"all natural" shaving soap/cream recommendation?

I recently went on a bit of a health kick regarding my skin. I did some research on the ingredients in Barbasol, and came to the conclusion that it might not be the best thing to be rubbing on my face everyday. So I'm looking for a new shave soap/cream, and I'd love to get some advice from some real pros!

Things that are important to me:

• All-natural ingredient list - ideally I'd like all the ingredients to be something that exists in nature. Simple, easy to understand, and not laced with harsh chemicals.
• Price - Don't mind spending money on a quality product.
• Allergies - My skin is not exactly "sensitive" (it's moderately oily), however a lot of fragrances will react with my skin and cause redness and itching. I also get asthma from various scents. It doesn't need to be unscented (I actually like a good scent), but something that isn't going to blow my allergies to the moon.
• Lather - I really enjoy a good lather.
• Moisturizing - I'd like it to have good moisturizing properties.
• Soap vs Cream - I'm not sure. I'm like to hear some opinions on that actually.

I should probably also mention my gear. I actually just bought some new stuff (I'm trying to take shaving seriously), and right now I'm working with an EJ DE89 razor, a super silvertip brush, and a chrome bowl to build a lather in.

Thanks in advance for your responses!

All natural ingredient list? Basically any artisan should meet this. I think one or two use EDTA, but they are the very rare exceptions. MdC I'm pretty sure meets it as well. I think most of the Italian soft soaps do, as well. I forget what they are calling Klar Kabinett now, but I believe it also qualifies. I'm sure there are plenty of others.

Allergies? Well, what scents are you allergic to?

Lather and Moisturizing? You'll get a ninety nine different recommendations if you ask a hundred people.

I prefer soaps to creams, also I suspect you'll have a LOT easier time finding an all natural list with soaps vs creams (there are few artisan creams and commercial creams are more likely to have preservatives than commercial soaps).

Hey, thanks for reply. In terms of allergies... I don't really have a specific list of fragrances I'm allergic to. However, I think I'm okay with anything essential oil based (as it is distilled from the actual plant).

Yeah, from what I'm seeing looking at ingredient lists, it seems soaps are the way to go.

Also, in terms of a lather... is there a particular base oil would you recommend in a soap?

Three ingredients in shaving soap make the lather thicker and stabler. They are Stearates, Palmates, and Ricinoleates. They are primarily sourced from Tallow, Palm oil, castor oil, or directly as stearic acid. You typically want to see Stearic acid or Potassium stearate in the #1, 2 or 3 spot of an ingredients list. If it's not there, the odds that the soap will lather well go down significantly. Other ingredients typically found at the top of the ingredients list will be tallow, palm or the terms for their resulting soaps (tallowate, palmate); generally castor oil (or ricinoleate) will be found lower on the list if at all because it becomes problematic above ~20% in a recipe.

Coconut oil or Cocoates will typically be found in the #2-#4 spot on most soaps, but it's rare that a soap is insufficient in these, so you can mostly ignore them. There are a few other fats (cocoa butter) that can be beneficial to a shaving soap's lather, but they're generally so expensive that they won't typically be present in quantities high enough you need to worry much about them. Stearic acid, Tallow, and Palm oil are the typical fats that are "standard" for shaving soaps.


Here are the first four ingredients of Tabac (A very good lathering soap, not even close to all natural, but a good demonstration of ingredients): Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Potassium Cocoate

In contrast, I googled unlatherable and got this thread:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...ables-quot-Caswell-Massey-lathering-challenge

The first four ingredients there are: Sodium Palmate, Sodium Palm Kernelate (used sometimes in place of Cocoates), Water, Glycerin

There is an artisan soapmaker, Mama Bear, that makes glycerin shave soaps. She has a bunch of fragrances, but also a line with essential oils. They produce a thick, slick, moisturizing lather that is just super-duper. It is also fairly inexpensive, comes in a gigantic tub, and will seem to last forever.

She is just a pleasure to deal with, a real peach.

Cella has a very clean list of ingredients. It smells like maraschino cherries.

Any artisan should be right up your alley. Thread has already mentioned Mama Bear's, but there's also Mystic Waters and Barrister & Mann. My favorite artisan right now is Stirling Soaps. As I understand it the Stirling people got into making soap specifically because they wanted all natural, safe soaps to use but didn't want to spend $8+ a bar.

You can even search their product list by "Essential Oil", "Fragrance Oil", "No Fragrance", etc. I've had bad reactions and burning from a number of scented soaps before too, but none of Stirling's have burned me in the least. It's worth trying several samples though. I've been getting about 50/50 for scents I really love and scents I utterly despise.

Look at The Gentlemens Refinery. I use their Black Ice Shave Cream.

Mystic Waters, Stirling, Barrister and Mann

Mike's Natural Soaps are excellent performers and should meet your criteria for "natural."

SilverHawk said:

Look at The Gentlemens Refinery. I use their Black Ice Shave Cream.

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Beat me to it. A fine choice.

Check out Matthew at Queen Charlotte. His products are right up your alley & very good.