Musgo Real Body Bar

**Chahchi22** · 07-26-2006, 05:03 PM

Has anyone who likes hard soaps over creams thought of using the Musgo Real body bar instead of the shave cream? Having to deal with the tube is a bit of a pain since I like to use my mug and brush but I love the musgo real scent. Any reason why this idea wouldn't fly?

Best Regards

**Jim** · 07-26-2006, 05:14 PM

You could use dish washing soap if you want, Its just a matter of formulation,
Most shave soaps are "super-fatted" that means when the alkali converts the fat to soap the reaction stops before all the fat is saponifed or used up,some is left over- more commonly an oil or fat is added after the soap is made along with other lubricating and slicking agents. A lot of commercial cake soaps are glycerin based and then melted at low temps Shea or jojoba oil and clays added then fragrance is added ,pored in molds and hardened off.

If you shower with a shave soap you would not be squeaky clean and if you shaved with a very low super fatted soap your face will not appreciate it.

I am not a soap expert by any means just passing along what I have learned-

I know we have some real hardcore soapers on the B&B I hope they will chime in.

**jfm** · 07-26-2006, 05:51 PM

I've seen them at Caswell-Massey, but not took the plunge. From the shape I think it would be a pain to lather on. Additionally, the scent didn't strike me as being the same as the cream, although that could change once it's wet!

**Chahchi22** · 07-26-2006, 06:06 PM

well I don't have the ingredients list in front of me but the descriptions of the bar cite "coconut oils and finest grade english tallow"... first blush seem like it might so the trick, still I am hesitating at being the first.

**Jim** · 07-26-2006, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by Chahchi22

well I don't have the ingredients list in front of me but the descriptions of the bar cite "coconut oils and finest grade english tallow"... first blush seem like it might so the trick, still I am hesitating at being the first.

It not what its made of -its how much is left over (after proccessing) as fats that makes it lubricating or not-hope that helps

**guenron** · 07-27-2006, 11:18 AM

Send all of your Musgo body bars to the little Old Lathermeister where they will be entered into the little Old Lathermeister's R&D program. You will receive a real imitation leather-bound photo of you soap bar being melted and recombined with bentonite clay and other ingredients prior to its introduction to a badger hair brush.

**Jim** · 07-27-2006, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by guenron

Send all of your Musgo body bars to the little Old Lathermeister where they will be entered into the little Old Lathermeister's R&D program. You will receive a real imitation leather-bound photo of you soap bar being melted and recombined with bentonite clay and other ingredients prior to its introduction to a badger hair brush.

**ada8356** · 08-08-2006, 07:28 PM

Originally Posted by Chahchi22

Has anyone who likes hard soaps over creams thought of using the Musgo Real body bar instead of the shave cream? Having to deal with the tube is a bit of a pain since I like to use my mug and brush but I love the musgo real scent. Any reason why this idea wouldn't fly?

Best Regards

Well it just happens that I got a few bars of this stuff yesterday and then happened to read your post today so I did a little experiment.

Executive Summary

While using Musgo Body bar as a shave soap substitute could probably be done, it is quite a bit of work, doesn't have as 'fresh' a scent, and doesn't provide a very high quality lather. I would recommend simply squeezing some of the Musgo Real cream in your mug and lather it there.

First a Few Facts

I use soaps almost daily (although this week I've made it a point to use creams so they don't start feeling neglected!).

I have a Vulfix 2234 (kinda floppy, so it takes a little extra work to whip up soap).

I use a large coffee mug to whip my lather (creams and soaps).

I use Musgo in the tube and LOVE it!

On With the Test

First the scent: the body bar doesn't smell as good as the cream, but they obvisously were going for the same scent so they are pretty close. The cream seems to have a little more 'fresh' scent to it.

Lathering: I held the bar in my hand to begin with. The bar was wet since I had just showered with it. I did the usual brush soak and then went at it.

It had a fair initial lather that built on the brush so that I could move over to the mug. At first I didn't think it was going to lather much past 'bath soap' quality... it was pretty thin by shaving standards. I kept adding water and working it pretty hard with the brush... lots of pumping and whipping.... add more water... work some more... you get the picture. I had to work quite a bit harder but eventually had a fairly respectable lather... the brush was 'loaded' (please note that it compared nothing to the GFT Violet cream that I got into on Monday!).

Shave: Or well.. faux-pseudo shave. I got a really nice BBS shave this AM so there wasn't much to shave and I wasn't going to do a whole shave anyway... just a test patch. So I painted the lather onto my right cheek. It certainly wasn't very rich and seemed to be drying out rather quickly. I pulled the razor down N-S from the right sideburn and, to my surprise, the razor didn't drag... keep in mind though there was hardly any stubble either.