African Black Soap?
- Thread starter dwbruton
- Start date
I am certainly not the best expert on this as I don't live in the U.S. at the moment, but I've never heard this soap even mentioned here on the B&B. But the name alone warrants a purchase and a trial.
African Black Soap is very, very rich in Shea Butter. It lathers up thick and creamy, and is great if you have dry skin.
Is the one you're looking at the "Out of Africa" brand? That's what I use, but others are equally awesome.
I've never shaved with African Black, but I use it often as a face-wash soap. If I have the time, I like to lather it on, and let it sit and dry on my face while I putter around the house and do other things. Then I rinse it off and proceed with the shave.
If you look at some of my posts about Shea Moisture products, you'll see that their shave butter and facial scrub contains African Black soap... ABS from what i can tell is regarded very highly as a soap.
While the vast majority here didn't like the shave butter (i think many due to lather-ability and off-putting smell), i thought it worked well and left my skin very moisturized and smooth.
I've looked at the Out of Africa brand "African black soap" at Wegmans' and I don't recall it actually having african black soap as an ingredient.
http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/s...-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=1&productId=422506
maybe African shea butter is "african black soap" marketing ... i really can't tell.
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yes,
oddly it lists Shea Butter & African Black Soap as separate ingredients, but the soap marketed by other companies does not have the distinguishing ingredients. they say banana peel or ash or something else that may make it dark in color...
info lifted from this site
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art26846.asp
"preparation of the soap. Leaves and bark of various trees and plants are first burned in a kettle or vat. These may be leaves from banana trees, plantain skins, leaves and bark, palm tree leaves, cocoa pods, shea tree bark, etc.
Water is then added to the ashes and then filtered. Oils such as shea butter, coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, and cocoa butter are added to this water to create the soap. The soap is then stirred for at least a day and then set out to cure for two weeks. Each region and tribe have their own recipe that has been handed down through generations. The color of African Black Soap varies depending on the region it's made in since the availability of the ingredients varies. African Black Soap from coastal regions of Africa contains a higher percentage of coconut oil whereas soap from the interior regions contains more shea butter.
make sure the soap is from western Africa and not made in the United States or Europe. Soaps from these countries are mass produced and are not true African Black Soap and probably have artificial ingredients added to them to give the dark coloring."
- Thread starter
- #7
It looks right but I wil stop at Walmart tomorrow after work to pick one up to try out.
Best regards,
David
i don't recall walmart carrying the shave line of this company. try a target and if you really want it and cant find it PM and I'll help you source it.
looks interesting, is all sorts of that soap on ebay.
- Thread starter
- #10
It is Organic Shea Butter Shave Cream, by Shea Moisture. The box calls itself “Shea Butter & African Black Soap Shave Butter”. I bought it last evening at Wal-Mart and tried it out this morning. I was not impressed. It smells, looks, and feels like wiped butter (no complaints but foreign to me). I could not get a decent lather out of it and was not impressed with the lubricity. My skin looks fine post shave but feels a bit irritated. Eight bucks for one shave.
http://www.sheamoisture.com/products/typeid/25/face#product-index(135)
Best Regards,
David
http://www.sheamoisture.com/products/typeid/25/face#product-index(135)
Best Regards,
David
i think the vast majority was not satisfied with this shave cream and I was able to create a semblance of lather (i have pics of it in a thread here), but it was not the conventional lather that most people like. I think it may be marketed toward people with skin and hair type prone to significant in-growns.
I think it depends on what type of experience you enjoy. It's not similar to the popular shaving items. I keep an open mind and I find it works pretty well.
I am surprised it was at a walmart.
You dodged a bullet the other day. The shaving cream is bad (smells nice though). Search out some of the threads about it here.
Steve
OP just wrote he bought it and tried and found it lacking...
honestly, i'd return try to return it to walmart if I found it that bad.
- Thread starter
- #15
not trying to be smartass but the search tool here really works well
probably eaiest to do a search. there is about 12 reviews on it officially here at B&B @ http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=88851&highlight=shea+moisture+shave+butter
check this search here to. it's been discussed how many people don't enjoy it.
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/search.php?searchid=8907300
if you want to pass it on, probably check the PIF board here. you'll probably get someone who wants to try much more quickly... than in this thread.
some people liked it as a pre-shave cream... why don't you try that.
Just to be the odd one out, I rather like this product...but I wouldn't use it as a shave cream.
Yes, it smells like sweet lemon cake frosting (which oddly I kind of like). Yes it is a heavy, blade clogging, non-lathering goop - should you attempt to use it as a shave cream. On my first try, I used it as I would a cream - with a brush, and DE razor, and was as impressed as everyone else here. But I stuck with it after it seemed to leave my neck in a much less distressed state as compared to using my normal shave soap (a locally made, natural product).
I find this to be a wonderful product when using it as one would a pre-shave oil. Essentially I apply a small amount of this first with my fingers, before going over my face with a brush loaded with soap lather. The oil in this partially broken down by the soap, but still seems to have a nice lubricating effect, and keeps the lather from drying too quickly. The shea, and chamomile do a pretty good job of fighting razor burn, and keeping everything healthy.
All in all, I'm really enjoying, and benefiting from the addition of this product into my routine, but only because I'm ignoring the instructions on the box.
Yes, it smells like sweet lemon cake frosting (which oddly I kind of like). Yes it is a heavy, blade clogging, non-lathering goop - should you attempt to use it as a shave cream. On my first try, I used it as I would a cream - with a brush, and DE razor, and was as impressed as everyone else here. But I stuck with it after it seemed to leave my neck in a much less distressed state as compared to using my normal shave soap (a locally made, natural product).
I find this to be a wonderful product when using it as one would a pre-shave oil. Essentially I apply a small amount of this first with my fingers, before going over my face with a brush loaded with soap lather. The oil in this partially broken down by the soap, but still seems to have a nice lubricating effect, and keeps the lather from drying too quickly. The shea, and chamomile do a pretty good job of fighting razor burn, and keeping everything healthy.
All in all, I'm really enjoying, and benefiting from the addition of this product into my routine, but only because I'm ignoring the instructions on the box.
I'm another one who saw the packaging and was intrigued enough to purchase it without doing the due diligence of researching it here. One use was enough for me; however, SWMBO really likes it for leg shaving. She uses it brushless. At least it is going to use in my household.
It has lasted a long time at my house, so you could argue that it is long-lasting.
It is good soap. It just does not make good lather. As soap, it has uses. It is a pretty good face soap. There is a lot of it in the jar.
It is good soap. It just does not make good lather. As soap, it has uses. It is a pretty good face soap. There is a lot of it in the jar.
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