I am very interested as well. The lather you show looks pretty good, you may have a new business to get into (Mama Bear started out in her home as well IIRC).
Home made shaving soap
- Thread starter charles_r
- Start date
interesting that you used 50% stearic acid... i've never seen/read about using it in amounts that high. but it looks like you've got a nice lather for a 24hr cure! definitely update when you get a chance. i've got a recipe curing right now that i can't wait to try out.
- Thread starter
- #23
thanks for your comments everyone! The bars aren't quite as soft as when I unmolded. I'm going on vacation soon, but I'll try out the soap when I get back on the 23rd. If it works out well, I might try another batch and try to add something conditioning.. (avocado oil maybe?). maybe tryu hot process instead of cold process too, which i've never done yet
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- #24
Hi everyone, I just tried the soap this morning. It worked out OK. The lather seemed to need a little more work to make than let's say Mama Bear's, but that could just be me getting to know a new soap. It seems to be very hungry for water. I had two days of stubble, so I decided to use my slant instead of my daily EJ89. The shave was comfortable with no nicks or cuts. my face felt very soft when I was done. So now that I have a decent base to work with, I might try changing things A LITTLE on the next few batches to see how it goes. Maybe I'll try adding the clay, since the jury is still out on that one. If anyone wants to try out my recipe, and does any good changes, please post them here. thanks!
Good luck with this. My wife makes bath soap but just can't seem to get shaving soap to work out.
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- #26
Hi everyone, this is an OLD thread of mine, but since then I have done two other recipes, that all worked well. However, I now know what works best for ME. Honestly, I have a few commercial and artisan soap and lately I just always seem to grab the ones I made. Also, as it turns out, i'm in the pro clay camp. Clay thrown into regular soap does not make it a shaving soap, but clay thrown into shaving soap makes it a better shaving soap. I like how to skin feels after the shave when there's added clay. I've tried Bentonite and Kaolin. Both are nice. Benonite feels a little nicer, but the soap ends up greyish. Kaolin is better than no clay, and the soap stays white.
I won't be making a commercial venture out of this, so I thought I would share my final recipe for others to try. (i'm an open source software nut too)
For one pound of shaving soap:
Oils
Beef Tallow 165g (33%)
Stearic Acid 165g (33%)
Coconut Oil 100g (20%)
Castor Oil 70g (14%)
Lye
Sodium Hydroxide (NAOH) 25.2g
Potassium Hydroxie (KOH) 65.6g
Distilled/Purified Water 180g
This is a 35% NaOH to 65% KOH ratio in snowdrift farm's calculator.
I use about 1 "large" TBSP of clay. I create a slurry with the clay using either glycerine or more castor oil. You could probably use any liquid oil you want for this purpose. Don't add to much oil. Just enough so that the clay is no longer a powder. This avoids clay specs in the final product. When that's done, I add them to the oil and stick blend a little bit so that the clay is well dispersed. If you don't like clay... well don't add it
If I do any more experimenting, it might be reducing the stearic a little to replace by skin goodies like 5% avocado oil or cocoa butter but for now I have enough soap to last me a couple of years. The latest batch was to give away at christmas. Now I just have to find really inexpensive giveaway brushes.
If anyone would ever like to try this but don't do your own soap, i'm sure we could work something out (I just can't afford the shipping costs these days, my wife is jobless at the moment) or maybe another local member of B&B could make a batch.
If you try this, I would love to hear your comments
I won't be making a commercial venture out of this, so I thought I would share my final recipe for others to try. (i'm an open source software nut too)
For one pound of shaving soap:
Oils
Beef Tallow 165g (33%)
Stearic Acid 165g (33%)
Coconut Oil 100g (20%)
Castor Oil 70g (14%)
Lye
Sodium Hydroxide (NAOH) 25.2g
Potassium Hydroxie (KOH) 65.6g
Distilled/Purified Water 180g
This is a 35% NaOH to 65% KOH ratio in snowdrift farm's calculator.
I use about 1 "large" TBSP of clay. I create a slurry with the clay using either glycerine or more castor oil. You could probably use any liquid oil you want for this purpose. Don't add to much oil. Just enough so that the clay is no longer a powder. This avoids clay specs in the final product. When that's done, I add them to the oil and stick blend a little bit so that the clay is well dispersed. If you don't like clay... well don't add it
If I do any more experimenting, it might be reducing the stearic a little to replace by skin goodies like 5% avocado oil or cocoa butter but for now I have enough soap to last me a couple of years. The latest batch was to give away at christmas. Now I just have to find really inexpensive giveaway brushes.
If anyone would ever like to try this but don't do your own soap, i'm sure we could work something out (I just can't afford the shipping costs these days, my wife is jobless at the moment) or maybe another local member of B&B could make a batch.
If you try this, I would love to hear your comments
Thanks for sharing this. I was wondering, is your formula executed using cold process or hot process?
+1 on the bentonite. I'm in the pro-bentonite camp as well (for obvious reasons!)! I prefer using glycerin for the slurry vs oils as it seems to make for easier blending.
Bentonite has been unfairly discounted by many here because of its prominence in this infamous recipe for so-called shaving soap. (The same recipe used for much of the shaving soap found on etsy or at local craft fairs.)
With regard to the colour, there is a product out there called "purified" bentonite. It is a fine white powder. When incorporated into the slurry it turns a very light green/grey but once distributed throughout the soap the colour is barely distinguishable.
+1 on the bentonite. I'm in the pro-bentonite camp as well (for obvious reasons!)! I prefer using glycerin for the slurry vs oils as it seems to make for easier blending.
Bentonite has been unfairly discounted by many here because of its prominence in this infamous recipe for so-called shaving soap. (The same recipe used for much of the shaving soap found on etsy or at local craft fairs.)
With regard to the colour, there is a product out there called "purified" bentonite. It is a fine white powder. When incorporated into the slurry it turns a very light green/grey but once distributed throughout the soap the colour is barely distinguishable.
Not sure where you are located, but in Canada the Dollar Store seems to carry low end boar brushes as a stock item. A friend of mine bought a couple of dozen for a similar project. She didn't like the look so she masked off the brush part and lacquered the handles with brown spray paint (I forget the brand, but its the kind that bonds with plastic). She paid a dollar each for the brushes and $8 for the spray paint.
Thanks for posting your soap recipe. On the subject of inexpensive brushes, Turkish brushes from bestshave.net or low-end Omegas like the 10066 might also suit you. For either, you might try to negotiate a bulk order at a reduced price.
- Thread starter
- #30
Benton, thanks for the info regarding the purified bentonite. I'll try to find some for future batches. I did the latest batches using crockpot hot process. It works well and it's easy... while it's cooking I have time to cleanup, prepare my molds, etc. I'm in Quebec, so no Dollar Store here. only Dollorama. Too bad, a buck a brush would have been perfect
mblakele, I'm a bestshave.net regular customer. I considered their brushes. I own the one with the wooden handle. but man do they stink when they are new. lol. Alternatives I looked at are the Omega 00065 at 9$, omega 00218 at 9$ (handle looks cheap) or the omega 10019 all from italianbarber.com. Besides that there is always Ebay (hum).
mblakele, I'm a bestshave.net regular customer. I considered their brushes. I own the one with the wooden handle. but man do they stink when they are new. lol. Alternatives I looked at are the Omega 00065 at 9$, omega 00218 at 9$ (handle looks cheap) or the omega 10019 all from italianbarber.com. Besides that there is always Ebay (hum).
Charles I might have been wrong - she could have said Dollarama.I'm in Quebec, so no Dollar Store here. only Dollorama. Too bad, a buck a brush would have been perfect
Looks like a great recipe! how does it compare to some commercial soaps? Like which one would you say it's closest to?
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- #33
Quintar, I haven't tried a ton of commercial products. i've used Arko, Williams, Proraso (soap not cream), Vitos green and mama bear's. The Proraso was my first soap but I don't like the cold effect during the same. I would say it lathers about as easily as mama bear's but isen't quite as slick as a glycerine soap. I liked Vitos, but it I think it has a tendency to dry up quickly. My soap seems to need a little more water to lather up, but stays moist longer. Arko is a good performer and leaves the face feeling nice, but we all know how great it smells. My soap leaves the face feeling great too. I don't know what it is about it really. I thought maybe was the bentonite acting sort of like a face mask, but i'm not sure. After the first few uses, I think it softened up my omega boar brush a little bit (I could be hallucinating too).
Benton, no brushes at Dollorama here. Quebec is a dry-land for real shaving products except for a local grocery store which has the entire Proraso line. I go to Toronto every now and then for work, if I go this month i'll have a look, but thanks for the tip!
Benton, no brushes at Dollorama here. Quebec is a dry-land for real shaving products except for a local grocery store which has the entire Proraso line. I go to Toronto every now and then for work, if I go this month i'll have a look, but thanks for the tip!
- Thread starter
- #34
I might be getting a little off topic, but I ended up ordering these brushes
http://www.ebay.com/itm/160662696783?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
The loft seems a little long but then again, i'm not even sure the gifts will be used or not. i'm just hoping I bought 10 of them for the promotional shipping.. came out to 4 bucks each. Plus I get to try one since I only needed 6-7 of them lol
The vendor got at least one or two "OK" mentions on this board, so it seems like a relatively safe bet.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/160662696783?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
The loft seems a little long but then again, i'm not even sure the gifts will be used or not. i'm just hoping
I bought 10 of them for the promotional shipping.. came out to 4 bucks each. Plus I get to try one since I only needed 6-7 of them lolThe vendor got at least one or two "OK" mentions on this board, so it seems like a relatively safe bet.
- Thread starter
- #35
I wanted to do one last followup to this thread by posting pictures of the last two shaving soaps I did, so you'll know what the recipe looks like
The first image is my recipe, with kaolin clay and dumped directly into containers. It's green tea and ginger scented. (crockpot hot process)
The second one contains bentonite clay (hence to grey color) and was molded with a 4 inch PVC pipe. I had a little trouble molding so they're not perfectly round (crockpot hot process.
The last picture is for Benton... two regular soap. Sorry about the colors, they look terrible here. my iphone didn't like the lighting (or the soaps lol). The first one is COLD processed, done by my wife. White with orange swirls (orange scented). The second one was done in the crockpot by myself as a christmas soap, and something fun for my son to use. It's candy cane scented, and it's red, white and green even if the picture doesn't show this well
The first image is my recipe, with kaolin clay and dumped directly into containers. It's green tea and ginger scented. (crockpot hot process)
The second one contains bentonite clay (hence to grey color) and was molded with a 4 inch PVC pipe. I had a little trouble molding so they're not perfectly round (crockpot hot process.
The last picture is for Benton... two regular soap. Sorry about the colors, they look terrible here. my iphone didn't like the lighting (or the soaps lol). The first one is COLD processed, done by my wife. White with orange swirls (orange scented). The second one was done in the crockpot by myself as a christmas soap, and something fun for my son to use. It's candy cane scented, and it's red, white and green even if the picture doesn't show this well
Attachments
Charles,
Your soap looks interesting. How much would you charge to ship the soap to BC? i could send payment by paypal if the shipping is not too much.
Thanks
Your soap looks interesting. How much would you charge to ship the soap to BC? i could send payment by paypal if the shipping is not too much.
Thanks
Looks like the refined recipe should give a good shave. I'm glad you found tallow locally. Did you check your local pharmacies? My local CVS carries Mutton tallow.
I've never seen tallow in a pharmacy in Canada. How does the mutton smell?
- Thread starter
- #39
Traditionally it is used as a moisturiser for very dry skin on the soles of the feet (particularly to prevent cracked heels which can be extremely painful). Some manufacturers use it as a base to make a foot balm by adding some antioxidants, perfume etc and then increasing the price by several hundred percent, but refined mutton tallow (with about 0.1% citric acid added to prevent rancidity) is cheap and works just as well.
