Best Natural Shave stick

[Soopercat]

By natural I mean, ingredients you get directly from plants or trees, natural. The only caveat is, it can't have almond, shea butter or oil (itchy reaction). Natural in the purist sense. Plants trees and the like. No synthesized chemicals and stabilizers.

I like Arko, and was wondering if there was an natural alternative.

Kind regards,

 

[Painter]

Riana are advertised as all natural and organic. It is olive oil based so it is not the best lather, but it has it's benefits. I use this stuff sometimes to wash my face.

 

[Painter]

Sorry, I missed that you said shave stick. QED then, I forgot about QED; its awesome stuff.

 

[Jcof3474]

Check out the Speick shave stick. I know Speick uses natural ingrediants. However, I don't know if the stick is 100% natural or not, but out of the bigger company shaving sticks this is the one that I would recommend.

J.

 

[TiberiuR]

You should check out Speick! It's great! And the entire Speick product line is made by using natural ingredients. No preservatives and chemicals. A

Also Valobra is made from natural ingredients. I think it is better than Speick! Very slick, creamy lather. Also it is a hard soap, unlike Speick which I believe is not triple milled. But valobra doesn't smell as well as Speick!

I highly recommend both!

 

[Townyj]

Speick! Great shave stick!

 

[cemejacky]

I have used Pacific Shaving Nick Stick.The nicks are an inevitable consequence of shaving. Now you can stop the bleeding right away with this small but mighty Nick Stick and with vitamins A and E and Aloe,it will help promote healing and soothe your skin, too. Nicks happen. Now you can do something about it.

 

[Haber Dashing]

I have used Pacific Shaving Nick Stick.The nicks are an inevitable consequence of shaving. Now you can stop the bleeding right away with this small but mighty Nick Stick and with vitamins A and E and Aloe,it will help promote healing and soothe your skin, too. Nicks happen. Now you can do something about it.

He is referring to a soap stick not an alum stick. A soap stick is used to apply soap directly to your wet face prior to lathering. They are usually designed for face lathering though some grate them down and bowl lather with them. Anyway, welcome to B & B ceme.

 

[Soopercat]

Sorry, I missed that you said shave stick. QED then, I forgot about QED; its awesome stuff.

Check out the Speick shave stick. I know Speick uses natural ingrediants. However, I don't know if the stick is 100% natural or not, but out of the bigger company shaving sticks this is the one that I would recommend.

J.

You should check out Speick! It's great! And the entire Speick product line is made by using natural ingredients. No preservatives and chemicals. A

Also Valobra is made from natural ingredients. I think it is better than Speick! Very slick, creamy lather. Also it is a hard soap, unlike Speick which I believe is not triple milled. But valobra doesn't smell as well as Speick!

I highly recommend both!

Speick! Great shave stick!

I will give one of each a try. Thank you all very much.

Kind regards,

 

[kingfisher]

I have used Pacific Shaving Nick Stick.The nicks are an inevitable consequence of shaving. Now you can stop the bleeding right away with this small but mighty Nick Stick and with vitamins A and E and Aloe,it will help promote healing and soothe your skin, too. Nicks happen. Now you can do something about it.

Hmmmm......................do I detect a whiff of Spam??

 

[Soopercat]

Hmmmm......................do I detect a whiff of Spam??

Or an embellished copy and paste with no credit given to the author.

 

[ChrisS86]

Hmmmm......................do I detect a whiff of Spam??

Haha, just a whiff?

It looks like Mama Bear makes some EO-only scented shave sticks too

 

[SliceOfLife]

Vintage soaps are probably the closest you will get to "natural" and "not crap". But they wont be plant based.

If you want to be sure and are able to browse ingredient lists, here's what I've found:

Castor -> Most viable Natural plant source of Creaminess (+ bubbliness)
Palm kernel, Coconut -> Natural sources of bubbliness


Due to the (lack of) hardness of these particular fats, you're pretty much stuck with NaOH as a saponifier or you're going to wind up with a cream and not a soap. I don't know if/how one can derive NaOH naturally.

So I'd look for a soap who's #1 or #2 (Castor oil is very latherable stuff) ingredient is Sodium Castorate. The problem is it's also greasy stuff, so don't expect a soap that will leave your face feeling clean.

Animal fats are just plain better at making creamy suds.


Speick ingredients:
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Aqua, Potassium Cocoate, Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Cocoate, Fragrance.

Looks like a good recipe for lather. Doesn't look like a "natural plant based" soap. I've got a bag of Stearic acid in my closet. You can't get much farther away from natural than that stuff. Of course looking for a natural soap is silly to begin with. Unless you're washing your own wood ash to get the Potash, it isn't happening. The most fundamental ingredient (NaOH/KOH) are chem lab mainstays.

 

[Soopercat]

Vintage soaps are probably the closest you will get to "natural" and "not crap". But they wont be plant based.

If you want to be sure and are able to browse ingredient lists, here's what I've found:

Castor -> Most viable Natural plant source of Creaminess (+ bubbliness)
Palm kernel, Coconut -> Natural sources of bubbliness


Due to the (lack of) hardness of these particular fats, you're pretty much stuck with NaOH as a saponifier or you're going to wind up with a cream and not a soap. I don't know if/how one can derive NaOH naturally.

So I'd look for a soap who's #1 or #2 (Castor oil is very latherable stuff) ingredient is Sodium Castorate. The problem is it's also greasy stuff, so don't expect a soap that will leave your face feeling clean.

Animal fats are just plain better at making creamy suds.


Speick ingredients:
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Aqua, Potassium Cocoate, Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Cocoate, Fragrance.

Looks like a good recipe for lather. Doesn't look like a "natural plant based" soap. I've got a bag of Stearic acid in my closet. You can't get much farther away from natural than that stuff. Of course looking for a natural soap is silly to begin with. Unless you're washing your own wood ash to get the Potash, it isn't happening. The most fundamental ingredient (NaOH/KOH) are chem lab mainstays.

Nice break down, what would you recommend that's close to natural in cream or soap your, product recommendation would be appreciated.

Kind regards,

 

[DSB]

Have you looked at Kells? I know they have a hemp/aloe unscented shave stick. I didn't much care for Kells, but it gives as good a lather as any other meltable soap. Honeybee Sue also has some EO soaps.

Speick is great. It's one of my favorite shave sticks (Irisch Moos is a great stick, too, but it my be too irritating for you).

 

[Leche]

Another endorsement for Speick!

 

[SliceOfLife]

Nice break down, what would you recommend that's close to natural in cream or soap your, product recommendation would be appreciated.

Kind regards,

To be perfectly honest the only soaps I'm aware of that make "natural" claims are the Burts Bee's products, and that is if I remember only a 9x% natural claim, and from the reports I've heard, it's just awful.

What your asking is in my opinion, like asking what the best vegetarian steak is. Check out this thread.

http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4780

What you'll see is three to four VERY common "natural" fats. Palm oil, Tallow, Coconut oil and Palm Kernel oil. While the first two can be the base of quality shave soaps, you'll notice also that almost every soap using them also includes a "something stearate", that's soap made from stearic acid. It's basically instant creaminess. It's the fat in palm oil and Tallow that make them create creamy lather. (They have 5-15% of this fat if I recall correctly). Castor is the only natural oil I can find that has anything near Stearic acid's efficacy at creating creamy lather (Possibly excluding some unusably expensive specialty oils) thanks to an ~90% content of Ricinoleic acid which behaves (in soap) very similarly to Stearic acid.

While you may be able to find a Palm oil based shave soap without stearic acid, the fact that all the good ones seem to include it suggests to me that one without it would be a sub-par performer. That said, with soap, "natural" is a meaningless buzz-word, as I mentioned above, the only "natural" soap you're likely to find will be in the historic Williamsburg giftshop where they sell the soap the actors make during demo's from Potash and lard. Anything beyond that is going to be a compromise. My recommendation as it seems you're likely looking for something that will be gentle on the skin is to find a product that is NOT a stearate #1 (Tabac, La Toja, Williams all are) but rather a Palmic or Tallow #1, that has good reviews and minimal scenting ingredients. The problem is that when it comes to scenting ingredients it seems the manufacturers get a lot of leeway. Some list everything (or almost), others just put perfume and that's it.

As for a product recommendation? I think you're looking for something non-existent (A good, all natural, plant based shaving soap), so I'd just recommend you look at the soaps every one else recommends as good soaps for anyone, with perhaps a little bit more attention paid to conditioning properties. Really, I can't think of any way to measure how "natural" a soap is. There's just not enough information available about the soaps you buy. The closest you will likely get (by my best guess) is an unscented soap from a manufacturer with a short ingredients list.

 

[Soopercat]

To be perfectly honest the only soaps I'm aware of that make "natural" claims are the Burts Bee's products, and that is if I remember only a 9x% natural claim, and from the reports I've heard, it's just awful.

What your asking is in my opinion, like asking what the best vegetarian steak is. Check out this thread.

http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4780

What you'll see is three to four VERY common "natural" fats. Palm oil, Tallow, Coconut oil and Palm Kernel oil. While the first two can be the base of quality shave soaps, you'll notice also that almost every soap using them also includes a "something stearate", that's soap made from stearic acid. It's basically instant creaminess. It's the fat in palm oil and Tallow that make them create creamy lather. (They have 5-15% of this fat if I recall correctly). Castor is the only natural oil I can find that has anything near Stearic acid's efficacy at creating creamy lather (Possibly excluding some unusably expensive specialty oils) thanks to an ~90% content of Ricinoleic acid which behaves (in soap) very similarly to Stearic acid.

While you may be able to find a Palm oil based shave soap without stearic acid, the fact that all the good ones seem to include it suggests to me that one without it would be a sub-par performer. That said, with soap, "natural" is a meaningless buzz-word, as I mentioned above, the only "natural" soap you're likely to find will be in the historic Williamsburg giftshop where they sell the soap the actors make during demo's from Potash and lard. Anything beyond that is going to be a compromise. My recommendation as it seems you're likely looking for something that will be gentle on the skin is to find a product that is NOT a stearate #1 (Tabac, La Toja, Williams all are) but rather a Palmic or Tallow #1, that has good reviews and minimal scenting ingredients. The problem is that when it comes to scenting ingredients it seems the manufacturers get a lot of leeway. Some list everything (or almost), others just put perfume and that's it.

As for a product recommendation? I think you're looking for something non-existent (A good, all natural, plant based shaving soap), so I'd just recommend you look at the soaps every one else recommends as good soaps for anyone, with perhaps a little bit more attention paid to conditioning properties. Really, I can't think of any way to measure how "natural" a soap is. There's just not enough information available about the soaps you buy. The closest you will likely get (by my best guess) is an unscented soap from a manufacturer with a short ingredients list.

I appreciate you taking the time to give a very thorough and thought provoking answer. I'd seen that link, and it was part of my wonderment. I will follow your advice on the short list. I have to ask. What do you use...

Kind regards,