No clay in their soaps?

Okay, in my recent quest to check out different homemade shave soaps, I located several vendors on ebay (see this thread). Since the last thread I found 9 total vendors of homemade shave soap. Most list their ingredients, some don't.

I found two that either didn't list ingredients, or didn't list any clay. They were Pirates Cove and Lil Bit of Nature. So, I emailed them just to ask if they put clays in their soaps, which I was always under the impression must be in there to be a shave soap. Without clay, I assumed, it was just a high quality bath soap.

Both responded with "no", but not in the way you would think. It was almost like I asked if there were pesticides in their soap (Pirates Cove quote: "absolutely NO clays in our soap"). What gives? Is there an anti-clay opinion floating out there that I don't know about? Or, are they just not as informed as some of the other makers?

Maybe one of the Sue's could help with this one? Good question. I really like my ClassicShaving.com soap, which I know contains clay.

As an aside, I was watching an old Bugs Bunny cartoon, last night (the one that's a take-off on The Barber of Seville) and noticed that, at one point, Bugs took a glop of "beauty clay" and gave Elmer Fudd a maks of it which hardened into a concrete block. At that point, I thought about the clay in shaving soap and the French green clay that is sometimes mentioned on this forum.

Tim

I thought clay was mostly only used in glycerine soaps and was much less common in the lye soaps.

I would think clay would turn a glycerin soap cloudy.

Okay, I have always used Bentonite Clay. I tried Dead Sea Clay, but found that because of it's salt content, it eats at the soap and makes holes - very unattactive. I use a avocado/cucumber gycerin soap base and it starts off white, so I can't say if the clay makes it cloudy, but I wouldn't think so, as I can see no color change from it.

On some of the other clays I see soap makers use - I see White Kaolin and Rose Clay - which would be good for dry, sensitive or normal skin.

Bentonite Clay - ability to absorb toxins, impurities, heavy metals and other internal contaminants.
Bentonite, French Green and Multani Mitti - are good for drawing, drying and oily skin.
Suitable for all skin types - Dead Sea and Rhassoul Clay

ltlsuz said:

Okay, I have always used Bentonite Clay. I tried Dead Sea Clay, but found that because of it's salt content, it eats at the soap and makes holes - very unattactive. I use a avocado/cucumber gycerin soap base and it starts off white, so I can't say if the clay makes it cloudy, but I wouldn't think so, as I can see no color change from it.

On some of the other clays I see soap makers use - I see White Kaolin and Rose Clay - which would be good for dry, sensitive or normal skin.

Bentonite Clay - ability to absorb toxins, impurities, heavy metals and other internal contaminants.
Bentonite, French Green and Multani Mitti - are good for drawing, drying and oily skin.
Suitable for all skin types - Dead Sea and Rhassoul Clay

Click to expand...

Sue,
What percent of a puck is clay or in other words a 3 ounce puck would be ---ounces of clay? Just curious .
Thanks,

Goosemeplease said:

Sue,
What percent of a puck is clay or in other words a 3 ounce puck would be ---ounces of clay? Just curious .
Thanks,

Click to expand...

I'm actually not really sure. I just try to use a little bit, but even when I put just what I think is a small bit in, it absorbs and spreads. I try to disolve it the best I can, but lets face it, it is a clay, and I can't get all the little clumps. So I would think, in response to your question, probably less then 1/4 oz. to about 3 oz. of gylcerine. But that is just a guess, a little bit on my spoon, goes a long, long way.

Thanks!

My understanding is the the clay adds slipperyness (sp) to the skin and somewhat enhances making of a dense lather.

-- John Gehman

Yeah, I always read that clay was for slip and its an important ingredient in "shave" soap. I would think it is only beneficial and not something to be (I may be assuming here) proud that you're not using in your product. I wonder if it's in Col Conks or T&H Luxury, etc?

I have a family member that does the melt and pour soap thing and thought, "hey you like shaving stuff, I'll mix pour some in the shape of a puck and you can shave with it." It was great soap, it had vitamin E and all kinds of good stuff - but no clay. And while it was good, moisturizing soap - it even made a great lather, it had NO slip.

As far as lye soaps, all the recipes for making shave soap on the web, whether lye or not, even melt and pour, all call for clay, bentonite and kaolin being the most common.

pig140 said:

Yeah, I always read that clay was for slip and its an important ingredient in "shave" soap. I would think it is only beneficial and not something to be (I may be assuming here) proud that you're not using in your product. I wonder if it's in Col Conks or T&H Luxury, etc?

I have a family member that does the melt and pour soap thing and thought, "hey you like shaving stuff, I'll mix pour some in the shape of a puck and you can shave with it." It was great soap, it had vitamin E and all kinds of good stuff - but no clay. And while it was good, moisturizing soap - it even made a great lather, it had NO slip.

As far as lye soaps, all the recipes for making shave soap on the web, whether lye or not, even melt and pour, all call for clay, bentonite and kaolin being the most common.

Click to expand...

Yes, it is good for slip and a nice thick lather also, sorry I didn't mention it. But I think that most clays can do that. I do not use lye and it still works great.

ltlsuz said:

Yes, it is good for slip and a nice thick lather also, sorry I didn't mention it. But I think that most clays can do that. I do not use lye and it still works great.

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Exactly. I have done some research for my homemede creams, and the Bentonite is great for oily skin, but can dry out some people's skin, which isn't what shave soapmakers are going for. That's where the other clays come in handy. I think I'll forego Bentonite when I start making stuff.

pig140 said:

I wonder if it's in Col Conks or T&H Luxury, etc?

Click to expand...

I would assume its in Col Conks since it's a glycerine cold-pour soap, whereas the T&H and Harris soaps are fat/lye hard soaps. Hard soaps get their slip from the excess fat in the soap so they don't need clay.

Clay adds slip which is necessary for shaveing. The oils add to the quality/density of the lather. Here is a melt and pour shaving soap that uses wheat protein.

Here is the ingredient list of a vendor for basic white unfragranced melt and pour soap base: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Safflower Oil, Glycerine, Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (from berries, moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier), Soy bean protein (conditioner) and Titanium Dioxide (mineral whitener used in opaque/white soaps).

This same supplier also sells Goats Milk base, Shea Butter base and Cocoa Butter base. All types include the above ingredients with the exception of the addition of Goats Milk, Shea or Cocoa Butter to those individual types.

The only listed additional ingredient in the shaving soap is wheat protein.

I use my own blend of three clays and two oils. In each cake ther would be 1/4 tsp or 1 ml of this mix.

I am unaware of any problem with clays in a shave soap. If you use clay for an exfoliating mask, you would need to use clay appropriate for your skin type.
Sue