Firm Soap Options for a New Batch of Shave Sticks. Any Recomendations???

[Dovo1695]

Well,I got in 4 Stirling samples, and although better than your average croap, the were still pretty soft and smooshy.

That said, @Cal pointed out that it's very simple to change the consistency of soap by simply leaving it exposed to air. I'll be leaving the Sterling samples to dry for about a month.

Stirling might be perfect for this, because it is far too strongly scented for my tastes. Hopefully, a month on the rack will firm it up and tone it down.

Will it work? I don't know. Time to do some science...

 

[Cal]

Hopefully, a month on the rack will firm it up and tone it down.

A month seems a bit lengthy to me, Nick.

Personally, I'd give it the highly scientific "finger prod" test every week to make sure it doesn't get too hard.

 

[FarmerTan]

Here is a vid of Stirling soap pliability if anybody reading this is looking for the same thing I am. It looks much firmer than most croaps that I've tried. Relevant part starts at 1:40. Firmer would be even better, but I think this will do nicely for a shave stick.

I've just used Stirling as a shave stick many times. You will get used to it and love it. True story doggone!

 

[Dovo1695]

A month seems a bit lengthy to me, Nick.

Personally, I'd give it the highly scientific "finger prod" test every week to make sure it doesn't get too hard.

This gave me a think. I have 4 soaps, so I will put 1 soap each week into a shavestick tub and cap it. That way, I'll be able to evaluate how each subsequent week affects the firmness/scent, and decide which one I prefer.

 

[Dovo1695]

I've just used Stirling as a shave stick many times. You will get used to it and love it. True story doggone!

I'll be airing them out anyway because they are too strongly scented for my taste.

I may however stick them in a tube, and then advance the screw mechanism all the way out so they are fully exposed to the air.

 

[Dovo1695]

The sciencing has commenced.

All samples have been squished into tubes. It goes without saying that they would have dried more quickly as a pancake due to the larger surface area for evaporation, however the chief science officer of my washroom was loathe to share closet space with "those stinky pancakes".

Still, science must move on, and so now they are in labeled tubes and therefore less offensive. One thing I will say for Stirling is that they are not stingy with their samples! I was really impressed by the size of the 30g samples that I received. I suspect I could shave for 2 months just on these four samples alone. I have tried both the Haverford and the Agar, and I was quite impressed with the lather. Nice and slick, and the post-shave is just what I'm looking for as we head into the colder months. Kudos to Stirling!

I think it will be interesting to weigh them before and after, too see how much water they lose over time. It should be noted that the Haverford is significantly stiffer than the other 3 right out of the gate. My hypothesis is that the rate of evaporation will slow over time. I would guess that it would take days to make a cream into a croap, but weeks to make a croap into a soap. If this is the case, I would expect the already firm Haverford to lose less weight than the others over the same period of time. Arkadia is the softest of the bunch, very nearly a cream, and Sharp Dressed Man is slightly firmer, Agar is slightly firmer still, and Haverford is quite a bit firmer, nearly the firmness of clay.

Here are their starting weights.

Arkadia: 33g
Agar: 27g
Sharp Dressed Man: 34g
Haverford: 31g

 

[Dovo1695]

Update. The only one that seems to have lost weight is Sharped Dressed Man (-2g), it's possible admittedly that this is within the margin of error of the scale. Interestingly, they all feel more firm, but that could be just because I a "skin" has developed on the outer couple millimeters. If that's the case, it could take ages to really firm these things up.

I think the right solution is to take them out of the tube and dramatically increasing the surface area by placing the lumps between two pieces of wax paper, and rolling them to 3mm in thickness with a rolling pin. Next, I'll hang it on a coat hanger in the basement. That should speed things up. I think I'll try that with just Sharp Dressed Man, which was, and still is, the least firm of all of them.

Present weights:

Arkadia: 33g (same)
Agar: 27g (same)
Sharp Dressed Man: 32g (-2g)
Haverford: 31g (same)

 

[Dovo1695]

The Sharp Dressed Man Sample has been flattened with a rolling pin between 2 sheets of wax paper. It is now 1-2mm thick. It's roughly the consistency of wet cookie dough, and like wet cookie dough, it's very sticky. I was able to remove the top piece of wax paper easily enough, but it was clear attempting to remove it from the bottom piece would destroy it.

Still, the surface area of the sample is now 10x what it was before, which should greatly facilitate evaporative loss. When I remove the bottom piece of wax paper, the surface area will be 20x what it was before. More importantly, I suspect, it's thin enough that "skin" that develops when air drying is roughly the thickness of the sample itself.

When it has stiffened up a bit, I'll remove the bottom piece of wax paper from the sample. It is currently draped over a coat hanger and hanging in my office closet. Some residual soap was stuck in the recesses of the shave stick, so the sample now weighs 28 grams. Part of that weight is the bottom piece of wax paper, which I will retain for future weighing.

 

[Atlantic59]

Why mess around? You could put your sticks in a convection oven at low temperature and they would dry very quickly. At the very least, put them in a warm place with a fan blowing air on them. I'll spare you the lecture on partial pressure.

 

[Dovo1695]

Why mess around? You could put your sticks in a convection oven at low temperature and they would dry very quickly. At the very least, put them in a warm place with a fan blowing air on them. I'll spare you the lecture on partial pressure.

I see you are scientist too. This is a very good question.

The reason is that I have a very specific goal in mind. I want 1 week cream-to-crayon performance. I think the current system will get me there. If not, out comes the fan. If that doesn't do it, the space heater is coming out too.

 

[Dovo1695]

Two days into the hanging pancake experiment, the Stirling Sharp Dressed Man has lost 1g. It now weighs 27g. One gram doesn't sound like much, but it is surprisingly stiffer. It now cracks when bent. Progress!

 

[global_dev]

Two days into the hanging pancake experiment, the Stirling Sharp Dressed Man has lost 1g. It now weighs 27g. One gram doesn't sound like much, but it is surprisingly stiffer. It now cracks when bent. Progress!

what about the scent strength?

 

[Dovo1695]

what about the scent strength?

Really no reduction as far as I can tell. I'm actually hoping the scent will be reduced as I find it a bit to strongly scented for my taste.

 

[Dovo1695]

In case anyone is interested, I've just developed a surprisingly precise tool for measuring croap firmness. I think I'm going to call it a dovometer . It measures the force necessary to push a "needle" of 2mm in diameter into a croap. It's measured on a linear scale of 1-20 milimeters.

It's basically just a ball point pen, with the spring taken out of the bottom half, placed in the top half of the pen, with the pen tube reinserted in the upper receiver. Then a paper millimeter scale is printed out and taped to it. Takes about 2 minutes to make one if you bonkers like I am and want to measure such things.

Here is the thread where it is being discussed.

On the Measurement of Croap Durometer: A New Methodology

To meet the annual continuing education requirements of my BOSC membership, it is necessary for me to either: 1. Advance the science of shaving in some extraordinary or dubious way 2. Provide evidence of unrepentant indulgence in one or more acquisition disorders. Unfortunately, my spouse has...

www.badgerandblade.com

The first soap ever tested was Arko (seemed appropriate):

Arko: 11 mm
Haverford: 4 mm
AGAR: 2mm
Arcadia: 1 mm

Behold... the dovometer:

 

[Dovo1695]

The 2mm thick Sharp Dressed Man Sample has been on the coat hanger is still 27g. No change since Sunday.

I'm going to wait until this coming Sunday, then I'll stick it back in a tube and measure it with the dovometer to see where it's at.

 

[Jaidmaster]

The consistancy of Soap Commander would make a good stick, I believe.
My Valobra Almond soap has hardened a bit over time and is currently a very nice stick consistancy as well.
I think the Stirling was a good choice - good luck!

 

[Dovo1695]

Well, the Stirling sharp dressed man sample was rolled out to 2mm thick, and hung up to dry on a coat hanger for 2 weeks now.

It starting weight was 28g. It now weighs 27g. It is slightly harder, but still way too soft for my liking. I'm in NY, and humidity is very low. It was hanging in a closet with heat ducting running up to the second floor, so it should have dried out if it was going to. I don't think this thing is going to lose any more weight.

I'd say the "drying" experiment failed with Stirling.

It could be that Stirling adds lotions/oils/conditioners to the soap as it's cooling. That may be why it's so soft. Those aren't going to dry out. The drying method may work for other soaps though.

 

[TinyT]

The drying method may work for other soaps though.

I left my tub of Proraso Red out with the lid off for a week. It's been hard as a rock ever since.

 

[Dovo1695]

I left my tub of Proraso Red out with the lid off for a week. It's been hard as a rock ever since.

I had a similar experience with my very first tub of Proraso, which was Proraso white. It was hard as a rock the very first time I opened it, and I just assumed that all Proraso came that way!

 

[KW Driver]

I keep Mike's, MWF, Hasslinger's, and Speick sticks loaded for travel.