Allergy Issues- Newbie Needs Help

This is my first post here and am in the midst of absorbing a lot of information. I am impatiently waiting for my DE Razor to arrive. I have been shaving for 20+ years and have been using a brush and soap for at least the last 5 years with cartridge razors. Last month I snapped when it came time to buy more cartridges and found this forum. B&B has taught me more about building a lather and shaving in the last 5 days than I ever absorbed on my own. My current soap is the easy to find VDH. The plan is to continue with the VDH for a month or so while I learn my DE technique. I would like to explore other soaps especially tallow based ones.


My dilemma is that my son has serious food allergies to all nuts, sesame and lemon (limonene) which are pretty common ingredients in shave soaps and creams. Can the forum members help recommend some quality soaps that avoid these ingredients? My hope is that a quick look on your favorite soaps will provide me some choices.


Thanks in advance for the help!

Gran8man

There are plenty of soaps that do not use nut oils (assuming that your son is not allergic to coconut which, despite its name, is not usually classified as a nut) or sesame seed oil, and plenty of fragrance choices other than those containing limonene, including but not limited to, unscented. Is he also allergic to coconut?

Coconut is not a problem neither is shea nut or nutmeg. Thanks for the quick reply!

This is what Sue lists in her Mama Bear Soaps. Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Safflower , Glycerine (kosher, of vegetable origin), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier), Soybean protein (conditioner), Wheat protein and fragrance either natural or synthetic

Martin de Candre. They have a unscented too.

ingredients (unscented) are: Stearic acid, aqua, coconut acid, potassium hydroxide, and glycerin.

Cheers, Steve

I think, for the most part, you should be in the clear, except maybe for the lemon bit. Mike's and Barrister and Mann would both mostly work, and both have an unscented. Some B&M scents have lemon, but if you contact them, they can steer you right.

L'Occitane Cade soap is absolutely top notch and if my memory serves me right, should be ok. Many malls have L'Occitane stores so you could double check.

Do not be afraid to email customer service at the company and ask them about the allergies. Many times the scent is made from fragrences, read the book Perfume by Suskind (sp) for the theory. I emailed Penhaligons on Blenheim Bouquet because of my allergy to Pine, they checked and the lab explained it is the scent, no Pine. Now I use it without worry. Good luck and of course Welcome.

jovan said:

Do not be afraid to email customer service at the company and ask them about the allergies. Many times the scent is made from fragrences, read the book Perfume by Suskind (sp) for the theory. I emailed Penhaligons on Blenheim Bouquet because of my allergy to Pine, they checked and the lab explained it is the scent, no Pine. Now I use it without worry. Good luck and of course Welcome.

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+1. Even if a label does not list an ingredient, particularly such items as nuts and lemon, the machinery and containers may have been exposed and the offending ingredient may in fact be present. For instance, it appears that Proraso Green does not contain any nut related items, but because Proraso White does, I would not feel entirely confident without confirmation directly from Proraso.

Given the apparent seriousness of your son's allergies, I would take the approach of choosing some popular soaps and creams, and then emailing or calling the manufacturer to inquire about allergen contamination.

Good luck.

Everyone thank you for your assistance ....Jovan and Branford I appreciate your suggestion to contact customer service...cross contamination is a very real thing in my world and labeling requirements for personal care items are quite different from food items. Being newly exposed to the large array of soaps available, I am trying to identify 2-3 "popular" tallow based soaps to research further. It seams that the following tallow soaps do not have either nuts or limonene....I don't know if these are popular, or are the ones earlier in the thread (Mama Bear, Martin de Candre, L'Occitane etc.)a better place to start?

Arko Stick
DR Harris Marlborough
Czech & Speake No 88
Muehle Aloe Vera
Haslinger Schafmilch

I was really bummed to learn MWF does not fit my bill due to limonene and it seems Haslinger might be a contender...

Thanks again.....

Of the 5 on your list, I have not used the Muhle. Pick any of the others, and you will not be dissappointed. The scent of Arko can be too much for some, but if you let it "air out" it does dissipate.

I am surprised that Arko is on the 'okay' list, given that the scent of Arko is industrial strenght Lemon.

Martin de Candre is a very good soap. Just has a very high up front cost, too.
Mama Bear has a strong following. If you choose to buy soaps from her, it has been recommended that you start with samples. Her scent selection is rather large and given the strong scent on some, it can be a hit or miss experience.

Mystic Water also has very nice shaving soaps. Overall there are many soaps to choose from.

Mr5x5 said:

This is what Sue lists in her Mama Bear Soaps. Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Safflower , Glycerine (kosher, of vegetable origin), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier), Soybean protein (conditioner), Wheat protein and fragrance either natural or synthetic

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Sue also makes a soap, originally for a friend with allergies, that is free of fragrance either natural or synthetic.