Ingredients

[lomfs24]

We see posts all the time about which soap/cream is preferred or smells best. There are so many soaps/creams out there a guy would go broke trying them all. I am looking for a good daily driver while I slowly build my collection of "fancy soaps" but at the same time, don't want to waste my time, or more importantly, money, on soaps that just don't work, no matter how good they smell.

But for us beginners, it would be handy to have some of the vets talk about the ingredients that make a soap a good product or not. And in what order those ingredients might be found on a label. I realize most artisans won't give you their recipe directly but isn't a label supposed to be laid out with the largest ingredient on top? A good product in the functional sense, good lather, slick, protection, etc... Then, the scent would be left to personal preference.

 

[DrStrange]

My favorite shaving soaps have coconut oil somewhere in the ingredient list,
not at the top of the list, but somewhere in there.

 

[brucered]

To he honest....I don't even look any more. If it works, I don't care what's in it or not in it.

I base most of what I'll use and have used on the 3017 thread. Those guys and gals knows what soaps work and don't work.

Artisan soaps are hit or miss. The same ingredients and order, can be night and day different from one maker to the next or even from batch to batch. It all depends on the skill of the maker or lack of skill in some cases.

 

[Steve56]

For daily drivers, I’d consider La Toja, Spieck, or Palmolive stick, the latter discontinued but still available. Moosh them into a tub if you want. I’d choose La Toja.

Good quality drugstore soaps offer good bang for the buck, MWF, Haslinger, and Tabac. Tabac has been reformulated but is still good, if different IMO. Tabac’s scent is strong and polarizing though. I’d choose Haslinger as I prefer lighter scents.

Stirling is a good, dependable, and economical soap. The mutton tallow has been getting good press lately. Scents can be too intense for me, but they offer cheap and generous samples so you can try them. They do excellent knock offs of expensive scents. My favorites are the citrus scents, Stirling Green, and Piacenza.

For economical use, it’s difficult not to mention Martin de Candre, a 200g tub is about $50 and will last around a year depending on the brush. If it’s a Wee Scott, almost 2 years, lol. Buy a tub and by the time that you finish it, your collection will be built and likely dusty.

Also a brick of Italian croap like Vitos, Cella, or 3P. I like 3P. Two years worth of good shaves on the cheap.

For hard soaps, Pre de Provence, D.R. Harris, Cyril Salter (about $7 in the US).

Good hunting!

 

[ksblazer]

Also check out Razorock what the puck soaps.

They contain lanolin and Shea butter.

They are priced right and being a triple milled soap. They last a long time. Making them a good daily driver.

 

[Yuritau]

If you want to take the discussion in an interesting direction, look at the ingredients list for Canada Shaving Soap, and compare how it performs to soap with many times more ingredients. You start to question if a lot of them are really all that necessary, hehe. It wont stop me from using Tabac or Stirling or La Toja shave stick however, cause I enjoy those soaps as well.

The only hard rule I have for myself when it comes to soap ingredients is I wont buy/use anything with palm oil in it.

 

[hcoop112]

Cella …Vito’s any of them in the 1 kg brick form ultra cheap and ultra good…. Stirling is awesome ..when I first started I seen people praise Stirling and thought aw it can’t be that great surely…well now I own like 10 scents :\ and at most I have 2 maybe 3 tops of any other …I can’t even recommend Stirling anymore than possible that’s just me ……however in saying that you can get a good shave with almost any soap or cream…almost….

 

[Akke]

If you want to take the discussion in an interesting direction, look at the ingredients list for Canada Shaving Soap, and compare how it performs to soap with many times more ingredients. You start to question if a lot of them are really all that necessary, hehe. It wont stop me from using Tabac or Stirling or La Toja shave stick however, cause I enjoy those soaps as well.

The only hard rule I have for myself when it comes to soap ingredients is I wont buy/use anything with palm oil in it.

There is much more ingredients, thats only marketing. Sapofonication adds few more... And there is some % from the whole ingredients list that has not to written in ingredients list... And, inside fragnances can be hidden almost anything...

 

[Labrecque24]

To he honest....I don't even look any more. If it works, I don't care what's in it or not in it.

I base most of what I'll use and have used on the 3017 thread. Those guys and gals knows what soaps work and don't work.

Artisan soaps are hit or miss. The same ingredients and order, can be night and day different from one maker to the next or even from batch to batch. It all depends on the skill of the maker or lack of skill in some cases.

3017 thread - how do I find that?

 

[Multum in parvo]

3017 thread - how do I find that?

Sticky in this subforum

My Guess... 3017

Over the course of the last year I have been concentrating on using and finishing product. I have been going through aftershaves, colognes and shaving creams and sold off most of the excess. But the soaps... well, I just like them all and don't want to unload them. Over the last several...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Yuritau]

There is much more ingredients, thats only marketing. Sapofonication adds few more... And there is some % from the whole ingredients list that has not to written in ingredients list... And, inside fragnances can be hidden almost anything...

Substances created by the interaction of ingredients are not ingredients. The ingredients list, by law, is the list of all separate substances mixed together to create a product, with some exceptions, like the fragrances you mention. However, mentioning fragrances actually supports the point I was making, as Canada Shaving Soap doesn't use any. They use the 6 ingredients they list, and nothing more.

 

[Ckmaui]

tried that a little bit in the begining and just like other things I get into way to personal just have to try them yourself !

take the base ingredients of Tallow and Vegan based I have had both perform great and both perform horrid
some love one or the other and swear it is what makes it superior ?

some soaps do not work in the hard PHX water (no desire to tweak the water or do this or that either)

bottom line
ya just have to try it

why some here do mention certain companies and scents they like in that base ! example the Omnibus base as you get that base and then see what scents it comes in

so so many folks here do love soaps and do mention which base that I have found helpful and something to keep a eye out for

 

[kingfisher]

I will bite.
For a soap that lathers easily, look for stearic acid or stearate either the first or second ingredient. Look for mostly potassium salts rather than sodium salts; this will make for a softer soap that loads up quickly.
I don't like to see too much saponified coconut oil; it lathers quickly but is overly cleansing and tends to dry the face. I like saponified castor oil somewhere in the first 4-6 ingredients.
Soaps that have cocoa butter, kokum butter, shea butter, capuacu butter, and the like tend to leave my face feeling softer and more hydrated.