Anyone make their own shaving soap? I recently got the idea in my head that it might be fun to try to make my own. Got any good recipes? Tips, Tricks, lessons learned?
Homemade shave soap?
- Thread starter TheVez2
- Start date
The most tried, and true way of making your own shaving soap, is to start out with the Brambleberry Melt and Pour Shaving Soap Base, and then add your own fragrance/ essentials oils to it.
There are quite a few recipes for shaving soap on the internet, but quite a few of them produce disastrous results.
There are quite a few recipes for shaving soap on the internet, but quite a few of them produce disastrous results.
- Thread starter
- #3
Not interested in Melt & Pour bases. I want to craft it myself from scratch.
Sorry to be so direct, but no one is going to give out a recipe because anyone who has one is making money off of it.
That's totally absurd. That's like saying that anyone who knows how to bake bread won't tell you how to bake bread, because they are making money off of it. Lots of people don't bake because they can't be bothered, and they'd rather buy it at the store. I'm an avid homebrewer too, so do you think that no one gives out their recipes because they've all gone commercial?
I've been looking around for some shaving soap recipes, and there's some historical, period recipes available on google books, which are probably a good place to start. Lots of soapmakers, while they can make great soap, don't really understand the needs of wetshavers, so take what you find with a grain of salt.
Also SliceOfLife has offered to give some suggestions for starting points via PM, but I haven't been able to get in contact with him yet.
- Thread starter
- #6
I wasn't aiming this question at vendors and professional soap makers. I would not expect any of you to share your secrets. I have found a few recipes on soap making forums. I'm mainly just curious if any B&Bers are making it for themselves.
Absurd? No, it is just common sense.
Compare the amount of people who can bake, the people who can brew their own beer, and the people who can make their own shaving soap. As the amount of suppliers decreases, the chances of them giving away their secret does too. I mean, take a look at the whole idea behind patents.
The SoapQueen has lots of video tutorials on making soap from scratch...
http://www.youtube.com/user/soapqueentv
http://www.youtube.com/user/soapqueentv
All the artisan soapmakers around here have been more than free with info and tips on making quality soaps - I think because they know how hard it is to get right, and aren't worried that the average Joe on the street is going to recreate their formula.
Most vendors here tell stories about working on their product for a year or more before getting it right. The difference is in the skill of the soapmaker, not the ingredients.
You can make your own soap if you want to.
It's not easy. Anybody can make soap, but to make a good shaving soap with a stable, protective, and slick lather is another matter entirely.
If you succeed it will likely be after multitudinous failed attempts. It will cost a small fortune. You will spend a boatload of time on it. Your wife (if you have one) will probably want to move out.
And in the end, your soap will still, in all likelihood, be nowhere near as good as soaps that are now available for 5-10 bucks a puck and five minutes of internet surfing.
But hey! Suit yourself.
It's not easy. Anybody can make soap, but to make a good shaving soap with a stable, protective, and slick lather is another matter entirely.
If you succeed it will likely be after multitudinous failed attempts. It will cost a small fortune. You will spend a boatload of time on it. Your wife (if you have one) will probably want to move out.
And in the end, your soap will still, in all likelihood, be nowhere near as good as soaps that are now available for 5-10 bucks a puck and five minutes of internet surfing.
But hey! Suit yourself.
Absurd? Far from it!! Why should someone who has spent umpteen hours of their own time, along with likely hundreds of dollars on supplies perfecting their recipe give it away for free? In fact they probably take great pride in finally getting their recipe correct. Why would they give it away at all?
As I understand it perfecting a shaving soap that works is a long process with many failed batches. There are a lot of shaving soap recipes on the net; most of them produce horrific results.
If you are thinking about making your own soap to save money, you are basically wasting your time, as you will suffer through many failures before getting a product that is anywhere near usable.
All of those failures would of course be money you could instead spend on quality proven products.
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I don't think anyone here asked for commercial soapmakers recipes. It's not like I'm demanding that Coca-Cola give up its secrets. Hardly any hobby is entered into to save money.
Personally, I'm not looking to save money, time, or best Cella or whatever the favored soap of the day is. I'm looking to learn, and have fun learning, and maybe if I'm lucky I'll have some nice product that I can use or give as gifts at the end of the day. I feel the same way about my homebrewing, and I've received tons of free advice both from commercial brewers and amateur brewers. They know that it's not just the ingredients but the skill. I don't really care about failure because failure is how you learn and how you become better. I'm not quite sure why the soapmaking world is still wrapped so tightly in secrecy, like some medieval alchemy. All of this in the age of information.
I promise you that once I find some suitable working recipes, I'll be happy to share it with anyone who would like it.
My first experiments will likely be some mixture of tallow, coconut/castor, palm kernel, and stearic acid. Later experiments I'll probably add in a bit of clay, and also try using Babassu Oil or Apricot Oil. Old texts suggest that there should be some blend of NaOH and KOH, leaning heavily towards the NaOH for firmness. Later I'll try the shaving creams, which look like a lot of fun if you've seen IronBrewer's post on this.
Here's some links to old books that may or may not prove useful: Soap Makers Handbook (1912)
The Formulation of Cometics (1956)
Soap-making manual (1922)
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- Thread starter
- #13
Thanks for the links. I'm definitely not looking to save money. I still have too many soaps on my want list. I'm sure I'll be buying soaps forever. But I think it would be fun to make something myself. I'm still in the research stage. Not sure if I'll follow through or not. But if I ever do make a good soap, I'm sure I'll be sending it off to some folks here to "Test".
I am currently on my umpteenth
hour of soapmaking from scratch. My wife and I find it to be fun so far and it has not broke the bank yet. I'm just curious, do you gather this info. from firsthand experience? Or is the source of your info. hearsay?
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Heck I brewed beer commercially for 12 years. I figured it out one time and I brewed about 1,500,000 pints of beer and won 5 medals at the GABF. I'll give away beer recipes, but I won't give away my shaving cream recipes. I would answer some questions though.
Seriously though be cautious using NaOH.
This is a good site for general soap making info.
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- Thread starter
- #17
That is the site I've been reading primarily. I've seen your posts on making shaving cream. Very cool.
That, my friend, is an excellent question!
