Homemade Shaving Soap - An Illustrated Guide to a Test Batch - LONG POST

[memnochlv]

Oh and a quick reminder for those low on funds for essential oils. I'm not 100% sure if it's usable in soap, but vanilla extract can be very expensive for the non-imitation stuff, even savings by buying at a place like Sam's Club or Cost Co can still be expensive if you use it for more than basic occasional baking.

When making e-liquid/e-juice (for vaporizers) I discovered it's very easy to make it on your own. If you purchase vanilla beans whole and online (never from a grocery store, they're super expensive like that) all you need to do is cut it lengthwise, but only halfway in and put it in grain alcohol (ever clear is right about where you want it to be, proof wise, or pure if you can get it) and stick it in a dark cupboard for a few months.

Viola! That's it! Just as good as the stuff you buy in the store, but cheaper. Again, not sure if this is OK to use in soaps, but if not, cook with it =P

 

[Songwind]

Very impressive! Did you go with the original recipe or the second recipe?

I went with the second, which is basically the same with extra glycerin.

I mentioned the idea of giving shaving soap making a try a couple months back. Now, she works at Michael's (a craft store chain in the US) and has mentioned the melt & pour kits, to which I don't have much interest. She seems to have at least a passing interest as she tells me when they get new soap making supplies in. Maybe I can convince her it would be fun to make from more base ingredients since aside from essential oils, they're relatively cheap. Even a basic no frills brand new crock pot would be on the cheap side if we can't find one at a Goodwill or Thrift Store.

So yeah, you've renewed my interest in this, thanks =P Silly slightly off topic question, I was also pondering how easy "cropes" and creams would be to make. Any knowledge/advice on if I wanted to give those a whirl at some point? (I assume "cropes" just use more KoH than NaOH to make them soft + more superfat?). Also, what about inclusion of tallow? I've been a HUGE fan of tallow based soaps and since the site you listed for the ingredients also sells tallow (so much easier than rendering my own, though I've got a great butcher who I'm sure could hook me up big time) at a seemingly decent price I'd like to give it a shot.

Right, if you look at the labels on most croaps you'll see KOH listed before NaOH, or the Potassium salts listed before the Sodium salts, if that's how they have it. Most of the soap-making world (at least, forums and books) view KOH as something you use to make liquid soap. This all-KOH method made a very nice croap on the soft end of the spectrum. Softer than Proraso or TFS, if you're familiar with those.

There's also a method of soap making called "cream soap" which as near as I can tell involves hot processing a croap, adding extra oil, whipping it, and then leaving it alone for several weeks. But the resulting concoction is very soft and pearlescent - i.e. just like our shaving creams. I'm not sure if the NaOH is actually necessary, or if you could do it with all KOH, or what. There's a fair amount of step-by-step recipes for it, but I haven't yet found a good description of what's happening in the process, or why the NaOH is necessary, or what changes are happening during the "rot" as they call it. All the lye/potash is used up during the cook, so it's not saponification.

 

[JBLA]

So yeah, you've renewed my interest in this, thanks =P Silly slightly off topic question, I was also pondering how easy "cropes" and creams would be to make. Any knowledge/advice on if I wanted to give those a whirl at some point? (I assume "cropes" just use more KoH than NaOH to make them soft + more superfat?). Also, what about inclusion of tallow? I've been a HUGE fan of tallow based soaps and since the site you listed for the ingredients also sells tallow (so much easier than rendering my own, though I've got a great butcher who I'm sure could hook me up big time) at a seemingly decent price I'd like to give it a shot.

The recipe above ends up being fairly soft. Not a cream, but you can mold it with your fingers fairly easily.

 

[breadstick]

Tried the sample JBLA sent to me this morning and it was great for me. It lathered extremely easily and protected well. It's not particularly dry or cold right now, so I can't speak to it's moisturizing properties in those conditions, but my skin feels just fine after the shave. I got the lavender and wood scent and I can't really smell the wood notes. This is not a complaint at all. I'm sure the wood would have worked just fine with it, but the lavender smells amazing on it's own. This stuff is pretty great.

The best part, for me, is that he literally gave away the recipe for free. That's the example of stewardship.

 

[Crag]

Interesting thread. One question, though...I've noticed the iuse of the term "superfatting". What is that?

 

[LouSee]

superfatting is having more fat than needed by the lye calculator. you end up with extra/unsaponified fats in the final product, which is good for moisturizing and emolliance. You definitely want to do this if you use certain fats, e.g. coconut oil which tends to be drying on the skin.

it's the same thing as lye discounting.

 

[Heron]

I've got to try making my own soap. Thanks for the recipes and instructions.

 

[JBLA]

@heron - Sure thing. If you need a hand or have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask in this thread or PM me. (Just be careful if you have RAD or SAD, as the Scent Ingredient Acquisition Disorder can get out of hand quickly.)

 

[bridger berdel]

here is a question for all you accomplished soapmakers.

say I wanted to super fat by say 5%, but I wanted all of the free oils to be something I choose to be left on my face like say vitamin E oil - could I set my formula up with 6% E, run the batch with everything else but the E, let it saponify in the crockpot for a few hours then add the E?

my guess is that it would work fine but that it might need to age for a while after that. one thing I'm not sure of is whether the batch would be liquid enough to stir the E oil in at that point in the process. I guess if not it could be milled in, but then it would likely need a pretty long aging afterwards. so part of this question is: what is the melting temp. of this soap? and are there other issues that I haven't thought of regarding first underfatting the soap to be sure to saponify all of the stearic acid and coconut oil, then superfatting the resulting batch with something deliberately skin friendly like E oil or maybe something somewhat medicinal like tea tree oil or hemp oil?

 

[LAM&P]

Nice post...seems simple enough...

 

[JBLA]

bridger berdel - If you want to add extra goodies, you can add them after the soap has finished saponifying (if you're doing hot process) or after the soap has reached trace (if you're doing cold process), and you don't really need to account for them in the superfatting; they can simply be stirred in (some additives, like glycerin, etc., won't saponify at all). The soap will still be soft enough at the end of the process in the crockpot to stir everything in. (Add as a matter of tsp / tbsp per lb of soap, and experiment with small batches until the desired result is achieved.) Also, if you're stirring in essential oils and scents and using the hot process method, you'll want to wait until you've turned off the heat and the soap has cooled down substantially (but is still soft), as adding essential oils to hot soap is a great way to vaporize the oils and scent the air rather than your soap, and that gets expensive fast.

LAM&P - It's pretty straightforward. It's just a matter of time, effort, trial and error; just like everything else. Exercising a modicum of caution around the lye and the raw soap is the only minor caveat.

 

[bridger berdel]

it's not so much about adding goodies as it is about assuring that the oils that provide lather and creaminess etc. are fully saponified and the remaining oils - the ones that make up the super fat are ones that are helpful to have on your face as oils.

 

[Chaloney]

JBLA- what is the water hardness in your area and did you use the tap water in your soap? Do you think the initial hardness of the water used in making the soap has any effect on the soap's latherability using hard or soft water?

Just ordered some of your soap. If it works as well as it looks in the thread, I may have to find an old crockpot and gather some ingredients myself. Thanks for making it available

 

[JBLA]

JBLA- what is the water hardness in your area and did you use the tap water in your soap? Do you think the initial hardness of the water used in making the soap has any effect on the soap's latherability using hard or soft water? Just ordered some of your soap. If it works as well as it looks in the thread, I may have to find an old crockpot and gather some ingredients myself. Thanks for making it available

L.A. is known for having fairly hard water. In the initial test batches described above, I did use tap water, because well, it's free and already there in my kitchen. As I started to think about making it available for sale, and kept reading about the virtues of the "distilled water shave", I figured I should try making my soap with distilled water, because nobody's going to complain about a soap that's too easy to lather (except maybe some die-hard Williams fans ). Sure enough, it was even easier to lather.

That said, some of the initial reviewers of my test batches gave positive reviews to the tap water variant, so it's still a good and easy to leather option. I just figured it was worth springing the extra couple of bucks for distilled water to optimize the soap for sale, and it may be worth it for you if you decide to make it, but it will lather fairly well even if you use hard tap water.

Thank you for the order. It will go out in tomorrow's mail.

 

[rxonmymind]

Great thread JBLA. Looking good!

 

[bridger berdel]

I'm making a try at a full on shaving soap. today I made 2 test batches.

for the first batch what I did is follow the defaults in soapcalc for 55% stearic acid 45% coconut oil saponified with potassium hydroxide.

the second batch is entirely experimental. it follows soapcalcs defaults for 100% castor oil saponified with sodium hydroxide.

both batches behaved as expected based on my reading here on the forums. I'm looking forward to shaving with them. here they are:

View attachment 354037


the castor oil numbers in soapcalc are a bit of an enigma.

View attachment 354038

the hardness of 0 would seem to indicate that it will be a liquid soap, but it isn't. if the lather is as bubbly and creamy as it says this will make great lather- but will the 98 conditioning mean it won't be good for shaving? and the high iodine? what happens with that? will this even shave?

 

[JBLA]

I'm making a try at a full on shaving soap. today I made 2 test batches. ...
the hardness of 0 would seem to indicate that it will be a liquid soap, but it isn't. if the lather is as bubbly and creamy as it says this will make great lather- but will the 98 conditioning mean it won't be good for shaving? and the high iodine? what happens with that? will this even shave?

Good work! It's an interesting process, no?

I wouldn't worry about the high iodine. As for the hardness, just give it time if it's too soft. The liquid will eventually evaporate. Chances are though, it'll be more like a soft soap / croap.

Let us know how they turn out.

 

[cjisler]

JBLA, How about a follow up post on how this soap performed? Have you considered doing a cold process version? Scents?
Thanks. CJ

 

[cjisler]

I just read this whole thread and enjoyed it very much. Newbee on forum, but been making soap over 20 years. Good job. CJ

 

[bridger berdel]

Good work! It's an interesting process, no?

I wouldn't worry about the high iodine. As for the hardness, just give it time if it's too soft. The liquid will eventually evaporate. Chances are though, it'll be more like a soft soap / croap.

Let us know how they turn out.

I shaved with the stearic / coconut soap this weekend. I made some test lather and left it while I showered. I didn't time it, but I didn't hurry either, and when I got out it looked the same as when I started. it has staying power. it also shaves just fine, plenty of glide and cushion. this first test batch has no scent added and I think I will want something if the smell of the unaged soap is going to remain. I'm guessing that the soapy smell will fade with time and I'll probably make scented and unscented batches. in any case, 55% stearic / 45% coconut / KOH makes an excellent shave soap. my guess is that there is a bit of a range in the percentages that gives this sort of performance. for someone doing production dialing in the numbers would be important. I'm making it for myself and a few friends, not for sale. it would take me a long time to make meaningful adjustments to the formula, so any changes from here will happen slowly. I will make some small test batches with other oils but I'm not going to put a lot of effort into that direction unless I get really stellar improvements, which seems unlikely- this stuff as is is the best shave soap I have used to date.


I played a bit with the castor oil soap. it makes a pretty generous amount of lather that has not really enough body and fades away after a few minutes. I worked it enough to get what looked like a shaveable lather and let sit with the other. by the time I got out of the shower it was all but gone. in the shower it performed well as a body bar. it had a slightly unpleasant feel- a little too slick- leaving me to wonder whether it would rinse off. it did rinse well, so I tried it on my hair, where it worked like a very nice shampoo. I see potential in that direction. the only downside is that it did slightly sting in my eyes.