Lye soap for shaving?

[Ad Astra]

When visiting historical sites, I like to buy a book, or otherwise help maintain it.

Picked up this lye soap at FDR's Little White House - is it shave-worthy? Too simple to lather?

I gather the lye is reacted so no burns - other than that, just always heard this was the original, if you will.

Thoughts welcome on this crafty soap.


AA

 

[NorthernSoul]

You can try it. I'd suggest mixing it with a little bit of shaving cream to get a more stable lather.

 

[blethenstrom]

When visiting historical sites, I like to buy a book, or otherwise help maintain it.

Picked up this lye soap at FDR's Little White House - is it shave-worthy? Too simple to lather?

View attachment 1719631

I gather the lye is reacted so no burns - other than that, just always heard this was the original, if you will.

Thoughts welcome on this crafty soap.


AA

All "real soap", including shave soaps, uses lye to make the soap. This soap, since it is only made with lard will not be a good shave soap. It will most likely lather rather poorly. It will work nicely as a bath soap though.

 

[Wogus]

Well the soap is made form lard, which typically means pig fat, and is distinct from tallow, which comes from cows and sheep. The recipe could not be any simpler: saponified fat and water. I don't know that I'd want to shave with it, personally, so I'll just admire your chutzpah should you decide to try.

 

[AlphaFrank75]

I don't know about your soap, but when I was a kid our housekeeper used to make lye soap just like that. My mother used it on tough laundry stains. As a kid all I knew was that lye wasn't good and I never even got close to it let alone touch it. I just eyed on sitting on the backsplash by the kitchen sink.

 

[NorthernSoul]

I don't know about your soap, but when I was a kid our housekeeper used to make lye soap just like that. My mother used it on tough laundry stains. As a kid all I knew was that lye wasn't good and I never even got close to it let alone touch it. I just eyed on sitting on the backsplash by the kitchen sink.

The lye is consumed when the soap is made. As long as the soap is made well, it should be fine.

 

[AlphaFrank75]

The lye is consumed when the soap is made. As long as the soap is made well, it should be fine.

Something I just remembered about our lye soap. If my mother ever caught my brother or me saying four letter words, she'd always say, "I'll wash out your mouth with lye soap." That was one of the reasons I always kept a wide berth from my mother.

 

[NorthernSoul]

Something I just remembered about our lye soap. If my mother ever caught my brother or me saying four letter words, she'd always say, "I'll wash out your mouth with lye soap." That was one of the reasons I always kept a wide berth from my mother.

I got Ivory a few times. Not pleasant, especially when they rub it on your teeth real hard, but probably better than that.

 

[Keto]

I don't know about your soap, but when I was a kid our housekeeper used to make lye soap just like that. My mother used it on tough laundry stains. As a kid all I knew was that lye wasn't good and I never even got close to it let alone touch it. I just eyed on sitting on the backsplash by the kitchen sink.

Yep my grandma made lye soap.
Mom got a bar from a local the other day and she said the same thing about clothes stains.

 

[Ad Astra]

I'll try this as a shave stick and see what happens...


AA

 

[Ad Astra]

Used this as a shave stick, it did work. Lather was 3-4 on a scale to ten, but it did semi-lather at least.

No burns, despite its reputation ...

Does have a faint unpleasant smell, though.


AA

 

[blethenstrom]

Used this as a shave stick, it did work. Lather was 3-4 on a scale to ten, but it did semi-lather at least.

No burns, despite its reputation ...

Does have a faint unpleasant smell, though.


AA

Should be no burn if they made it correctly and all the lye was used up during saponification. You probably had a bit of pork fat smell left from the unsaponified lard. When you calculate how much lye to use for soap making you leave a bit of the fat not consumed by the lye, so that you don't have a harsh soap. This means that the soap can take on the scent of the fat left, in this case lard. This is especially true for unscented soaps. i am very happy that you had a decent shave with it.

 

[steveclarkus]

Well the soap is made form lard, which typically means pig fat, and is distinct from tallow, which comes from cows and sheep. The recipe could not be any simpler: saponified fat and water. I don't know that I'd want to shave with it, personally, so I'll just admire your chutzpah should you decide to try.

Sheep fat is suet.

 

[steveclarkus]

When visiting historical sites, I like to buy a book, or otherwise help maintain it.

Picked up this lye soap at FDR's Little White House - is it shave-worthy? Too simple to lather?

View attachment 1719631

I gather the lye is reacted so no burns - other than that, just always heard this was the original, if you will.

Thoughts welcome on this crafty soap.


AA

I've used pure lye soap for years and love it as a shower soap but never used it for shaving.

 

[Wogus]

Sheep fat is suet.

Tallow is the rendered fat of cattle and sheep.
Suet is the hard fat about the kidneys and loins in beef and mutton that yields tallow.

So sayeth Merriam Webster.

 

[blethenstrom]

I've used pure lye soap for years and love it as a shower soap but never used it for shaving.

Most shave soap is lye soap

 

[steveclarkus]

Most shave soap is lye soap

I stand corrected.

 

[Island]

A lot of shaving soaps use potassium hydroxide rather than sodium hydroxide. So it depends on which lye. Nowadays lye is generally sodium hydroxide but that was not always the case.

 

[Tallships]

I did try making a lather and shaving with a bar of Oxydal lye laundry soap when I was a youngster - BIG mistake, couldn't shave for a few days after, Thankfully Mom kept an Aloe plant in the kitchen LOL

 

[blethenstrom]

A lot of shaving soaps use potassium hydroxide rather than sodium hydroxide. So it depends on which lye. Nowadays lye is generally sodium hydroxide but that was not always the case.

Except for the very hard shaving soaps most are dual lye shave soaps. They use a ratio of KOH(Potassium Hydroxide) and NaOH(Sodium Hydroxide). If you make a shave soap from tallow, stearic acid etc from just NaOH you end up with a very hard soap. It will last a really long time, but it will also be harder to lather. Therefore, they use dual lye to soften the soap a but and make it easier to lather. Common ratios are about 60% KOH to 40% NaOH.

These days they use only NaOH for "real" bath soap. By "real" I mean not detergent based. In the olden days they used a lot of KOH even for bar soaps and with the fats they used tallow, lard you still get a firm bar. With "soft" oils like soy, olive, peanut oils you will end up with a very soft soap using KOH lye. KOH you can extract as home by leaching water through wood ashes, but you really don't have control over the amount of lye in the solution. This is where the rumor comes from that lye soap are harsh on the skin. They didn't control the amounts to the level we can now do it and you ended up with left over lye in the soap which makes the soap caustic/alkaline.