What's new

Tallow hand soap for shaving? Will review soon!

So after I finished up in the lab today, I ate and then didn’t know what to do. Somehow I ended up reading the packaging of an extra bar of Balea Milch & Honig cremeseife, which is DM Markt’s store brand bar of Milk and Honey hand soap. You get a 150g bar of it for a whopping 0.35€.

In any case, while reading the packaging, I noticed the first ingredient was tallow and thought, hmmm, that’s a good start for a shaving soap. Second ingredient coconut oil (sure, too much coconut oil would make a shaving soap drying, but it’s still a good ingredient for shaving soaps), third is glycerine, then talc (hmm, not aware of talc in shaving soaps, but whatever), then more coconut oil (as superfat I guess?), then fragrance, then milk proteins, then honey. All in all, not a bad list of main ingredients for a shaving soap.

So since I was bored, I decided to make a test lather of it with the boar brush I had laying around. Needless to say, I wasn’t expecting much, but got a really creamy and slick lather with no large bubbles (I was expecting to see lots of big bubbles), and it seemed like it was lasting on my hand surprisingly well.

I wasn’t planning on even trying to shave with it, but considering how promising the rest lather was, I might try once just to say I did. I know on some other threads folks say they have used hand soaps for shaving (to varying degrees of success), so perhaps this might not be as terrible an idea as it seemed when I first thought “wouldn’t it be funny to shave with that cheap bar of hand soap I’ve got laying around?”.

However, I’ve got two new creams I’m going to be reviewing first (since neither has a lot of reviews yet, and therefore perhaps my input would be interesting for people that are curious to try either of them. For the record, they’re каро (pronounced Karo in English) from Bulgaria, and Vicco Turmeric from India). But perhaps after I use each of those creams a couple more times to get a better feel for them before I review them, then I’ll give the handsoap a shot.

Anyone else randomly notice a handsoap of theirs has decent shaving soap ingredients?
 

Ad Astra

The Instigator
I discovered a shampoo bar called Broo worked very, very well as a shave soap. Crazy thick lather in the shower; seemed like a waste!


AA
 
I discovered a shampoo bar called Broo worked very, very well as a shave soap. Crazy thick lather in the shower; seemed like a waste!


AA

Interesting, I've never heard of Broo. I also get a really fantastic lather from the bar of soap I use as shampoo, but there's no way I would shave with it, as it's the most drying soap I've ever used. xD
 
Interesting concept!

I have tons of shaving soap in my stash, so I cannot worry about using bar soap.
Just hope I live long enough to use it all up!! :a29::a29:
 
Hopefully spelling isn't an indication of the quality... Plamate? Fragrnace? Chlorida? Citri? :001_rolle

proxy.php
 
Interesting concept!

I have tons of shaving soap in my stash, so I cannot worry about using bar soap.
Just hope I live long enough to use it all up!! :a29::a29:

I also have plenty of soaps, so I don't plan on this being more than a one time "see how it works since it's got the right ingredients in it" deal. What can I say, I just like to experiment!

Hopefully spelling isn't an indication of the quality... Plamate? Fragrnace? Chlorida? Citri? :001_rolle

proxy.php

Uhhhh...what? I'm scared to know what soap this is, but hopefully it works better than it reads. :001_rolle
 

Rudy Vey

Shaving baby skin and turkey necks
Hopefully spelling isn't an indication of the quality... Plamate? Fragrnace? Chlorida? Citri? :001_rolle

proxy.php
Probably the "worldwide sources" (i.e. the raws...) may come from China, and they have shown not to be the best regarding spelling....
 

Rudy Vey

Shaving baby skin and turkey necks
But, joking aside, I have tried Penhaligon's English Fern soap - not the shaving soap, but the bath soap - and it was not good for shaving. I ground it up and mixed with the excellent Palmolive stick (tallow shave soap) and it was quite OK. Not as good as the original tallow based shaving soap. Its is a great bath soap, though....
 
But, joking aside, I have tried Penhaligon's English Fern soap - not the shaving soap, but the bath soap - and it was not good for shaving. I ground it up and mixed with the excellent Palmolive stick (tallow shave soap) and it was quite OK. Not as good as the original tallow based shaving soap. Its is a great bath soap, though....

Does the bath soap have tallow in it?
 
All sodium bath soaps tend to make poor shaving soaps because the lather isn't stable, nor is the soap anywhere near as soluble. This is good for bathing and making the soap last, but can be a problem for shaving.

However, they are usually quite slick, so if you can get lather that lasts long enough, there isn't any reason you can't shave with them.

Give it a try -- one hint is that you may want to hand lather with minimal water and use the "cream" generated rather than attempt a typical shaving soap lather. Too much water will result in lather failure and lack of slickness, and slick is what you need.
 
I’ve got some Yardly bath soaps I’ve been eyeing for a brush. First ingredient is tallow.

And I’d sooner lather up a bar of Ivory (makes a fine, shavable lather) than modern Williams. Half the time and effort spent on a better lather.
 
In the spirit of scientific exploration, I have shaved with a wide variety of soaps and creams. There are two bar soaps I have used for shaving with some success. One is Yardley of London Cocoa Butter soap which has tallow, Shea butter, cocoa butter, and vitamin E. It is certainly not as good as my best shave soaps, but it is very slick and has decent post-shave conditioning. The lather is not super-stable, but I am able to get a decent shave. For those whose budget for shaving supplies is very limited, this would be a great alternative.

Another bar soap I have used for shaving in Irish Spring Signature for Men. This one has Shea butter and almond oil.
 
A while back I was feeling lazy, our bathrooms were being renovated, and I needed a shave before work, so I grabbed the L'Occitane hand soap (L'Occitan scent) I had laying in the soap dish in the shower of the functional bathroom and went to work. The lather was somewhat airy but very slick and...it worked fine, much to my surprise. I tried it again the next day using it like a shave stick and the shave was again quite acceptable. I can't say I'd do it on a regular basis, but in a pinch it was fine.

EDIT: I don't think that's a tallow soap, so it may not address the original question, but it does somewhat relate to using a hand soap for shaving.
 
EDIT: I don't think that's a tallow soap, so it may not address the original question, but it does somewhat relate to using a hand soap for shaving.

No worries, there really wasn't an original question per se, but it's nice to hear your experience!
 
Out of necessity, I used a bar of homemade tallow based hand soap to shave with this morning.
Stay over at my parents place to help finish building a covered patio porch instead of dealing with a near 2 hour commute to come back today.
Luckily for me, I made a brush and razor set for my father that he keeps on display since he only uses a electric shaver that o could use. I also gave him a pack of Gillette Silver Blue blades, so I was pretty much set.
I pretty much just lathered directly on the bar of soap and face lathered. Not the thick creamy lather I'm used to, but it provided a comfortable shave.
20190623_090732.jpg 20190623_090656.jpg
 
Top Bottom