Shaving Cream. on it's way!

[MilfordNJGuy]

Preview time! In the next few weeks we will be releasing our Shaving Cream on the new website! To give you an idea of what to expect, here is the ingredients list:

Water, Stearic Acid, Myristic Acid, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, fragrance, Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate, Triethanolamine, Tetrasodium EDTA

Like so many of the creams that are available today, it is made with fatty acids: Stearic and Myristic Acid which help provide a creamy full lather and Coconut Oil which is known for making a bubbly lather. These are saponified with a combination of Sodium and Potassium Hydroxide and Triethanolamine. Used in the right percentages they provide firmness, lubricity and creaminess to the soap. We are proud to be offering a product that is properly preserved with Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate, a preservative that does not include parabens! Tetrasodium EDTA is a chelating agent which helps with product to work with hard water and in enhances the lather as a result! Fragrance will be from our list of Men's soaps so that we have continuity in our product line and can offer your favorites, such as Fougere, Hesperide, Sandalwood, Lavender, and others. We look forward to being able to offer these products and are so happy to be able to spread the word here on our new exclusive Vendor Forum! Check back often so we can keep you in the loop with everything that is going on at Stone Cottage Soapworks Inc. and remember to check us out on Facebook! Lots of info and pictures on there now!


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[Mr. Styptic]

A recent B&B discussion led me to believe that avocado oil is great as a skin softener. Do you as a soap maker believe that, or would you say it takes a back seat to shea butter or some other ingredient? I ask because I see avocado oil in only one of your masculine-scented soaps. Or am I overlooking others? Thanks!

 

[MilfordNJGuy]

Mr. Styptic,

Saponification occurs when an oil and a base like sodium hydroxide are combined, the product of which is a fatty acid salt (soap) and glycerol (glycerine). Each oil used contains a fatty acids that go from lower chain to higher chain and each fatty acid gives soap a certain characteristic. Some like Lauric and Myristic Acid are known for creating good lather, Oleic Acid creates a mild soap, Palmitic and Stearic add to the creaminess of lather. A good soapmaker not only has to know which fatty acids to use for the soap characteristics they wish to achieve but also what percentages of each oil is best to achieve a well-balanced product!

I have certain oils I prefer to use as a main oil. Olive is one, avocado is another with similar characteristics but I also like to use oils like Rice Bran and High Oleic Sunflower. With each batch I also use not one but two exotic butters. Very often I use a combination of Shea and Cocoa Butters but I also use Sal and Illipe butters. It is really difficult to say that one is better than another rather it is the balance and proportions of each that create a bar which lathers well, is lasting, cleans well and leaves your skin feeling moist and smooth! Once a soapmaker finds the ideal percentages of each category needed to create an ideal product then formulating becomes easier and it becomes just a matter of selecting one ingredient over another in each category then your formula will work and produce good results! I was fortunate that I did my research ahead of time, learned all about each soap characteristic then was able to create my first batch of soap using just the right oils which came out perfectly! I still use that original formula to this day!

 

[Mr. Styptic]

David,
Thanks for taking time for the detailed response. Lots of good info, and I'm bookmarking it because I'm not smart enough to remember it all in one reading. The question of overall "best" results will always be open to debate, given that everyone has individual tastes. However, given your attention to detail and results, and limiting the discussion to just skin softness after use, I'd guess you'd have formed an opinion on the best ingredient. I lean toward shea butter in a soap or shaving cream, but during winter I use pure glycerine, available cheap from drugstores, and dilute it a bit with tap water, to fight dry skin. Sorry to push you on this when you're busy with your new retail efforts as well as the holidays, but it's a rare opportunity to pick the brain of a serious soap maker such as you. Again, thank you.

 

[MilfordNJGuy]

Mr. Styptic,

I am a soapmaker, not a cosmetic chemist but I have a few close friends who are and I often go to them for knowledge and advice. If you were applying avocado oil directly to your skin then you would get a different feel than if you applied Shea Butter directly to the skin but in any cosmetic products (legally according to the F.D.A. soap is not a cosmetic) these kind of products are most often a combination of water, some oil or butter of some sort (whether it be considered by some to be natural or unnatural) an emulsifier as well as certain chemicals used for skin feel or esthetics, or moisturizing agents. All of these components will create a certain feel to a product depending upon the combination of ingredients and the individual using it. So, cosmetic products will have certain appeal to certain people in the same way I described occurs for those using a soap product. Shea Butter would be more occlusive when used at room temperature in its' natural state yet it might seem light and smooth on the same persons skin when it is the ingredient in a cosmetic product. You just have to try and sample things to see what you like and read their advertising to learn more about what their claims are that their product will achieve as well as reading the ingredients list and even going so far as to look up each ingredient to see its' characteristics. It all depends on what route suits you the best.

As a soapmaker I use exotic butters as an enhancement to my soaps for the skin feel and after-feel. We soapmakers do what is called "superfatting" which means we leave a little of the oils/butters unsaponfied (not turned into soap) to leave a certain skin feel behind after the soap is used. I have had customers tell me that they stopped using moisturizers after trying my soap as their skin felt moist and smooth. I often have customers ask for "something special for their skin" and to those people I tell them that all of my soaps are formulated to be "something special for their skin". For them I have made a soap called "50% Olive Unscented" and I will be making one called "50% Shea Unscented" with Shea Butter and Shea Oil.

My shaving cream, as you can see, contains Glycerin which is a powerful humectant and attract moisture to the skin. Exhaustive research went into perfecting this formula and their is actually a huge quantity of information old and new available online, in libraries and available for purchase in the form of old textbooks, some of which are quite rare and several of which I own and have never seen available online. I was fortunate to find them and fortunate of have some great advice from professionals in the field so I am confidant that my product can deliver the desired results!

I hope this has given you more insight into the complicated field of soapmaking and cosmetic formulation!

Regards,

 

[Mr. Styptic]

Okay, guess I'm just going to have to give them a shot. Thanks again for the info.

 

[chinacats]

Hi,

Didn't see any of the creams on your site...do you have them yet?

Thanks

 

[uncarich]

Looks great. Much luck with this venture.

 

[Nick Danger]

Really hoping you'll do an unscented shaving cream or soap for the guys like me with sensitivity to fragrance and essential oils. I don't mind the smell of the actual ingredients, and that's certainly preferable to the red blotches and irritation I get from scented products. If you offer an unscented, I'll definitely try it.

Nick

 

[MilfordNJGuy]

Really hoping you'll do an unscented shaving cream or soap for the guys like me with sensitivity to fragrance and essential oils. I don't mind the smell of the actual ingredients, and that's certainly preferable to the red blotches and irritation I get from scented products. If you offer an unscented, I'll definitely try it.

Nick

Nick,

I've got you covered! Stone Cottage Soapworks will be offering an unscented version of our shaving cream! I know that is a problem for so many people so I have plans to offer unscented versions of things just for you! We already have "50% Olive Unscented" and "Castile" soap in our line and I will also do an unscented version of our liquid soap! Thanks for your interest!

 

[MilfordNJGuy]

Hi,

Didn't see any of the creams on your site...do you have them yet?

Thanks

As soon as our soaproom is set up completely in the next few weeks, the shaving cream will be packaged and put up on the new website which will be debuting at that time! We just want to be sure that we can keep up with demand when the shaving cream is released! I will also be working on a special shaving cream for those with sensitive skin! I'll do my best to keep you posted! Thanks for your interest and support!

 

[dpittman70]

Really hoping you'll do an unscented shaving cream or soap for the guys like me with sensitivity to fragrance and essential oils. I don't mind the smell of the actual ingredients, and that's certainly preferable to the red blotches and irritation I get from scented products. If you offer an unscented, I'll definitely try it.

Nick

Nick,

I've got you covered! Stone Cottage Soapworks will be offering an unscented version of our shaving cream! I know that is a problem for so many people so I have plans to offer unscented versions of things just for you! We already have "50% Olive Unscented" and "Castile" soap in our line and I will also do an unscented version of our liquid soap! Thanks for your interest!

Very cool. I may have to give this soap a go.

 

[Nick Danger]

Nick,

I've got you covered! Stone Cottage Soapworks will be offering an unscented version of our shaving cream! I know that is a problem for so many people so I have plans to offer unscented versions of things just for you! We already have "50% Olive Unscented" and "Castile" soap in our line and I will also do an unscented version of our liquid soap! Thanks for your interest!

Thanks, David! I promise to give your cream a try. I'll be watching this thread, so please let us know when your cream is ready for us to order.

Nick

 

[ECBx17]

Count me in for giving the shaving cream a go. I look forward to ordering some once you get things all set-up.

 

[MilfordNJGuy]

Thanks Guys! I appreciate the support and I look forward to being able to put my shaving cream out on the market soon!

 

[MisterMatt]

As a "degenerate trier" of shaving soaps and creams, I'll certainly be giving these a whirl. Look forward to it. I've used David's soaps in the past and can attest to their quality and performance, so I can only imagine the shaving products will be equally solid.

 

[MilfordNJGuy]

Thanks MisterMatt!
Thanks for such a great compliment! I can't wait to get this product out but we're literally snowed-in right now with over a foot and a half of packed icy snow covering the entire parking lot and four foot deep solid piles of plowed snow covering the entryway! I finally managed to find a guy to take care of it tomorrow and I hope his equipment is up to the mess! I'm totally exhausted with all of the shoveling, digging and snow blowing we've had here in New Jersey this past week and it just keeps coming! I'll do my best to get everything taken care of so I can get to the building, package the shaving cream and make more production batches of shaving cream! Thanks again for your support, MisterMatt!

 

[brianw]

When is the shop going to be totally open ? My wife is a knitter as well... need to make the trip

 

[MilfordNJGuy]

Brian,

Thanks for your interest! We are working hard to get everything ready as soon as possible! So many little things need to be attended to to make everything look and work just right! It seem endless but we are hoping to be open sometime during the month of April and we're working hard toward that goal! As soon as all the work is done in the selling area then I can feel free to get into the workroom and get started on a few projects to have for opening. Some yarn has been purchased for the store and knitting needles and such will be arriving on Monday! Check us out on Facebook and see the progress and I'll let you know when we think we'll be ready to open! Thanks again!

 

[MilfordNJGuy]

I spent yesterday gathering all the ingredients I need to make more batches of shaving cream from the hyroxides, essential oils, bottled water, preservative, chelating agent to fragrances and essential oils!

Almost every fragrance I make is a blend of several elements including fragrance and essential oils. I spent the afternoon mixing up these large bottles of the chosen Men's fragrances and as you can see, Vetiver & Vanilla, Suede de Kashmir, Cedre Noire and Hesperide are four of the scents being added from our regular soap collection!

Fatty Acids and Coconut oil are the main components of shaving cream and I have buckets already weighed and ready to go to make our Premium Shaving Cream!

Sandalwood,Fougère, Lavender and Bay Lime are about ready to go on the website for sale!

Thanks for your patience!