Turning Bath Soap Into Shaving Soap?

**conroygc** · 11-04-2011, 09:25 AM

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):

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

Thank you in advance!
~Connor Lawrence

**kingfisher** · 11-04-2011, 10:15 AM

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** · 11-04-2011, 10:31 AM

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-Mel...Base-C126.aspx and add your own ingredients.

**conroygc** · 11-04-2011, 11:24 AM

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** · 11-04-2011, 01:19 PM

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** · 11-04-2011, 01:28 PM

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** · 11-04-2011, 01:38 PM

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** · 11-04-2011, 02:06 PM

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** · 11-04-2011, 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by 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.

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

)

**The Nid Hog** · 11-04-2011, 03:37 PM

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** · 11-04-2011, 04:29 PM

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!

**michiganlover** · 11-04-2011, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by mmack66

You can buy soap base such as this- http://www.brambleberry.com/Bulk-Mel...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-...ase-P4384.aspx

**conroygc** · 11-04-2011, 10:19 PM

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

Originally Posted by oc_in_fw

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

)

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!

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

Originally Posted by 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!

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** · 11-04-2011, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by michiganlover

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-...ase-P4384.aspx

Thanks for the tip!

**oc_in_fw** · 11-05-2011, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by conroygc

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

**Luc** · 11-05-2011, 02:37 PM

GFT -> Geo. F. Trumper

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

**urr-lord** · 11-06-2011, 07:53 AM

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** · 11-06-2011, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by 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.

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** · 11-06-2011, 01:23 PM

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** · 11-06-2011, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by 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?

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.