Home made Brut shaving soap

[EclipseRedRing]

I am a lover of vintage Faberge brut products and have a modest collection. I have long wished for a Brut shaving soap and have decided to attempt to make my own. So far I have grated a puck of MWF into a mug - a vintage Shulton Old Spice mug as I have no suitable Brut branded item, indeed I am not totally convinced that such an item exists. I used MWF as to my nose it has a neutral soapy, lanolin scent without any additional perfume. To this grated soap I added about 50ml of modern Brut combined with around 10ml of vintage pre-Brut-33 Faberge Brut. The original is too precious, to me at least, to use undiluted. The resultant mixture could be lightly formed into shape in the mug and I depressed the surface to the point at which the liquid began to rise to the top. I have left it overnight and the soap seems to have significantly hardened and the scent is superb. I am intending to leave the soap for a good few days, maybe even a week before use and am hoping that the scent remains, and that the addition of the Brut has not detrimentally affected the performance of the MWF. Have any other members tried such procedures and how were the results?

 

[naughtilus]

Goodness! I love Brut. I made a large AS splash from an old Brut EdT I had and Turkish lemon cologne. Didn't think of making a soap but it pairs so well with lemon/citronella, I think Arko is a perfect candidate.

 

[brandaves]

There was a thread several years ago describing the process of grating Williams into a bowl and marinating it with whatever aftershave you wanted and then compressing the the grated soap into a solid mass. It works well. I tried it with some Old Spice and Aqua Velva with nice results. I'd assume the same would be true of MWF and I would argue the results might be better due to the muted scent when compared to Williams, but there is the matter of relative cost between the two. I'll see if I can find the thread and attach a link here.

 

[FireDragon76]

I would use a melt and pour base + fragrance oil

 

[76vibrochamp]

I would use a melt and pour base + fragrance oil

Then it would probably be easier to buy something like this:

Brute Glycerin Shave Soap Brute Glycerin Shave Soap [shvso42] - $4.99 : Mama Bears Soaps and Gift Shop, Mama Bears Shaving Soaps and Bath Products for the Discerning Gentleman and Lady

This very male fragrance is based on an old Standard, "Brut" first introduced in the year 1964, by the house of Faberge. Brute is classified as a refined, spicy, lavender, amber fragrance, however, we feel our version is much more. Over the years, the original has become a timeless classic and...

mamabearssoaps.com

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I would use a melt and pour base + fragrance oil

I considered that option but I had a spare puck of MFW to hand. Not sure what fragrance oil I could use to recreate the Great Smell Of Brut though, especially vintage Faberge. I am aware of the scent notes but recreating the scent is beyond my ability and seemingly beyond that of modern day perfumers. Let's hope it turns out well in which case I may try the same method with some vintage Old Spice.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

Then it would probably be easier to buy something like this:

Brute Glycerin Shave Soap Brute Glycerin Shave Soap [shvso42] - $4.99 : Mama Bears Soaps and Gift Shop, Mama Bears Shaving Soaps and Bath Products for the Discerning Gentleman and Lady

This very male fragrance is based on an old Standard, "Brut" first introduced in the year 1964, by the house of Faberge. Brute is classified as a refined, spicy, lavender, amber fragrance, however, we feel our version is much more. Over the years, the original has become a timeless classic and...

mamabearssoaps.com

I considered Mama Bears but it is not easy or cheap to get here in the UK. Plus, trying to make my own this way has been fun! If ease were my goal I would use carts and canned shaving foam

 

[brandaves]

Stickified "Brutus Vilius" - Stuffing the Container

I got 82 g of mixed Brut aftershave and Williams Mug Shaving soap mashed into an empty Speed Stick deodorant container. This was about 44 hours after the grating and mixing process, with some stirring halfway through.

www.badgerandblade.com

There are many examples of members grating soaps for reasons ranging from ease of lather, to creating custom scents, to packing empty deodorant sticks for a travel soap option. It definitely opens the door to a lot of interesting possibilities.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

Stickified "Brutus Vilius" - Stuffing the Container

I got 82 g of mixed Brut aftershave and Williams Mug Shaving soap mashed into an empty Speed Stick deodorant container. This was about 44 hours after the grating and mixing process, with some stirring halfway through.

www.badgerandblade.com

There are many examples of members grating soaps for reasons ranging from ease of lather, to creating custom scents, to packing empty deodorant sticks for a travel soap option. It definitely opens the door to a lot of interesting possibilities.

Interesting, I must learn to search the B&B archive. Thank you.

 

[FireDragon76]

I considered that option but I had a spare puck of MFW to hand. Not sure what fragrance oil I could use to recreate the Great Smell Of Brut though, especially vintage Faberge. I am aware of the scent notes but recreating the scent is beyond my ability and seemingly beyond that of modern day perfumers. Let's hope it turns out well in which case I may try the same method with some vintage Old Spice.

I was thinking of using knockoff fragrances. Most are fairly good. I have a bottle of Irish Spring fragrance oil right here, in fact, as well as Old Spice. I've also ordered fragrance oils from the UK and India - it just took a few weeks in shipping.

I am sure that a melt-and-pour soap hobbyist industry exists in the UK. Here in the US you can go to most craft stores and buy that sort of thing.

 

[Jim99]

Interesting thread. Instead of using Williams or MWF, are any of the melt and pour soaps up to the task?

 

[BigJ]

Love the concept! IMO, the advantage of MWF is that it is a superior soap! If the fragrance lasts, then this should result in a great soap with wonderful fragrance!

Please keep us posted!

 

[FireDragon76]

Interesting thread. Instead of using Williams or MWF, are any of the melt and pour soaps up to the task?

I suspect any glycerin soap base would make an acceptable lather.

My concern with using MWF or Williams would be that they aren't really unfragranced. They are just lightly fragranced, similar to old fashioned soaps.

Another thing you have to consider is the basic fragrance of the soap base itself. Van Der Hagen was smart to go with a modern aquatic fragrance with their luxury soaps, for instance, because the mango butter in the soap has a fruity aroma, and the cocoa butter has an ambery fragrance.

It's probably not much of an issue with a very basic glycerin base that has some sorbitol type moisturizers, that should be relatively low odor and give a more transparent type presentation of the fragrance oil.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

Love the concept! IMO, the advantage of MWF is that it is a superior soap! If the fragrance lasts, then this should result in a great soap with wonderful fragrance!

Please keep us posted!

I will certainly post a review when I use the soap in a few days, when I am confident it will not break apart into the constituent shavings. Fortunately for me, MWF is very cheap here in the UK, and it is ideal for this purpose being triple milled and therefore not having much water content; I am thinking this will make it more likely to absorb the Brut scent. As you allude, I am hoping that with fine ingredients will come a fine end result and there is no finer ingredient than vintage Faberge Brut! As has been pointed out MWF does have a scent but it is mild and let's face it, pre Brut-33 Brut can drown out pretty much any scent! That said, although MWF is designed to be lightly scented and suitable for those with a sensitive skin, and although lanolin features heavily in the marketing, in the ingredient list lanolin appears much lower down than 'parfum'. Makes you wonder how much lanolin is actually in it; maybe a little goes a long way. I just hope that neither the soap not the scent impair the performance of the other.

 

[rudyt]

Have any other members tried such procedures and how were the results?

[Raises hand] I have. On multiple occasions, I grated a Williams puck and pickled it in Clubman. The scents are very compatible. Search the B&B archives for Club Willy.

Recently, I grated a Palmolive stick and pickled it with Aqua Velva Ice Blue. Another hit.

I've never thought of using MWF, and since my puck will otherwise last forever, I might grate some and try ... I don't know what. A trip to the pharmacy will solve that.

 

[P-51G t]

I made clubman bay rum with van der hagen soap a while ago. I just microwave 1 puck of van der hagen in 20 second bursts and stir in about 1/2 ounce of aftershave before it cools. It lathers just fine and smells great.
I think there is a huge thread of lots of people doing this to van der hagen soap. I will post it if I find it.

 

[P-51G t]

Here you go

List all your VDH experiments here....

From time to time I read posts about manipulations people do with VDH; spiking it with Old Spice, etc., etc. Maybe we can get a few of them into this thread, just for fun. Also, tell us if your experiment was a success or a failure. I'll start. I took a puck of VDH Select, melted it in...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[genuinestyle]

I'm going to try op's approach with Stirling's naked and smooth soap ( no scent)

 

[CJB3]

There’s also this:

La Fougère Parfaite Shaving Soap | WhollyKaw

whollykaw.com

Smells pretty darn close to Brut.

 

[merovirginian]

Smells pretty darn close to Brut.

That's on my list of future soaps to try. But admittedly not a DIY. I've experimented with DIY gin (infused vodka if you will), so I am very, very interested in this concept. Sounds fun, no matter what.