What makes a Soap a shaving soap?

Hi,
I would like to know for future reference what ingredients are needed to make a good shaving soap because I been looking at some soaps at Esty and I think I would like to try some of them. However, since my first "shave soap" was a handmade soap from https://gabbyshandmadesoap.com/items/view/Shave-Soap-Tangerine that did not lather worth a darn, I am apprehensive about trying new soaps. If I knew which ingredients made good lather, perhaps I would be able to make a more informed decision.

The only way to know for sure is to get testimony from a trusted poster here at B&B! Most Etsy shave soaps are just re-purposed bath soaps and don't lather or protect well. I don't think you can tell from the ingredient list alone, but one bit of common wisdom is to avoid any that has olive oil as a main ingredient.

One good Etsy soap that I've purchased is Tiki Bar Shave Soap. That stuff is first class! https://www.etsy.com/shop/TikiBarSoap

Ok what about castor oil?

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/393862-Homemade-Shaving-Soap-Discussion-Club. This thread, now on about page 4 in this forum, will give you some ideas through the discussion points. And, I am sure, there are many other threads if you do a search. I did look at the site you referenced, and the Etsy maker wasn't terribly specific on the ingredients used. As to castor oil, I have no idea but do not remember it being high up on the list of ingredients for most shaving soaps that I have seen.

A very general, definitely not fool-proof, but very easy way to assess a soap is to compare its ingredients with a well-known, high-performing soap.

Look at the ingredients lists for DR Harris, MdC, Mike's, Stirling, PdP, RazoRock, etc, etc. Generally, you will find 2 types of soaps --- Tallow-based and Vegetable-based. Soaps that are in each group will not have identical lists but they will share of lot of common ingredients. If you locate a soap that you interested in, just compare to what you know and make an assessment.

As mentioned, this is not fool-proof and not 100% accurate. The development, the mixing, the curing of the product plays a huge role in performance as well. Rarely will you get a chance to see how this is done by the artisan.

I hear that the very best shaving soaps are infused with the tears of Gillette and Schick executives. However, that is only a rumor . . .

branford said:

I hear that the very best shaving soaps are infused the tears of Gillette and Schick executives. However, that is only a rumor . . .

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I heard that some where also.

Look at "Shaving Made Easy" in my signature, pp. 50-52. It says to use a toilet (bar) soap because it is more likely to produce irritation than shaving soap. Look at pp. 53-55. It says if you whip shaving soap properly until it becomes creamy to maximize the effect of alkali stiffening the beard.

I don't know if this answers your question, other than say use a quality soap intended for shaving and mix it properly. It does promote the idea of cold water shaving, which I do, but frankly I can get the same results with either cold water or hot water. I live in a semi-tropical climate, and cold water directly from the tap is convenient for me.

Saturated fats [i.e. solid at room temperature] which are high in stearic acid (= tallow, palm oil, refined stearic acid etc) saponified with a ratio of at least 50 / 50 potassium hydroxide to sodium hydroxide = shaving soap.

Ideally the proportion of potassium hydroxide should be more than 50%

If those basic principles are not met, it does not matter what other ingredients they add (e.g. clay, castor oil etc) it won't work well as a shaving soap.

If you wanted to narrow it down to two basic questions to ask a soap maker ask "did you mostly use solid fats or liquid oil?" and "did you use potassium hydroxide and / or sodium hydroxide to make your soap?"

The first rule is avoid soaps with olive oil as a main ingredient. Most artisan bath soap makers love to use olive oil because it is beneficial to skin health, but it kills shaving lather. The upside is that it's fairly easy to find good witch hazel based aftershaves on Etsy that are inexpensive. The Man Cave makes one called Gatsby that I like.

Everything suggested so far is pretty solid. There are a few soap makers around here, Utah. So far none of them make a tallow based shaving soap. Those that do make a shaving soap use olive oil, so I haven't tried them. But ask first if they make a shaving soap, then if it's tallow based. Then olive oil.

There is one exception to the olive oil rule, and that's Palmolive. As the name suggests, it began as a soap made from Palm and olive oils.

What makes a Soap a shaving soap?

Performance

Regarding olive oil.
Have a look at Nanny's silly soap. She uses olive oil and the soap performs just great.
I have tried a few of the different varieties.

A couple of thoughts.

The advice about comparing to "established performers" is pretty good.

Some general "rules of thumb" would go something like this:
You want to see something that has roughly equal proportions of stearic acid, tallow (or lard), and coconut oil. Some variation is good, for example 50% stearic 25% tallow and 25% coconut is pretty good. Of course MdC is 50-50 stearic and coconut so you can get away with no animal fat but YMMV. And Mystic Waters has some soap without coconut ... so I think the bottom line here is that stearic is the key ingredient.

You also want to see some potassium in there, since saponifying with potassium hydroxide yields soap salts that are more water-soluble than those of sodium hydroxide (and therefore more able to make good lather).

Castor oil is supposedly there to help "anchor the scent" so a bit of that probably isn't going to be bad.

Clay is pretty controversial but from what I hear a lot of the artisans on Etsy think they can "add bentonite to shower soap" to get shave soap. As far as I can tell this is not the case.

-Dave

California Cajun said:

Look at "Shaving Made Easy" in my signature, pp. 50-52. It says to use a toilet (bar) soap because it is more likely to produce irritation than shaving soap.

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However most shower/bath bars don't have enough stearic in them to yield a stable lather.

Look at pp. 53-55. It says if you whip shaving soap properly until it becomes creamy to maximize the effect of alkali stiffening the beard.

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I would sincerely hope that any soap you put on your face has no remaining alkali. With that said I've heard some anecdotes about "alkali stiffening the beard" but have not seen anything scientific to support this ... do have any references? I'm interested.

To get a "creamy" soap you need stearic acid.

dosco said:

.......I would sincerely hope that any soap you put on your face has no remaining alkali. With that said I've heard some anecdotes about "alkali stiffening the beard" but have not seen anything scientific to support this ... do have any references? I'm interested...........

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While I think that a shaving soap is a shaving soap and should be made ground-up as one, I do have to point out that ALL soap is alkali. The quote you posted doesn't say anything about excess lye - excess alkali (read as "excess lye") is different from the pH of a soap. All soap will have a pH over 7.

Effy said:

While I think that a shaving soap is a shaving soap and should be made ground-up as one, I do have to point out that ALL soap is alkali. The quote you posted doesn't say anything about excess lye - excess alkali (read as "excess lye") is different from the pH of a soap. All soap will have a pH over 7.

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Point taken however I am not sure how to interpret "alkali stiffening the beard."

Does that mean the alkaline nature of the soap will "stiffen the beard" ...?

Or does that mean there is free alkali (excess lye) in the soap?

My question still stands regardless of the answer ... anything other than anecdotal statements?

Regards-
Dave

Now that I do wonder about. I know that using homemade soap as a shampoo can lead to bad head hair that needs to have an acidic (vinegar) rinse now and then. The bad head hair might be good hair for shaving, but as for the science behind it.......I would also like to see that!

I think any kind of excess lye in a shaving soap is going to cause a whole lot of damage and should be avoided at all costs

Science_Of_Shaving may help, especially the 1937 JAMA article by Hollander and Casselman. It shows evidence that prep works because soap breaks up the slightly acid, oily layer of sebum. Normally sebum keeps water from penetrating hair, so using soap to break it up allows water into the hair. That hydration softens it, making cutting easier.