Water chemistry messing with glycerin but not tallow?

[bluefoxicy]

I don't have trouble with Musgo or Tabac; but glycerin based soaps seem to not provide nearly enough lubricity.

Think it's the water chemistry? ... perhaps I should try filtered water and see what happens.

 

[charismata]

Calcium, a common element of hard water, will react with stearic acid (potassium or sodium stearate) in soap and cause some of the stearates to precipitate out as calcium stearate (soap scum). If you have hard water, you will undoubtedly notice this with any soap, animal or vegetable based.

I am of the opinion that hard water will not adversely affect one type of soap over another. It will adversely affect them all equally. Conversely, soft water will benefit all soaps equally. But that is just my unscientific opinion.

 

[Topgumby]

For me, tallow soaps just work better.

Glycerin soaps aren't terrible, and some are very nice indeed, but something about tallow just feels better to me.

Completely subjective, YMMV and I have no cool Mr. Wizard things to say about soap chemistry and water hardness. I just like fatty soaps, and seem to prefer critter fat over plant fat.

 

[The Nid Hog]

I agree with Topgumby--tallow just seems better. Even so, you might get a better result if you load the heck out of your brush before building your lather.

 

[Seraphim]

Why fight it, Bluefoxity? Become a tallow snob like the rest of us!


Leave the reformulated, glycerine and palm oil shave "soaps" to the hoi poloi, and rise above the everyday shave.....


It's not the water chemistry, it's the soap chemistry. Here's a little highbrow math that will help explain it a bit better:



Shave soap + tallow* = awesomeness

Shave soap - tallow = might as well go back to goo in a can.



*the exception being Williams soap, which is some sort of a bad joke or something....

 

[dashmaverick]

*the exception being Williams soap, which is some sort of a bad joke or something....

You sir are obviously not man enough to handle the tallowy-rich goodness that is Williams.

 

[superspot]

try distilled water just for your lathering, bet you will notice a diffrence.

 

[Seraphim]

You sir are obviously not man enough to handle the tallowy-rich goodness that is Williams.

That may well be.

However, Williams may contain tallow, it does NOT contain tallowy-rich goodness.

And that's a fact!

A bar of Ivory bath soap also contains tallow, same as Williams, go have a shave with a bar of that, and get back to us on how luxurious the experience was.....


It's even tallow first!
Ivory ingredients:

sodium tallowate, water, sodium cocoate or sodium palm kernelate, glycerin, sodium chloride, fragrance, one or more of the following: coconut acid, palm kernel acid, tallow acid or palm acid and tetrasodium EDTA.[3]