Anyone use homemade shaving soap ro cream?

[Schnitzel52]

This may be in the wrong forum, but I wanted to appeal to the wisdom of the experienced.
A crafty relative upon finding out that I have made the switch to traditional wet shaving is going to make me some. She does this for Christmas and birthday gifts.
What is your experience?

Ed

 

[Big Jim]

There is a soap forum where this might be a better fit, but there is more exposure here. The soap forum occasionally has threads about soap making where experience and expertise are shared. It should be noted that most bath soap isn't very good for shaving so it would be good to seek advise as you are doing.

As for myself, I make most of the shaving soap that I use although I do it the easy way. I buy a melt and pour base and add fragrance. My source for the base is Brambleberry. It is an excellent base that lathers well and provides the slickness and cushion that many premium shaving soaps have. That doesn't keep me from also enjoying other soaps.

Hopefully you will have many more responses that will help you in your quest for knowledge.

 

[Clay S]

And pre-shaving oils, beard oils, beard/moustache waxes, and witch hazel/EO AS splashes are easy to make with a little research on Carrier oils and Essential oils.

 

[Big Jim]

Can this thread be moved to the soap forum? It deserves a place where it may get more attention.

 

[Tallships]

About the closest I come to making my own. Is shaving a puck of Williams and a half bar of Dove Shea or Orange scented bath soap on a grater, mixing them, then melting in my shave bowl in a fry pan filled with water on my stove adding a bit of water and pressing with a spoon as it all melts. Makes a great plenty slick lather.

 

[Clay S]

The key thing to remember is potassium is your friend. There should be more <potassium whatever> than <sodium whatever> to get good stable lather.

Whatever can be hydroxide, chloride, stearate, myristate, palmate, or others, depending on the base "oil" being used.

 

[Schnitzel52]

This may be in the wrong forum, but I wanted to appeal to the wisdom of the experienced.
A crafty relative upon finding out that I have made the switch to traditional wet shaving is going to make me some. She does this for Christmas and birthday gifts.
What is your experience?

Ed

Okay, How do I move it?

 

[Big Jim]

The moderators do. You can also just open another thread in that forum if the moderators don't respond.

 

[Twelvefret]

This may be in the wrong forum, but I wanted to appeal to the wisdom of the experienced.
A crafty relative upon finding out that I have made the switch to traditional wet shaving is going to make me some. She does this for Christmas and birthday gifts.
What is your experience?

Ed

I am interested in learning which ingredients make good lather, increase glide, and exfoliate/nurture the face.

I just melted a couple of soaps that I have been experimenting with today. I'll be using this tomorrow and will report back. I want to find some glycerin soaps and any fatty type soaps since I've read fat is what produces later. I also want to maybe add some essential oils after I get the ingredients I want together.

I'll post this for you to see what ingredients are in the soap I'm using. Intrice Blog: Review: Yardley London Shea Buttermilk Soap (Sensitive Skin) The lather is very nice and my face feels great and never irritated as before using commercial shaving creams.

 

[Danmarx]

I used to make (and may soon start again) making my own soap. Contrary to what many have written, one need not do anything special to make a shaving soap. You can add a fine clay like kaolin which supposedly increases 'glide,' but I can't swear it makes a significant difference.

I'd prob'ly add castor oil, which is good for shampoos and to make it more bubbly, but I'd stick fairly close to my basic oils like olive, coconut, and palm. You can reference soapmaking programs online that inform re: the qualities of each oil and how much lye to use.

For me, the main benefit of home made soap is you know what's in it, can restrict your recipe to vegetable oils, and can avoid synthetic scents. I don't claim my home made soap has superior or thicker lather. It just feels cleaner and of course is much cheaper if you don't factor in your labor.