Is there any real difference between good soaps made for your body and shave soaps?
Difference between soap sold for body and shave soaps?
- Thread starter jokerlola
- Start date
Shave soaps/creams contains way more ingredients to provide cushion and slickness sush as lanolin, glycerin, tallow and essential oils
EclipseRedRing
I smell like a Christmas pudding
I have used several shave soaps as body soap and they worked great, often better than regular body soap. I have used several body soaps as shave soaps and they do not work well at all, they are difficult to lather and the lather is thin and dissipates quickly. The slickness is poor and the post shave feel in most cases was very drying, oddly much more so than if I had simply washed my face using the body soap. I have had the same result with inexpensive drugstore body soap and also with triple milled French soaps; to my mind there is very clearly a big difference.
Back when I was shaving in the shower with a cartridge razor I would put the ends of the soap into a mug, giving a strange bastard mixture of Imperial Leather, Shield and Wright's Coal Tar (depending what I'd fancied using in the shower a few weeks back). It was useable with a brush, and I preferred it to the canned goop, but since I've had some "proper" shaving soap (even something as cheap and cheerful as the Wilkinson bowls), I've never looked back.
I keep meaning to try it again over the basin and in front of a mirror with a decent brush and razor - I'm still putting the soap ends into an enamel mug - but it was a very thin lather and since I now have a selection with different smells and lather characteristics, it'll probably be a while before I do that. And it's only likely to be an exercise to remind myself why I like the shave soaps.
I keep meaning to try it again over the basin and in front of a mirror with a decent brush and razor - I'm still putting the soap ends into an enamel mug - but it was a very thin lather and since I now have a selection with different smells and lather characteristics, it'll probably be a while before I do that. And it's only likely to be an exercise to remind myself why I like the shave soaps.
Most bar soaps dries my skin. Only few shaving soaps does that.
My take is that it is much easier to make a bath soap than to make a shaving soap. At farmer’s and artisan markets soap makers may offer a ’shaving soap.’ I have not found one that is up to par.
A good shaving soap must allow and maintain a fine lather, provide cushion, glide and post-shave feel.
I am sure that someone with a chemistry background could explain the reasons for this.
A good shaving soap must allow and maintain a fine lather, provide cushion, glide and post-shave feel.
I am sure that someone with a chemistry background could explain the reasons for this.
Most body soaps dry out my face so I don't usually use them. One exception to this was B&M Seville body soap. I used it yesterday and had a good result with it. I still prefer shave soaps over it though for better lather quality.
Shaving soaps are made with
stearic acid as the main saponifiable fat.And they are usually superfatted at about 5% .
Body soaps may be made with some type of stearic acid ,but
usually they are made using other types of saponifiable fats.
Their superfat is up to 2% .
Laundry soaps ,they are supposed not to generate any foam /lather and they are not superfatted.On the contrary,usually are a bit caustic ,being detergents.
stearic acid as the main saponifiable fat.And they are usually superfatted at about 5% .
Body soaps may be made with some type of stearic acid ,but
usually they are made using other types of saponifiable fats.
Their superfat is up to 2% .
Laundry soaps ,they are supposed not to generate any foam /lather and they are not superfatted.On the contrary,usually are a bit caustic ,being detergents.
With bath soap I can wash my body and hair but can not shave
With shaving soap I can wash my body have a great shave but as a shampoo it mweeh ok for once in a while.
And shampoo bars work great for hair ok for body lousy as a shave
With shaving soap I can wash my body have a great shave but as a shampoo it mweeh ok for once in a while.
And shampoo bars work great for hair ok for body lousy as a shave
Since March and I've been washing my hands 20 times a day, I've actually put a dent in the stock of Arko! And I'm not dead yet!
Cashmere Bouquet (remember Cashmere Bouquet? They had little bars of it in every cheap motel in America at one point) works fine as a shaving soap. It was also very very cheap. I guess they stopped making it a few years ago.
I've also shaved with Palmolive Bar Soap, and that's not bad, although it lathers a bit thin, but I've used actual dedicated shaving soaps which didn't work as well as Palmolive bar soap.
Cashmere Bouquet (remember Cashmere Bouquet? They had little bars of it in every cheap motel in America at one point) works fine as a shaving soap. It was also very very cheap. I guess they stopped making it a few years ago.
I've also shaved with Palmolive Bar Soap, and that's not bad, although it lathers a bit thin, but I've used actual dedicated shaving soaps which didn't work as well as Palmolive bar soap.
It just depends on how the soap is made.
I shaved with Ameri-Fresh today, which is a soap used in institutions. It worked fine. It does have glycerin, but it's basically one of the cheapest soaps you can buy, with an industrial lemon scent. It actually works fairly well, as good or better than Van Der Hagen soap, which is the closest comparison I can make. It makes a more substantial, cushiony lather, however.
Both (proper BS and proper SS) may be made using different proportions of the same ingredients.
Typically, SS lather has smaller bubbles and more stability (due to certain saponified fatty acids, e.g. *X Tallowate, vs X Castorate).
Typically, SS lather is creamier (due to certain saponified fatty acids, e.g. X Stearate, vs X Cocoate.)
Typically, BS cleanses to a greater degree (due to certain surfactants, e.g. X Cocoate).
Typically, BS has a higher concentration of saponified fat made with sodium (vs potassium) hydroxide, thereby making it firmer.
In terms of emollients/superfat, a classic SS is closer to the common BS, than is the typical "artisan" SS (which is loaded and preferred by many looking for extra moisturization).
(* X is Sodium or Potassium)
Typically, SS lather has smaller bubbles and more stability (due to certain saponified fatty acids, e.g. *X Tallowate, vs X Castorate).
Typically, SS lather is creamier (due to certain saponified fatty acids, e.g. X Stearate, vs X Cocoate.)
Typically, BS cleanses to a greater degree (due to certain surfactants, e.g. X Cocoate).
Typically, BS has a higher concentration of saponified fat made with sodium (vs potassium) hydroxide, thereby making it firmer.
In terms of emollients/superfat, a classic SS is closer to the common BS, than is the typical "artisan" SS (which is loaded and preferred by many looking for extra moisturization).
(* X is Sodium or Potassium)
