A tallow soap experiment and a challenge.

[7 O Menthol]

No shave tonight*, but I did whip up a little lather porn for those interested in the findings of this thread.

(*Received a new brush in the mail today and couldn't wait to start breaking it in with an unrelated soap... couldn't resist the temptation to take it to my face and my skin is paying for it now... I'll be back on the full testing wagon tomorrow with two days' growth instead)

Here's my #4 in all her glory!



This lather was super slick yet meringue like between my fingers. I'm of the impression that shaving with this lather will certainly be a treat!

Thanks again bkfist!

[bkfist]

Ahh, you got my unglazed bowl... glad that one survived - I kind of liked that bowl.

[tomjr]

nice lather

[7 O Menthol]

Brian - are each person's samples numbered in the same way? i.e. is my #4 the same soap as everyone else's #4?

I have some feedback to add, but I censor it based on your reply.

Thanks!

[bkfist]

Brian - are each person's samples numbered in the same way? i.e. is my #4 the same soap as everyone else's #4?

I have some feedback to add, but I censor it based on your reply.

Thanks!

Hmmm... good question... yes, it was just a whole lot easier to label each soap the same than to make 4 lists of 5 soaps each... If I'd done that, at some point I would have messed up... LOL

[Sullybob]

Hmmm... good question... yes, it was just a whole lot easier to label each soap the same than to make 4 lists of 5 soaps each... If I'd done that, at some point I would have messed up... LOL

Oh, I was under the impression that each person's samples were numbered differently. I won't be looking at any more pictures in this thread, or maybe I'll just stop reading it all together.

[bkfist]

Since nobody else knows what numbers are which, and since nobody on B&B can actually ever agree on anything at all, (one person's favorite blade is another's tin can, one person's Arko is another person's Williams - YMMV) I don't think one person's discussion will actually affect another person's opinion of a particular product...

If you choose not to read, feel free, but I don't really see any harm in the discussion occurring here with 4 different people giving their opinions on the same soap.

Also, the 4 of you that I picked were partly due to past posts and lack of a "group mentality"/"jumping on the bandwagon" behavior.

(Not that nobody liked other products that a lot of people also like, it was just that everyone seemed to judge a product for themselves. CVAC's continued attempts, yet reluctance to give in to pressure, stating both the good and the bad as well as the reason he got rid of his soap on the MW thread is the best example.)

I want honest opinions on the soaps not ego stroking - if all 5 formulations are bad for any of you 4, I want to hear that just as much as I want to hear if you really like a couple of them... Again, not selling anything, not going to sell anything, just want to come up with a good base that someone can point to.

[7 O Menthol]

Sample #4 - Shave #1

Facelathered with a Berkeley 46, got a very close shave with my Old Type and a red IP.
Pics below of brush after second face lathering and of the stuff I squeezed out of the breech of my brush after my third pass.



Sample #4 seemed to have a much lower water tolerance (than sample #2...), and the soap/water ratio had to be much more precise to get slickness worth shaving with IMO.

While the cushioning from sample #2 was off the charts and on par with my standard favorite performers, I wasn't able to get much protection from #4 at all.
I intentionally pushed the limits again (some buffing without new lather, etc), and I was rewarded with some nice nicks and irritation. My personal soap preference is for one that has enough residual slickness to allow some of these bad habits.

One unusual observation was how sample #4 reacted while using the thick breech stuff to wash the alum from my face... the lather was nice shiny merengue, but it turned into the strangest substance while washing off the alum. It reminded me of rubbing Elmer's Glue in the palm of my hand as a kid... that same type of "pilling" for lack of a better term happened here. I would have taken a picture, but I was honestly pretty surprised by it so it eluded me.

As far as skin care, my face has had the strangest chalky feeling ever since my shave, despite using a fairly regular post shave routine of Alum/AV Ice Sport/Every Man Jack lotion. My face has been super smooth from a stubble-free perspective, but almost rough from a skin care perspective.

If I were testing soap samples in relation to a future purchase, at this point I would gladly earmark #2 as a purchase and #4 as a gladly pass.

Although I'd like to wait until I've had a few days in with each sample before making any official predictions, my early and naive assumptions are as follows:
Sample #2 - Likely 'tallow first' or featuring a relatively high tallow content. Possibly contains lanolin.
Sample #4 - My guess is that this one does contain some tallow, but that it's comparatively lower in relation to the #2. Absolutely no lanolin.

I'm really excited to continue this process and see how my pre-conceptions will eventually compare to the truth. Thanks for reading!

[7 O Menthol]

By the way - if anybody happens to see the lather pics in my post above and thinks it's too wet and that explains my issue... it was too dry and way too gummy right before that pic... I added the smallest amount of water... I guess I kind of explained that when I remarked about the soap having a really narrow water tolerance, but there you go :)

[bkfist]

Interesting ;) Keep 'em coming :) LOL

As to alum, I've never actually washed alum from my face, I've always just rinsed with a wet washcloth, that's an interesting observation, though. I've got a bit of each left, so I'll have to try that to see if I get the same reaction to the soap.

(I thought about doing a batch of soap with potassium alum in the recipe - like Osma soap - but haven't gotten around to it yet.)

[cvac]

I've been using one of the BKfist soaps for a couple days and getting very good results. I will post pics from yesterday's shave later.

[Sullybob]

Today was my second shave with soap #2. I had taken the soap out of the bowl and put it in the bottom of my lather bowl because the bowl broke. It really dried out in my lather bowl. When I first put it in the bowl it was the consistency of putty. I smeared it in a thin layer on the bottom of the bowl and I'm sure that this helped it to dry out, now it's nearly the consistency of a hard soap. This morning it took me much longer to get enough lather for three passes. Cushion, slickness and post shave skin care are all good. I shaved around 11 am today and should have an early shave tomorrow, that will be the real test of this soap.

[cvac]

1) loaded SOC boar with my first mystery soap.




2) same after facelathering 1 pass...scuttle as a brushwarmer only.

Getting very good results with this soap so far after 3 days of use. Will use again tomorrow.

[Sullybob]

I had my third shave with soap number two yesterday and the fourth shave with it this morning. One thing I like about this soap is that it's slick enough to do a little blade buffing. If I nit pick the soap, I would like it to have a little more cushion. Slickness and post shave skin care are great, but using it everyday with the Cobra Classic loaded with a new Kai Mild blade leave my face feeling a little rough. I tend to like my lather on the wetter side, I'll try a dryer lather tomorrow.

[bkfist]

sullybob, Thanks for the reviews.

Been busy the past 2 days upgrading my home computer... haven't had much time for much anything else. LOL

[JCinPA]

... and since nobody on B&B can actually ever agree on anything at all, (one person's favorite blade is another's tin can, one person's Arko is another person's Williams - YMMV) I don't think one person's discussion will actually affect another person's opinion of a particular product...

Made me

Trufe! This is a great thread. I love your bowls, too.

[Sullybob]

I've had all the soaps sitting on my counter and with the exception of the soap in the zip lock bag they are all exposed to the air. A couple of the soaps have dried out a lot. #2 being the most extreme, but it is also spread out in a thin layer on the bottom of a bowl, it's as hard as a triple milled soap at this point, I'm not sure if it's the same consistency through the complete layer of soap. I can't tell if #1 has changed at all, it's still the consistency of putty. #4 has developed a slight crust but it's still pretty soft. # 5 is firming up nicely and I think that it's drying out fairly evenly, it's still pretty soft but it's firmer than the RazoRock Artisan soaps.

My final impressions of soap #2. It's slick, easy to lather has a great post shave face feel but I would prefer it to have a little more cushion.

I had my first shave with soap number one yesterday. I hadn't shaved for two days so I had plenty of stubble to mow down. It was easy to lather, slick and provided lots of cushion and glide. The scent is a mild citrus, almost unnoticeable during the shave. This soap had a much heavier/thicker lather than #2.

[bkfist]

Oh, great, you're going to make me go get my recipe book out to see what #1 is. LOL

Ahhh, yes... #1 is the soap who's ingredient list starts with ***********************

[7 O Menthol]

And then there were two.

It's been a while since I've updated this thread with my experiences, so here are a few thoughts.
I'm completely done testing #2, #4, and #5. My thoughts are as follows:
#2 - Still on par with my normal tallow based soft soaps. My guesstimate is that tallow plays a dominant role in the ingredients. Verdict is out on lanolin.
#4 - Not as stellar a performer as #2, but still acceptable to be sure. My guesstimate has this soap including tallow, but not as the primary saponified acid. Freakish home chemistry experiment after touching alum on my face. No lanolin.
#5 - Based on my preconceptions heading into this experiment, I'm going to declare this soap 100% veggie. In comparison to the other samples, the lather was slick but very thin. I go for the whole heavy yogurt like face lather, and this soap just wasn't having it. No lanolin.

I was able to try soap #1 tonight and WOW, was I impressed! I secret hope this is an all-veggie formula so I can have my mind totally blown by this entire process. The lather was extremely thick, creamy, and yogurt like. I was able to get that "heavy" feeling from the lather on my face with far less soap and effort than my standard performers.
I'm not sure if I would categorize #1 as "protective" yet, as I did have some rough spots after getting wild with the razor, but my razor/blade choice are probably also partially to blame, and I'm not ready to declare the soap as the culprit. (These stainless steel SE blades may never work for me!)
I'm really looking forward to trying #1 a few more times with a few of my more trustworthy razor/blade combos so I can make some more consistent observations.

Below is a pic of the brush after my first face lathering, with a shot of the clog pruf after about 1/4 of my total first pass.
I'm including the pic of the razor because this lather was SO thick and heavy that it completely held its form on the razor. It was cracking me up. By the way, no lanolin.

[bkfist]

And then there were two.

It's been a while since I've updated this thread with my experiences, so here are a few thoughts.
I'm completely done testing #2, #4, and #5. My thoughts are as follows:
#2 - Still on par with my normal tallow based soft soaps. My guesstimate is that tallow plays a dominant role in the ingredients. Verdict is out on lanolin.
#4 - Not as stellar a performer as #2, but still acceptable to be sure. My guesstimate has this soap including tallow, but not as the primary saponified acid. Freakish home chemistry experiment after touching alum on my face. No lanolin.
#5 - Based on my preconceptions heading into this experiment, I'm going to declare this soap 100% veggie. In comparison to the other samples, the lather was slick but very thin. I go for the whole heavy yogurt like face lather, and this soap just wasn't having it. No lanolin.

I was able to try soap #1 tonight and WOW, was I impressed! I secret hope this is an all-veggie formula so I can have my mind totally blown by this entire process. The lather was extremely thick, creamy, and yogurt like. I was able to get that "heavy" feeling from the lather on my face with far less soap and effort than my standard performers.
I'm not sure if I would categorize #1 as "protective" yet, as I did have some rough spots after getting wild with the razor, but my razor/blade choice are probably also partially to blame, and I'm not ready to declare the soap as the culprit. (These stainless steel SE blades may never work for me!)
I'm really looking forward to trying #1 a few more times with a few of my more trustworthy razor/blade combos so I can make some more consistent observations.

Below is a pic of the brush after my first face lathering, with a shot of the clog pruf after about 1/4 of my total first pass.
I'm including the pic of the razor because this lather was SO thick and heavy that it completely held its form on the razor. It was cracking me up. By the way, no lanolin.

Interesting, and I'll leave it at that ;)