Update on Sudsy Soapery with Decreased Optimum Three-Pass Total Mass
(Picture shows 5.5 oz. jar of soap, almost used up)
Update Overview: The Sudsy Soapery was originally added to the optimum lather table about two months ago (B&B URL), and since it was not added with its own thread, this update rectifies that situation and provides a thread for any future updates on Sudsy Soapery. While finishing my evaluation of L&L Grooming, I found that the shave with Sudsy Soapery matched well to previous results, but the total mass was too high and the soap produced slickness that was not as much as expected by the language that I used due to a shift in my standards. Through a few extra shaves with Sudsy Soapery, I ended up decreasing the optimum three-pass soap mass from 0.9 g to 0.8 g while leaving the water-to-soap ratio around 9.5. This change is reflected in the optimum lather table. I also updated the accompanying description for Sudsy Soapery. The rest of the review is largely unchanged, but I added details on ranking tests.
Purchase Date: November 9, 2016
Container: The amber plastic container has an outside diameter of 3.69 in., as measured with my digital caliper, and the black screw-on cap has a similar diameter. The inside diameter near the top of the jar is 3.26 in. The total height of the closed jar is about 1.59 in. The container is just big enough for the amount of soap that it comes with. My only complaint with the container is that the internal radius increases kind of sharply by about 5/32 in. through the transition from the top of the jar down towards the main lower region. Soap is, therefore, not all easily accessible to the brush.
Ingredients: Saponified Stearic Acid, Coconut Oil, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Castor Oil, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Cocoa Butter, Theobroma Cocoa (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Kokum Butter, Garcinia Indica Seed Butter, Shea Butter, Butyrospermum Parkii, Lanolin Anhydrous, USP. with Clay, Kaolin [Rhassoul Clay, according to the website], Glycerin vegetable, USP, Sodium Lactate, Fragrance*, Bentonite Clay. *All Natural Essential Oil Blend
Appearance: Shiny, speckled tan or light brown
Scent: The scent is "subtle in nature", as described by the manufacturer, and my impression is that the natural sandalwood and myrrh scent is fine and light to the point that this soap could be an acceptable alternative for those wanting unscented soap
Hardness: Based on my limited experience, I'd say that this soap is softer than most
Loading and Building: Loading the soap is not an issue. Building lather with measured amounts of soap and water in a bowl reveals how sudsy—no pun intended—the lather begins, but with time and agitation, the bubbles become smaller and smaller and the lather builds in volume to an airy structure with uniform air cells and only a few noticeable bubbles. The lather has a matte finish, so the sheen is not good, and the lather behaves like foam, not like yogurt. Based on my timer results, the lather definitely takes less time to build compared to other soaps that I've tested.
Optimization Results with Exact Lathers: Twenty-five (25) daily shaves were conducted from June 28, 2017, to July 22, 2017, with total mass ranging from 8.0 g to 10.4 g and water-to-soap ratio ranging from 5 to 11. With increasing water-to-soap ratio from 5 to 11, slickness increased from "pretty good" to "good to very good", cushion decreased from "good or very good" to "not much", and post-shave decreased from "kind of dry" to "dry". The optimal total mass was found to be around 9.5 g to 10.4 g, and optimization narrowed down to deciding between water-to-soap ratios of about 9.5 and 10, with the former being chosen since the latter seemed to produce a lather that just seemed to be a little more airy with similar performance.
Ranking Results: Compared to L&L Grooming, the optimum lather for Sudsy Soapery has similar slickness, probably a little better at first, but the residual slickness is not as good, as evidenced during blade buffing. Cushion and post-shave were the real factors in placing Sudsy Soapery below L&L Grooming. Next-day testing also confirmed that Sudsy Soapery has similar slickness and cushion to B&M Latha, but post-shave seems a little less dry than B&M Latha and there isn't the overall irritation experienced with B&M Latha.
Optimum Lather Table
Performance Ranking | Soap/Cream | Soap/Cream Mass (g) | Water Mass (g) | Total Mass (g) | Water-to-Soap/Cream Ratio | Soap/Cream Price (USD) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Stirling Soap Co. Naked & Smooth Shave Soap | 1.2 | 10.8 | 12.0 | 9.00 | 0.09 |
2 | L&L Grooming Unscented Shaving Soap | 1.0 | 8.5 | 9.5 | 8.50 | 0.16 |
3 | The Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood & Myrrh Shave Soap | 0.8 | 7.6 | 8.4 | 9.50 | 0.09 |
4 | Barrister & Mann Latha Unscented Shaving Soap | 1.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 8.00 | 0.09 |
5 | Lisa's Natural Herbal Creations Sandalwood Wet Shave Soap | 0.8 | 7.2 | 8.0 | 9.00 | 0.06 |
- As documented on August 27, 2017, soap/cream and moderately hard water masses were directly measured in a smooth lathering bowl, using a 0.1 g resolution scale, and lather was built using a dry synthetic brush, so as to make exact lather
- Based on slower three-pass shaves with blade buffing using a smooth chrome-plated DE safety razor and agreeable blades and blade exposures, water-to-soap/cream ratio was optimized to the nearest 0.5 value while total mass was simultaneously optimized as precisely as could be accomplished by varying soap/cream and water masses from day to day. Lather from inside the brush was used as much as possible in order to effectively eliminate the influence of the brush on total mass.
- Rankings were aided by revisiting previously determined optimums and comparing optimum lathers in sequential shaves
- Prices are current for the specific soaps and creams that were evaluated. Prices for similar offerings are used for scents that are no longer available.
- The table is sortable such that clicking on a column heading sorts the rows according to that column's data, and clicking on the column heading again reverses the sorting order. Product names are links to optimization result threads.
- Stirling Soap Co. Naked & Smooth Shave Soap: Lather takes time to build up, developing into a lighter lather with a smooth consistency and a nice sheen. Slickness is mostly very good, but there is typically some friction near the end of passes. Cushion is okay, but lather lightness prevents cushion from being good. Post-shave is pretty good, but on the dry side.
- L&L Grooming Unscented Shaving Soap: Lather takes time to build up, but it has some yogurt-like behavior and only a few small bubbles. Adhesion and application smoothness are pretty good or good. Slickness is okay to good, mostly good, with friction near the end of passes. Cushion is pretty good. Post-shave is good.
- The Sudsy Soapery Sandalwood & Myrrh Shave Soap: Lather builds faster than average. Sheen is not good because lather has more of a matte finish. Lather is noticeably airy with a uniform cell structure and foam-like behavior, as opposed to yogurt-like behavior, but there are only a few larger bubbles. Adhesion and application are okay, at best. Slickness is okay to good, mostly good, but there is significant friction at the end of passes and slickness seems to deteriorate with blade buffing due to a lack of residual slickness. Cushion is not much, and the lack of protection is noticeable. Post-shave is okay, but it is kind of dry.
- Barrister & Mann Latha Unscented Shaving Soap: Lather is neither like yogurt nor creamy, but lather is uniform with respect to very small air cells. Lather does not have much adhesion to skin during application. Sheen is nice, but not brilliant. Slickness is mostly good with some very good moments, but there is some friction near the end of passes. Cushion is not much, although it is fine. Post-shave is kind of dry with some overall irritation.
- Lisa's Natural Herbal Creations Sandalwood Wet Shave Soap: Lather is airy with uniformly tiny air cells and few visible small air bubbles. Sheen is okay, but not good or brilliant. Adhesion to skin is pretty good. Application is smooth enough, but not very smooth. Slickness is okay overall, with some good moments and virtually no stick-slip, but there is friction at times and near the end of passes. Cushion is okay, but it is not much. Post-shave is fairly dry with some irritation that probably corresponds with the irritation felt during and after application for the third pass.