Not-so-good local soap

[sisk]

I bought a puck of shaving soap from a local soap maker at a craft show a couple weeks ago and tried to use it for the first time yesterday. Key word: tried. It wouldn't lather worth snot and what little lather I did get was pretty terrible. I went ahead and used it, but it was an awful shave. Afterward I took a look at the ingredients list and it looks like she just added bentonite to her normal soap recipe (which, as we all know, does not make a shaving soap).

My question is can this soap possibly be saved by melting it down and adding a little glycerin or should I just toss it in the shower? I really like the smell and it'd be a shame to not be able to use it for its intended purpose.

 

[i8ntskeered]

Does it have olive oil in it? From everything I've read here, olive oil is the death angel of lather. Actually, I read a thread earlier today about people selling soaps on ETSY that are merely adding clay to their bath soaps and trying to pass them off as shaving soap. Sometimes you can find a true artisan shaving soap waiting to be discovered...sometimes not so much.

It could make a pretty good shower soap, though.

 

[nemo]

I would return it and give her some suggestions on how to make a decent shave soap, what a good one is supposed to be like, and ways to test her product. Trade it for some bath soap.

 

[sisk]

Does it have olive oil in it?

First ingredient on the list unfortunately.

Returning it really isn't an option. When I say 'local' I really mean 'in this area'. I don't have an address or any contact info for her. I guess it'll go in the shower. Such a shame.

 

[wallacmb]

This set up was shockingly at a local producers fair at my university. Sadly, I had the same experience. My puck smelled fantastic, but ended up in the trash Olive oil:you she-devil

 

[rand77]

It seems olive oil as a primary ingredient isn't meant to be in a shaving soap. That being said it can be perfectly fine as a minor ingredient. A good example is Calani, here is the ingredients list for her Classic Havana scent:

Ingredients: stearic acid, water, olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, almond oil, shea butter, castor oil, perfume, silk protein, kaolin, xanthan gum

The lather from this soap is excellent, and its in my top 5.

 

[driftwood]

Interesting to see xanthum gum as an ingredient, I'm a soap maker (just waiting for my first shave soap to cure which does NOT contain olive oil) and I've never come across that as an ingredient in any of my research. I use it in cooking as a thickening agent, but wonder what properties it gives to shaving soap?

Your best bet is to take that bar of "shaving soap" to the shower. Being a soap maker I can say that shaving soap and regular bar soap are two totally different animals all together. There is a "popular" recipe online that basically takes a base bar soap recipe and adds clay and calls it a shaving soap, not so as you have found. You really need to know what your ingredients DO and BRING to a soap to formulate a good shave soap. There are also less common ingredients that you need to become familiar with before really diving into shave soap production. Sadly many of the crafty type bar soap makers don't spend the time researching and testing. Many of them probably don't shave with their own products either! Lesson learned I guess, enjoy it in the shower.