Glycerin vs. Triple Milled Soaps?

[Chacho]

I'm new to wet shaving (just 5 weeks in) and started with creams and mug lathering, but have recently discovered soaps and face lathering... I think I may become a convert.

I posted this question on the general shave forum, but thought I might find more experienced guidance in this forum.

I've been using an Ogallala soap and a Cassel-Massey soap, both seem to work okay, but, of course, I'm interested in trying more. I noticed there are glycerin soaps and triple milled soaps; can someone please explain to me the difference?

What's your preference, and why?

 

[Devish D]

Triple milled soaps:they last longer,thats all.I really like the Art Of Shaving,Institut Karite,Cade and T&H shaving soaps,triple milled all of them.

 

[azmark]

They do last longer and a few more ingredients are available for the triple milled like tallow, shea, lanolin. It will just more or less come down to preference.

 

[Iakona]

They do last longer and a few more ingredients are available for the triple milled like tallow, shea, lanolin. It will just more or less come down to preference.

Glycerin soaps can contain tallow, shea, lanolin, and just about anything else for that matter. All soap starts the same - oils/fats and an alkaline solution. From there, glycerin soaps have added glycerin (and optionally sugar and alcohol to make it transparent) and whatever else is desired. Triple milled soaps also have ingredients added such as fragrance and color

Depending on how you look at it, there should probably be a third category - that of just regular soap that hasn't had an abundance of glycerin added, and has not been triple milled. I believe SCS soaps fall in this category. Triple milling a soap is really just grinding the soap, and any additives three times to ensure a uniform final product.

 

[drandall]

glycerin and triple-milled soaps are fundamentally different.

glycerin soap is made from vegetable glycerin combined with oils like coconut and palm. it's made hot and then poured into containers where it cools and hardens into a semi-translucent material. glycerin soaps can be sold as is, or combined with essential oils or other natural & artificial scents. it performs well and is inexpensive both to make and to purchase. popular glycerin shaving soaps include col. conk, mama bear, QED, em's place

triple-milled soaps are made much differently. soap is created and then shredded into tiny bits. those bits of soap are then put into a strong press and mashed together several times to produce and incredibly heavy and dense soap which lasts much longer than the unpressed variety. popular triple milled shaving soaps include AOS, DR harris, T&H, TOBS, etc.

hope this helps

 

[rodeo]

Just also remember that even with just glycerine soaps, their are different qualities out there from the different soap vendors. Some are better and some are worse. My recommendation would be to try at least one soap stick (since you face lather) from qedusa as I have found his soaps to be premium quality as compared to most others. They have exceptional lubricity properties in them which you can feel with your hand rubbing your face after you remove the lather by a pass of shaving. Once I experimented with several other brands of soaps, I found that I preferred one vendor over all the others. So don't just try one soap vendor and judge them all by that experience. Try a few.

Triple Milled soaps usually cost more, first because they do last longer but also because most are sold in fancy containers. They're also usually made by larger Corporations focused on a certain profit margin too. Glycerine soaps are generally way less expensive for the converse reasons. You can buy plain pucks of soap or some vendors pre-package their gllycerine soaps in nice utilitarian plastic tubs with screw top lids. I myself prefer those. I have yet to try a triple milled soap and likely will but I'm not in any rush because I am quite happy with my mid priced glycerine performance and fragrances. Besides, I'd rather own 7-8 glycerine fragrances that I can rotate then 2 triple milled soaps for that same money.

 

[mretzloff]

Glycerin soaps can contain tallow, shea, lanolin, and just about anything else for that matter. All soap starts the same - oils/fats and an alkaline solution. From there, glycerin soaps have added glycerin (and optionally sugar and alcohol to make it transparent) and whatever else is desired. Triple milled soaps also have ingredients added such as fragrance and color

Depending on how you look at it, there should probably be a third category - that of just regular soap that hasn't had an abundance of glycerin added, and has not been triple milled. I believe SCS soaps fall in this category. Triple milling a soap is really just grinding the soap, and any additives three times to ensure a uniform final product.

Just because a soap has a lot of glycerin added does not make it a "glycerin soap". SCS soaps are "glycerin soaps".

The name "glycerin soaps" is really misleading. Since soap making creates glycerin, all soap is technically "glycerin soap".

The "glycerin soap" people talk about is actually melt-and-pour soap. Some vendors, such as Mama Bear and QED, take the melt-and-pour base, melt it, add fragrance, add some ingredients, such as extra glycerin, and then pour the soap base into containers. Not all melt-and-pour soap is actually soap. Some is detergent.

Triple-milled soap, tallow soap, etc. is cold process shaving soap. This is always real soap (unless detergents are added). Tallow soap is just cold process soap that contains tallow. Triple-milled soap is cold process soap that has been milled to compact the soap. Some manufacturers extract the glycerin made during the cold process soap making and sell it on the side.

 

[azmark]

Glycerin soaps can contain tallow, shea, lanolin, and just about anything else for that matter.

I've never seen that before. I consider MB and QED glycerin and quite honestly never really looked at the varieties they offer and compare ingredients but I don't recall any tallow versions. What manufacturers carry tallow, shea and lanolin?

 

[Iakona]

Just because a soap has a lot of glycerin added does not make it a "glycerin soap". SCS soaps are "glycerin soaps".

The name "glycerin soaps" is really misleading. Since soap making creates glycerin, all soap is technically "glycerin soap".

The "glycerin soap" people talk about is actually melt-and-pour soap. Some vendors, such as Mama Bear and QED, take the melt-and-pour base, melt it, add fragrance, add some ingredients, such as extra glycerin, and then pour the soap base into containers. Not all melt-and-pour soap is actually soap. Some is detergent.

Triple-milled soap, tallow soap, etc. is cold process shaving soap. This is always real soap (unless detergents are added). Tallow soap is just cold process soap that contains tallow. Triple-milled soap is cold process soap that has been milled to compact the soap. Some manufacturers extract the glycerin made during the cold process soap making and sell it on the side.

I decided not to add more confusion by tackling the term "glycerin soap". It seems uncertain that "glycerin soap" (in most people's eyes) specifically means translucent soaps.

Don't let Mama Bear catch you calling her soap a melt and pour soap - that is a serious insult to anyone that makes their own soap (via cold or hot process). I've never heard that triple milled soaps are specifically cold process soaps - are you certain of this? As cold process soaps take weeks to cure, I'd imagine that commercial soap makers would be making a hot process soap.

 

[Iakona]

I've never seen that before. I consider MB and QED glycerin and quite honestly never really looked at the varieties they offer and compare ingredients but I don't recall any tallow versions. What manufacturers carry tallow, shea and lanolin?

I don't know of specific examples, I'm just saying that the nature of how "glycerin soaps" are made do not preclude the use of any of the ingredients above. As for tallow, there are artisan soap makers using tallow (and lanolin), but I guess it really comes down to your definition of a glycerin soap.

As far as I can tell, some take it to mean a soap that is easily meltable... some take it to mean a soap that is translucent, and still others take it to mean anything other than a commercially made triple milled soap (hence the comparison of glycerin soap vs triple milled that you see often).

If you are looking for a translucent tallow soap, I don't know if there is one out there, but I do recall hearing (from Mama Bear I think) that one of the artisan soap makers is working on a tallow melt and pour soap, so that would meet 2 possible definitions of "glycerin soap" (I don't know if it would be translucent)

 

[Chacho]

Thanks everyone for the information and input.

I was thinking of trying the Shave Soap "Glycerin Rounds" from Em's Place; I bought some of their pre-shave oil and was very impressed by it, and thought I might try some of the other products they offer.

It seems like I should just try a number of different soaps and see which ones work best for me.

 

[rodeo]

It seems like I should just try a number of different soaps and see which ones work best for me.

Bingo!!

 

[franstjohn]

I'm up to seven soaps. That includes 3 of Mama Bear's soaps. I like them all. At the economical end, I have a Williams and a VDH puck. Both take a little more work to build than some of the others but they are both good soaps and they work well. The Mama Bear soaps are of excellent quality and have great fragrances. I also have a Tabac soap which is my personal favorite. The lather is excellent and I really like the scent. Finally, I have a Proraso soap which is really easy to lather and offers excellent protection-but I'm not too crazy about the menthol.
The Mama Bear soaps are glycerin based and I believe the Tabac is a tallow based product. I'm not sure about the Williams and VDH soaps. I think the Proraso is also tallow based.
My point is that they are all different and all work well. Before I began using these soaps, I was using a canned gel that had a chemical odor and kept clogging my razor because it was too thick or didn't rinse well. After that experience, anything else is a walk in the park.

 

[ouch]

I think there are basically two types of soap- good soap and bad soap. I've tried good and bad examples of both glycerine and tallow soaps. Overall, I'd have to give the nod to the triple milled tallow soaps, but I have quite a few QED's in the rotation, and they're great.

 

[rodeo]

I think there are basically two types of soap- good soap and bad soap. I've tried good and bad examples of both glycerine and tallow soaps. Overall, I'd have to give the nod to the triple milled tallow soaps, but I have quite a few QED's in the rotation, and they're great.

Yes, they are!

 

[Jaymo]

Forgive my ignorance, but how are soaps milled? I have this weird image in my head of a puck of soap clamped down to the table of a Bridgeport or Deckel, with a fly-cutter being repeatedly passed over it.

 

[Iakona]

Forgive my ignorance, but how are soaps milled? I have this weird image in my head of a puck of soap clamped down to the table of a Bridgeport or Deckel, with a fly-cutter being repeatedly passed over it.

I think they are typically extruded through small holes, thus smashing and combining the mixture.

 

[mretzloff]

Don't let Mama Bear catch you calling her soap a melt and pour soap - that is a serious insult to anyone that makes their own soap (via cold or hot process).

How exactly is that an insult? If she is using a soap base to make her shaving soaps, then they are by definition melt-and-pour.

 

[Iakona]

How exactly is that an insult? If she is using a soap base to make her shaving soaps, then they are by definition melt-and-pour.

She doesn't use a pre-bought soap base.

 

[mretzloff]

She doesn't use a pre-bought soap base.

She makes the soap base herself? I am not really following along here. If any soap base is used, it is a melt-and-pour soup.