased with CV's other soap products and really hope that this feedback will be useful and helpful to you. I also would like to invite you to stop by b&b .... you need not join to view the various posts. You can find me as member "RichGem" and some of our soapers are "wendy", "sue", and "Mama Bear." "Soapbox" is not a soaper per se, but his parents run a soap manufacturing business.

If you should be interested in beta-testers for a new formulation, I would certainly be willing to help and I know that many of the folks at b&b would be more than willing as well.

All the best,
(my name here)
 
A very nice response arrived this morning (the run together words seem to be the fault of AOL, not the original email):

Subject: Shaving Soap
Date: Monday January 25, 2010


Hi Richard

Thank you so much for taking the time to write. I am so
sorry that you were disappointed. I always appreciate a
good critique and have learned so much from my customers. I
decided to make a shaving soap at my husband’s urging. He is
a wet shaver who has always used a mug and badger brush
with a double edge razor and felt slighted that his wife was
a soapmaker and he did not have a proper shaving soap.

I am new to shaving soap, but did know there were a
few basics: creamy stable lather, fluffy lather, slip, and
conditioning (tell me if I left anything out!). Let me
share my process of choosing oils. There are many fatty
acids that make up the basic oils and butters used to make
soap and each contributes its own qualities. Palmitic and
Stearic acids are known for creating hard barwith stable
lather. Ricinoleic acid(basically castor oil), creates
both stable and fluffy lather. Lauric and Myristic acids
create cleansing fluffy lather. Linoleic and Oleic are the
conditioning fatty acids. So I did my research and thought
I had created a balanced recipe. My favorite shaving soap
has always been pure Castile. You are right, olive oil
does not have a very stable or fluffy lather at all—but it
is very slippery and my old legs seem to like it. I did not
realize that it was a bad oil for shaving soap. I had made
a little test batch and my testers liked it, but none of
them were true “shave geeks.”

As far as the scent, I do scent rather lightly. The Bay Rum
seems to have held up better. Citrus oils are very volatile
and evaporate much more readily than other types
of essential oils. Essential oils ingeneral do not have the
staying power of the synthetic fragrance oils. Scent is
very difficult. I will receive an e-mail from someone
telling me that they love a particular soap but the scent is
too strong. I will then receive another e-mail about
thesame exact soap with the comment that the scent is not
strong enough.

So it is back to the drawing board. I am now on a mission
to create a fabulous shaving soap and with you as my “shave
geek” I believe I will eventually succeed. So based on your
note, thelather was conditioning enough and there was
fluffy lather, but it was lacking in the creamy and stable
lather department—correct? How about the slip? I know bay
rum is a favorite for shaving soap—is there another scent
that people like? Please feel free to offer more critique
(good or bad).

I hope to be making the test batch at the end of this week.
It will need to cure for at least seven weeks and then I
will ship you a few bars!

Again, I appreciate your kindness.
Warm regards,

Ida
Chagrin Valley Soap
 
A very nice response arrived this morning (the run together words seem to be the fault of AOL, not the original email):

Wow, what a change to see a vendor who is willing to improve their product, rather than respond with a "I know what I am doing, go get bent!" attitude. :thumbup:
 
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