Beeswax shaving soap

[kosovel]

I found a random shaving soap at one of the local "arts and crafts" fairs in Auchendinny, UK. It was supposedly made without tallow, lanolin, glycerin, you know the usual stuff. Here is the list of the ingreedients:


It comes without any container, but it fits perfectly in the Taylor of old bond street preshave gel container. So reuse!


I've tried to shave today and did not expect too much to be honest. I am big fan of tallow and so far my Stirling soaps are working magic. I used an omega bristle brush, it lathered very quickly and produced plenty of lather. You immediately notice how sleek the lather is! I loaded the brush heavily and face lathered. It looked fine, but then the lather sort of disappeared, and become more bubbly. It definitely doesn't look as cool as the Arko logo. But man, the shave was one of the best I had! So sleek. Great results. Skin feeling after 2 passes - superb! The scent is very subtle but pleasant. Kind of soapy with a hint of some floral and honey smell.

Anyway anyone tried beeswax shaving soaps? Is this similar to Stirling beeswax thing? I will definitely buy some more after I get through the old stacks of soap (to be honest it might be years). I miss thick lather I really do but the results are too good to just ignore. Maybe I will try some other lathering techniques and see if I get better results.

Here is the link to the shop:

Handmade natural skincare with organic ingredients | Allergen Free Range | Tweed Valley | naturallittlebee

Natural Little Bee offers award winning handmade natural skincare made in the Scottish tweed valley. visit for our solid chamois creme loved by BikeRadar and our award winning baby range. allergen free skincare for eczema prone sensitive skin. all products contain a blend of local wildflower...

www.naturallittlebee.co.uk

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Is this similar to Stirling beeswax thing? I

I doubt it, based on your description. The Stirling beeswax soap is basically their beef tallow base with beeswax instead of lanolin. It may be subtly different from the regular base but not in any meaningful way, in terms of performance.

 

[Feldgrun]

The main ingredient is olive oil, which some people love but it impedes the lather. Also, "extra virgin" olive oil is often viewed as the most pure and highly sought after olive oil, but I think it's most advantageous for cooking as virgin oil retains a darker color and stronger flavor. I'd rather use the lighter colored and more "refined" non-virgin olive oil for cosmetics.

 

[NorthernSoul]

Looks like a shaving soap made mostly with grocery store vegetable oils! You can shave with it, but it is made more like a hand soap. The beeswax is there in small amounts probably as a skin conditioning ingredient, along with the shea butter.

Primary ingredients are olive oil and canola oil (aka rapeseed oil). There is some coconut oil and almond oil. This is probably why you are getting bubbly lather that disappears on you. Most shaving soaps contain a good amount of stearic acid that helps building a stable lather that won't easily dissipate.

 

[nav]

This soap would make a lovely face wash/pre-shave soap.

Definitely won't make a good shaving soap though.

Olive oil is very high in oleic acid, which is a lather killer above a certain point...

It must be balanced with stearic/palmitic acids in order to give a creamy and stable lather for shaving.

 

[Roy]

I'm always tempted by these small soap makers but am always disappointed in them. All seem to have olive oil . What ashame .

 

[dotKomo]

With these small artisan soaps - caveat emptor!

 

[Brutus]

I'm always tempted by these small soap makers but am always disappointed in them. All seem to have olive oil . What ashame .

Interesting…

I like the Haslinger shaving soap that has honey as one of the ingredients, but, like olive oil, beeswax is not something that I associate with first tier shaving soaps.

After a few lessons (I failed to heed the first one.

), I am now acutely suspicious of anything labelled “artisan” and rather sit on the fence and wait until a broader consensus has formed.
In shaving products, “artisan” label is IMO often just another name for “amateurish and unskilful”.



B.

 

[blethenstrom]

I agree with the previous posts regarding high percentage of olive oil. Furthermore, second ingredient is rapeseed oil, which also will inhibit the type of lather that you like while shaving. The coconut oil (3rd ingredient) will give you bubbly lather, but not stable creamy lather. Beeswax really only adds to make the bar a hard bar, but not really add anything else. I think they added beeswax here for that purpose to make the bar harder since most of the ingredients are "soft oils"

 

[kosovel]

Such an amazing response in detail from people that know their stuff (ingredients), Thanks!

I was surprised with the smooth shave i got from it though regardless of the lack of lather. Will try to experiment a bit more.

 

[blethenstrom]

Interesting…

I like the Haslinger shaving soap that has honey as one of the ingredients, but, like olive oil, beeswax is not something that I associate with first tier shaving soaps.

After a few lessons (I failed to heed the first one.

), I am now acutely suspicious of anything labelled “artisan” and rather sit on the fence and wait until a broader consensus has formed.
In shaving products, “artisan” label is IMO often just another name for “amateurish and unskilful”.



B.

Honey is probably there to increase the lather a bit. I know that many soap makers add sugar for that reason. This may be the same reason why they add a bit of honey.