Some of us thought it'd be nice to have a group for folks who make soaps, creams and other related cosmetics. It's also a welcoming place for anyone who's curious about making their own. Scented, unscented, tallow or vegan -- everyone is welcome.
Soap Makers And Users Group (SMAUG)
- Thread starter Old Hippie
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Very cool now we have a place for all these soap making shenanigans.
Good idea! I'm tuning into this channel, interested in low-scent or no-scent products with minimal ingredients. I like essential oils and herbal ingredients, also.
Awesome and welcome. Making your own shave soap and other things certainly gives you the freedom to not add any scents/fragrances or very minimal. Personally I prefer lightly scented soaps. Many are sensitive to the scents/fragrances as well so it is a good way to go.
You can make a minimal ingredient shave soap pretty easily. You really can get by with:
Stearic Acid
Coconut Oil
Castor Oil (I would add some to stabilize the lather a bit better)
Lye (dual. NaOH 40%, KOH 60%)
Water
Fragrance (if you choose to have any)
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Nice. 
I‘m in, too.
As an opener this was my last recipe.
Mixed saponification (45 % NaOH and 55 % KOH
(Kokos = Coconut
Rizinus= castor
Mandel = almond
Bienenwachs = beeswax
Kakaobutter = cacao butter
Mango = mango
)
It is overfated (is that the right word?) by 5% and after saponification was done I added sheabutter and mangobutter to a total of 10 %. Plus lanolin, glycerol, sodiumlactat and vitamin E.
Scent is added afterwards when/if required.
I‘m in, too.
As an opener this was my last recipe.
Mixed saponification (45 % NaOH and 55 % KOH
(Kokos = Coconut
Rizinus= castor
Mandel = almond
Bienenwachs = beeswax
Kakaobutter = cacao butter
Mango = mango
)It is overfated (is that the right word?) by 5% and after saponification was done I added sheabutter and mangobutter to a total of 10 %. Plus lanolin, glycerol, sodiumlactat and vitamin E.
Scent is added afterwards when/if required.
That should be a nice soap. How does it perform for you? I assumed you used the hot process for this and added shea, mango and lanolin after the cook.Nice.
I‘m in, too.
As an opener this was my last recipe.
Mixed saponification (45 % NaOH and 55 % KOH
(Kokos = Coconut
Rizinus= castor
Mandel = almond
Bienenwachs = beeswax
Kakaobutter = cacao butter
Mango = mango
It is overfated (is that the right word?) by 5% and after saponification was done I added sheabutter and mangobutter to a total of 10 %. Plus lanolin, glycerol, sodiumlactat and vitamin E.
Scent is added afterwards when/if required.
View attachment 1726656
Overfat is often referred to as Superfat. I am sure you know this I am explaining. I am just explaining for those who might not know. It is the "left" over fat that is not saponified by the lye. It serves two purposes. First is that it acts like a safety buffer so that we do not saponify all the fats and have leftover lye. This would mean a very harsh soap. Think old time harsh lye soap. The second purpose is to moisturize us after we use it. This is what moisturizes us post shave. If you have a soap that leaves you dry feeling it means that they are running a very low superfat percentage.
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I never knew that people made their own shave soaps, but this is a really cool idea. I look forward to following this forum.
This is my first shave soap that I refer to as BSS #1 as you might see if you look at my SOTD posts. Very simple soap. Very few ingredients. Clay can be dropped if it is not desired. I am running about 7% superfat. Soap is very easy to lather and produces very strong and stable lather. Plenty of slickness. Water amount can probably be dropped some, but overall a very decent soap. Fragrance can of course be any fragrance oil or essential oils that you like or just leave it out all together.
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Welcome to SMAUG where we enjoy making and using shave soaps and other cosmetics. It is neither hard nor scary to make shave soap. Even easier to make regular bath soap.
These recipes look like something I could attempt. I'll have to learn more about the hot process. If I'm understanding correctly, the end product is a soft soap with high water content similar to most artisan soaps.
I'd like to make something with less water content, like a Canada soap with a bit of shea butter, cocoa butter, etc. Canada is aged or cured for several months.
Being the mad scientist type, equipped with a hydraulic press, vacuum pump, etc. I could possibly speed the curing process up.
I'd like to make something with less water content, like a Canada soap with a bit of shea butter, cocoa butter, etc. Canada is aged or cured for several months.
Being the mad scientist type, equipped with a hydraulic press, vacuum pump, etc. I could possibly speed the curing process up.
I think there is a bit of a mad scientist in all of us soap makers so you have that going for you. The reason you need to use a hot process with most of the shave soaps is because of the KOH (Potassium Hydroxide). It does not saponify as readily as the NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide). It needs heat. Now you can use a modified hot process, but I have not tried it as of yet.These recipes look like something I could attempt. I'll have to learn more about the hot process. If I'm understanding correctly, the end product is a soft soap with high water content similar to most artisan soaps.
I'd like to make something with less water content, like a Canada soap with a bit of shea butter, cocoa butter, etc. Canada is aged or cured for several months.
Being the mad scientist type, equipped with a hydraulic press, vacuum pump, etc. I could possibly speed the curing process up.
Why use KOH then you may ask. Well I have made one single lye shave soap and it was somewhat of a failure, but I think that was due to more my recipe. for single lye you would use NaOH by itself and then you can use the cold process which is a bit easier to deal with. However, when you are dealing with stearic acid, which has quite high melting point you have to be careful that it does not seize up on you. Even with cold process you have to keep the temperature up until you get it in the molds. A NaOH only soap would also be very hard and will be harder to lather. You will certainly have a soap that would last you a long time.
You can also play with the ratios between the KOH and NaOH and get a range of softer/harder soaps. Please remember that you have to recalculate the lye amounts every time you change the ratio since KOH and NaOH has different SAP (saponification parameter) values for the different fats.
This with curing of soap is for two reasons. First, if you use the cold process method the saponification is not completed for a couple of days. You need to let the soap cure to make it milder. If you use it before it is fully saponified it will be caustic and harsh. If you use hot process all the lye is saponified in the cooking process and you can technically use the soap right away. Second reason for curing the soap is to let it evaporate all the water in the soap. this is true for both hot and cold processed soap. The higher water content you use while making the soap the longer it will take to get rid of it.
Hopefully that helped
Will begin to search for Canadian ingredient suppliers. Hopefully I can try this out soon.
Interested in hand/bath soap as well as shave soap. Maybe bar shampoo as well.
Interested in hand/bath soap as well as shave soap. Maybe bar shampoo as well.
The main reason for KOH is that you want a more softer soap.
The hot process is also used due to the high boiling points of steric acid (this is THE most important ingredient. It’s for lather stability) and fats (solid). As @blethenstrom mentioned cold process makes problems on homogenization and complete ley reactions.
@blethenstrom
I refer to overfat when I mean the unsaponified fat and superfat for the afterwards added. There is a difference due to the different reaction speed during saponification. The ratio of reanimated fats (or to be more precise: used fatty acid) must not be the same, originally used. So if you want specific benefits from specific fats, you should add them afterwards, to be sure to meet the correct amount.
The hot process is also used due to the high boiling points of steric acid (this is THE most important ingredient. It’s for lather stability) and fats (solid). As @blethenstrom mentioned cold process makes problems on homogenization and complete ley reactions.
@blethenstrom
I refer to overfat when I mean the unsaponified fat and superfat for the afterwards added. There is a difference due to the different reaction speed during saponification. The ratio of reanimated fats (or to be more precise: used fatty acid) must not be the same, originally used. So if you want specific benefits from specific fats, you should add them afterwards, to be sure to meet the correct amount.
May I‘ll write a „DIY“ Shavingsoap for beginners this week? (I’m on holidays, an it’s much easy to write on a proper keyboard instead of mobile phone 
)
It seams some show interests on this topic. To be honest, I‘d expected to found a lot more soapmaking threads here on B&B
Soapmaking is no rocket science. (actually, it’s organic chemistry
)
)It seams some show interests on this topic. To be honest, I‘d expected to found a lot more soapmaking threads here on B&B
Soapmaking is no rocket science. (actually, it’s organic chemistry
)
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I think that would be a great idea.May I‘ll write a „DIY“ Shavingsoap for beginners this week? (I’m on holidays, an it’s much easy to write on a proper keyboard instead of mobile phone
It seams some show interests on this topic. To be honest, I‘d expected to found a lot more soapmaking threads here on B&B
Soapmaking in no rocket science. (actually, it’s organic chemistry
May I‘ll write a „DIY“ Shavingsoap for beginners this week?...
Soapmaking is no rocket science. (actually, it’s organic chemistry
That would be really nice.
I can imagine myself giving a bunch of shaving soap away for Christmas this year. Maybe we can start with a smaller quantity just to experiment. I don't know how all these measurements scale. I have seen Soapcalc being used on some websites.
Wondering why you need to add extra glycerin, isn't that produced already as a by-product during saponification?
What benefit does the Bentonite Clay provide?
Can I use a natural fat with a lot of stearic acid content like shea butter in place of some of the stearic acid? I already have some shea butter here.
- Thread starter
- #18
And I should also give proper credit to @blethenstrom who suggested the name! Apologies for my oversight.
O.H.
- Thread starter
- #19
I've had really good service from Voyageur Soap & Candle. Quality product and sizes from "I just want to try some" to "I need a boxcar full."
O.H.
- Thread starter
- #20
I dug out the recipe I use. It was developed by Lee Bussey (Silver Fox).
204.1 g stearic acid
113.4 g coconut oil
90.7 g beef tallow
49.9 g glycerin
22.7 g lanolin
22.7 g shea butter
17 g fragrance oil
201.8 g distilled water
99.4 g potassium hydroxide (KOH)
I generally apply a little rounding to the amounts. While for some things micrograms matter, in this case a couple tenths one way or another to make things simple doesn't seem to matter much.
I've used different scents; red cedar and peppermint mostly. Enough of each that I'm branching out a bit. I have some grapefruit, also rose, lavender, eucalyptus, lemon, orange...that we use for other things as well. Probably I won't be using rose as I'm really not a huge rose fan but lately I've been grooving on lavender. I tend to figure that if it'd smell good in cookies it'd make some cool soap. Bacon, coffee and fresh toasty biscuits? Maybe there are some limits.
As I've said I tend to like to stick with what works, but at the same time I'm all about learning things so that occasionally takes me out of my box. I've been looking at Carrie Seibert's formulas (she was a founder of Soap Commander) and there are a couple that look interesting. Probably once I've got the next batch "in the can" I'll crank up one of hers just to see how it goes.
Coconut oil, glycerin, fragrance and distilled water I buy in town. Beef tallow we render ourselves (also lard but probably that would make skanky soap). That leaves stearic, lanolin, shea, and KOH that have to come from Voyageur.
This formula works OK in moderately hard water. It also has good residual slickness.
O.H.
204.1 g stearic acid
113.4 g coconut oil
90.7 g beef tallow
49.9 g glycerin
22.7 g lanolin
22.7 g shea butter
17 g fragrance oil
201.8 g distilled water
99.4 g potassium hydroxide (KOH)
I generally apply a little rounding to the amounts. While for some things micrograms matter, in this case a couple tenths one way or another to make things simple doesn't seem to matter much.
I've used different scents; red cedar and peppermint mostly. Enough of each that I'm branching out a bit. I have some grapefruit, also rose, lavender, eucalyptus, lemon, orange...that we use for other things as well. Probably I won't be using rose as I'm really not a huge rose fan but lately I've been grooving on lavender. I tend to figure that if it'd smell good in cookies it'd make some cool soap. Bacon, coffee and fresh toasty biscuits? Maybe there are some limits.
As I've said I tend to like to stick with what works, but at the same time I'm all about learning things so that occasionally takes me out of my box. I've been looking at Carrie Seibert's formulas (she was a founder of Soap Commander) and there are a couple that look interesting. Probably once I've got the next batch "in the can" I'll crank up one of hers just to see how it goes.
Coconut oil, glycerin, fragrance and distilled water I buy in town. Beef tallow we render ourselves (also lard but probably that would make skanky soap). That leaves stearic, lanolin, shea, and KOH that have to come from Voyageur.
This formula works OK in moderately hard water. It also has good residual slickness.
O.H.
