Best Shaving Soap? - Make your Own

[LBussy]

I know there are a few other very popular threads about making one's own shaving soap. It's a few of them here that helped fuel a new hobby for me. I've spent more than a year experimenting and then several months documenting it (most of the time with very experienced editors telling me where I'd screwed up) so that ANYONE can make their own shave soap if they can follow a kitchen recipe.

The history of this particular soap is somewhat "checkered" as it relates to B&B. I make it and give it away and people who have thought to discuss it here have been met with post removal. I've been warned, I've been censored, I've been threatened probably because I thought to take umbrage with some of the crap out there being peddled to unsuspecting consumers. Fan-boys are funny that way. At every turn I've been discouraged from participating with B&B denizens in any aspects of this journey. I do not fault the administrators and moderators; where conflict exists it is far easier and makes far more sense for a volunteer staff to simply remove that which causes conflict. I would be lying however if I did not say it was more than a little frustrating.

I am going to try one last time to share what I have learned (in part from B&B) with the Brotherhood here. The links I am presenting are to three articles which are hosted on my personal website which I created expressly to freely share this information. There are no "affiliation" links, there are no ads on the website, I still firmly refuse to sell my soap. The reason they are hosted externally is that I needed a degree of freedom in the formatting, the content, and the license under which it is released. These needs are not met here or in the other forum which played a role in the development of this recipe - nor am I suggesting that is a fault. A forum is one form of media, I needed a different one.

I will not ask your name, I will not ask your email address, I will not ask for donations, I will not hide links to products that secretly shave off a few pennies to me. I'm not even using Google Analytic to track visits. Hell, there's not even a hit counter (unless there's one hidden somewhere in WordPress?). I will not take product donations in return for featuring suppliers, I will not sell my soap. What I will do is share freely and honestly what I have learned in the hope it may benefit someone else.

So, without any further jabbering, here's how to make your own shaving soap:

• The Beginning
• Sourcing Tools and Ingredients
• Process

I suspect there's a 25% chance that somehow this will violate some other rule I missed in the pages of rules (which are necessary), so do create a shortcut if you want to look at them later. To the moderators and admins: all I ask is that you verify what I say is true before assuming a fault: that there is no commercial (or anti-commercial) interest here and that this does not violate the terms of use here - at least as I understand them. I'm just trying to give back, which really seems like what this forum is about.

 

[AndroiDad75]

Well done Lee! The site and instructions look great!

 

[Chaloney]

Excellent. Thanks for sharing what you've learned

 

[LBussy]

I read that you make pyrotechnics? I work in Fireworks in Orlando. Just curious as to what you make? 1.3 or 1.4? Or both?

Well, technically neither since I'm not in commerce but they would be classified as 1.1 and 1.3 if I did. I know a gent down that way who used to work for Santore. A smaller place so that's probably not where you work - guessing the big D?

There's a few pyros here that I know of, members of the PGI and at least one a member of a local club I belong to.

 

[kevdogg329]

Lee,

Thank you for sharing. At some point i think I will try to make a batch.

 

[LBussy]

What a great job - those devices make what I create look like bang-caps. The fellow I was speaking of was involved in some of what Santore used to supply down there, although I'm sure there are more than a few vendors.

I have made a few 10's but the majority of the 1.1 would be ... well, let's just say "very large salutes" and keep it at that. Here's a vid of some that are in the same area of the map:

That is NOT me ... I aspire to that someday though. One of those salutes will feel like a punch in the chest at over a mile. Note the "yellow-ish" smoke. I'm really mostly into rockets so most of my shells are lifted in the most dangerous way I could think of.

BTW, one of the mods pinged me and asked if B&B could host a copy of the article here as that would be more in line with the rules (I forgot about the linking offsite part). So, that will be coming soon.

 

[redrako]

Lee those are great instructions. thanks.

I, like KevDog, toyed with the idea of making my own soap (and perhaps one day will), but have been reluctant to invest in a new hobby. After reading your clear, concise instructions, I know that it's a doable thing.

 

[LBussy]

Lee those are great instructions. thanks.

I, like KevDog, toyed with the idea of making my own soap (and perhaps one day will), but have been reluctant to invest in a new hobby. After reading your clear, concise instructions, I know that it's a doable thing.

Definitely is. I mean doing some of the work to get to that point does require a little math and research, but once you start with a known recipe it's just cooking - albeit with lye.

Most of the other stuff we get is... So so. In part it's because there was a huge environmentality push in our Fireworks department not too long ago, and saw vendors being told they could no longer use certain chemicals. It's made the show quality suffer, sadly, as many compositions are dependent on that chemical. Most vendors are starting to get good comps that work around this change, though, so things will look better in the future.

I've been away from the mainstream for a bit but I heard about the eco stuff a few years back. The whole "don't use a dangerous chemical and don't confuse the subject by pointing out it's already in sea water" thing is just a bit of a stretch.

I make sugar rockets with my nephew in my spare time. Nothing big, but it's a good bonding experience. I can definitely see the appeal.

That's what got me started! My favorites are still black powder, something very majestic and serene about those arcing up.

 

[rodmonster]

Lee,

Your story as told in Part 1 of the Silver Fox Shaving saga is inspiring and relates to many of us, myself included. I am 60. My father passed away 26 years ago. In the 34 years that I knew him, he shaved every single day - sometimes twice - with the same Gillette open comb razor, Noxzema brushless shaving cream, and Gillette Blue blades (he used Wilkinson Sword as well). I can still conjure up the smell of the Noxzema that pervaded the house. When he died the razor was oxidized green. I am certain he got that razor right after WWII which meant that he used the same razor for more than 40 years. I tried to convince him to buy another razor, but he wouldn't hear of it.

Like you, I learned many things from my father. He was a quiet, keen observer of life. No college. The war got in the way. He was happy to care for his family, and proud that his children did well. Simple. Old School.

I started wet shaving at age 15, but by the time I went to college it was much easier to shave with a disposable, that is when I didn't have a hippie beard.

I returned to wetshaving almost 3 years ago after a 39 year hiatus. That would be more than 22 years after my father died. Somehow, standing in front of a mirror every morning with my open comb razor honors my dad, and pays him the respect that he deserves. In large part, I am who I am because of him. Shaving like him is just one small way of showing it.

I want to thank you for sharing your father with us. He sounds like he was a very special man.

 

[LBussy]

Thanks for sharing Rod.

I'm sure a lot of us wish we'd had the chance to really tell Dad how much he shaped our lives. If you'd tried to tell me that at 17 I would have laughed, at 30 I would have put up with it, at 40 I was beginning to understand and now he's gone before I really started to see.

 

[redrako]

Thanks for sharing Rod.

I'm sure a lot of us wish we'd had the chance to really tell Dad how much he shaped our lives. If you'd tried to tell me that at 17 I would have laughed, at 30 I would have put up with it, at 40 I was beginning to understand and now he's gone before I really started to see.

+1. That's some inspired writing Rod, thanks.

I'm always amazed at how much better what our parents did appears with each succeeding decade.

 

[tsellati]

Thanks for sharing Rod.

I'm sure a lot of us wish we'd had the chance to really tell Dad how much he shaped our lives. If you'd tried to tell me that at 17 I would have laughed, at 30 I would have put up with it, at 40 I was beginning to understand and now he's gone before I really started to see.

+1.

Tim

 

[Kesto]

Wow, excellent stuff! I've been dreaming of a time when I could make my own shaving soap. I've done a bit of poking around the internet trying to get a sense of what it would take, and how to pull it all together. I've bookmarked your pages and look forward to gaining as much knowledge as possible. Thank you SO MUCH for your generosity!


-Kesto

 

[blahblah]

That's really great, thank you!

 

[LBussy]

Be sure to let us know how it went!

 

[InNae]

Wow, excellent stuff! I've been dreaming of a time when I could make my own shaving soap. I've done a bit of poking around the internet trying to get a sense of what it would take, and how to pull it all together. I've bookmarked your pages and look forward to gaining as much knowledge as possible. Thank you SO MUCH for your generosity!


-Kesto

Over on the soap making forum there is a great discussion about shaving soaps. there is a ton of information about what people have tried and what has worked. There are over 700 posts. Once I get done with my May restraint I'm doing this. I've heard great thing about this soap in the second soap passaround that really on the third pass (long story). Thanks for this recipe.

InNae

 

[InNae]

LBussy,

Another question.... have you made your recipe with menthol? If so what percentages do you use to get a light, medium, and face freeze effect? Just a rough guide wpuld be great, and I realize that it's a YMMV type of thing.

InNae

 

[LBussy]

LBussy,

Another question.... have you made your recipe with menthol? If so what percentages do you use to get a light, medium, and face freeze effect? Just a rough guide wpuld be great, and I realize that it's a YMMV type of thing.

I have. I love me some menthol.

So far I've not gotten face freeze, probably as a result of the process. Let the menthol crystals melt into the super fat and fragrance which gets added at the end. It's still pretty hot and I think I just lose a ton to it gassing off.

At 3% it's a nice cool sensation, the sort you get when you rinse with cool water. At 5% it created fumes that tried to choke me and I probably lost a lot while I opened the window. That batch was about the same as 3%.

I've been pondering ways to keep the menthol in the soap and keep the plasticity so I can mold it into the containers. I can say that 150deg is too warm though.

It may be just as well. I'm not sure I like face freeze in the soap. I do need some feedback from my face and the anesthetic effect is more than I care for at that time. Now for my homemade AS, 5% is a pretty good freeze.

 

[InNae]

Thanks. I like the face freeze, but i can't see making that much of a face freeze soap. Iowa winters aren't exactly balmy. I am going to try the recipe with a bit of menthol. Still contimplating the scent though. I'm a citrus person so i think I'll be going that route.

InNae

 

[LBussy]

I had a sample of a Bergamot Orange fragrance oil that was real nice. Not "in your face" citrus, real rounded.