what makes a shaving soap a shaving soap?

[Vinlander]

What is the difference between shaving soap and regular soap? There are, for example, lots of "triple-milled" soaps that are marketed for hand and body use rather than for shaving. Has anybody tried using a nice "regular" soap with a shaving brush?

A company called Caudalie makes the best-smelling soaps I have ever found - they are scented with grape flowers. I'm tempted to get a bar and try shaving with it.

 

[michiganlover]

A shaving soap is specially formulated to produce a rich, creamy lather. Other soaps are formulated to produce an airy lather. The ingredients of the soap (the specific oils chosen) determine it's lathering properties.

I have yet to find any commonly available soap that comes even close to performing adequately for purposes of shaving. There might be a diamond in the rough, but you are going to waste a lot of money (that could be used on superior shaving soaps) looking for it.

You are welcome to experiment, but in my trials, attempting to use a non-shaving soap for shaving is a waste of effort.

 

[Little Joe from Mexico]

Let me second every word John just wrote.

 

[BlackBard]

let me second every word john just wrote.

+1

 

[soapbox]

John has done a very good service to you. I agree with what he said.

For more, see the wiki page on shave soap, specifically the section on milling.

I bang this drum a lot: milling soap means breaking/grinding it into pieces, and then smooshing the soap particles or "noodles" back together with additives such as color and scent. Do that three times, and you get triple-milled soap.

Shave soap hasn't been around that long; plenty of people shaved through the centuries with whatever soap they could get, and often it wasn't suited for shaving; but it worked. Bath soap works as shave soap, but don't mistake a bath soap for a real shave soap.

 

[Masterblaster]

This soap didn't work too well and it hurt after I shaved.

 

[kongjie]

This soap didn't work too well and it hurt after I shaved.

That is because the green bar is for shaving, the red one is for honing. Green=go.

 

[Wisdom]

I recently did an experiment with Speick body soap to see if it could worked into a lather enough to shave. I have a strong suspicion that Speick uses the same formulation for their shaving soap sticks as they do with their bath bar soaps. The lather is wonderfully rich and luxurious.. isn't drippy, runny, or bubbly, and doesn't disappear mid-shave.

They're $4 a pop (minimum qty of 3) on Amazon and work great as bath soaps, in case anyone wants to try to confirm my results! It's the best value in shave soap to me now.

MWF bath soap CANNOT be shaved with.. and don't try adding leftovers to any shaving soap.. the surfactants in them temporarily destroyed my Tabac's ability to produce lather.

Here are some pics.. I didn't put a whole lot of time into working this, by the way.. but for me, it's good enough to shave with.
-\Visdom

 

[Scott0079]

Tallow.

 

[JimT]

Gents,

There is one bath/shower soap that works well shaving - Basis Sensitive Skin Bar. It is my daily shave. Some background and my experience with the soap are at the link below. Good luck.

JimT

http://www.shavemyface.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43742&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

 

[cymric]

Here are some pics.. I didn't put a whole lot of time into working this, by the way.. but for me, it's good enough to shave with.

I wouldn't touch that lather with a pole. Far too thin and bubbly, and miles away from the lather one creates with Speick shaving soap.

To answer the OP: michiganlover is nearly correct. Regular soaps are designed for cleaning, not for producing airy lather. That they produce airy lather is simply a consequence of their makeup. Shaving soaps are designed for glide and very thick and smoothly textured lather. That said, some hand soaps can be used in a pinch, but for regular use I would avoid them.

 

[michiganlover]

I wouldn't touch that lather with a pole. Far too thin and bubbly, and miles away from the lather one creates with Speick shaving soap.

+1

That looks like the lather I can generate from the current formulation of Williams, in other words no where near good enough for shaving.

 

[Wisdom]

I wouldn't touch that lather with a pole. Far too thin and bubbly, and miles away from the lather one creates with Speick shaving soap.

To answer the OP: michiganlover is nearly correct. Regular soaps are designed for cleaning, not for producing airy lather. That they produce airy lather is simply a consequence of their makeup. Shaving soaps are designed for glide and very thick and smoothly textured lather. That said, some hand soaps can be used in a pinch, but for regular use I would avoid them.

Haha.. it looks better than my results with Williams or MWF! Is there a Lathermeister out there with a bar of Speick bath soap willing to bust this myth?
-\Visdom

 

[tripper]

ivory has some of the slickest/thickest lather when im in the shower, sometimes im tempted, because its 2 bucks for for a 12 pack or something. my girlfriend loves it for shaving her legs.

i think im gonna go run an experiment right now... will report in a few mins, just gonna whipe of lather, not going to shave.

 

[tripper]

okay here's results on lather with IVORY bar soap

I loaded the brush with Tabacs and worked a lather on my hand for a control group

rinsed tools loaded brush with Ivory

whoa.... its the slickest lather i've ever seen. rich lather like tabacs, just as easy to make, except so slick it feels slimey allmost. would definitely work as a shave soap. i've learned that tabacs isnt slick enough soemtimes and can lead to skipping. Ivory must glide!

but i've got TOBS and Tabac to use up first.

 

[Bristlingbeardofodin]

What makes the difference?

Based on many posts I would say it is a simple set of formulas:

Cost: more expensive = more a shave soap

Pedigree: made in UK or perhaps France = more a shave soap (some bare tolerance extended to those who use Italian products in terms of creams though not soaps; Tabac, being German is only for soap beginners who have not developed the skill to use the UK soaps)

tallow vs. glycerin (t = more a shave soap; g = concession to lower-class American made soaps)

I personally like it = more a shave soap; I don't like it = you idiot, how can you use that and say it is ok when it is objectively proven that ....

Sorry being too cynical this evening.

If Ivory works for you -- Go For It!

I don't normally shave with it but have on camping trips and have not had any problems. Maybe I'll give it a go during my regular shaves.

I'm glad some here try the experimental method.

 

[Vinlander]

Based on Bristlingbeardofodin's tongue-in-cheek criteria, I think Caudalie would qualify. It's expensive, it's French, and I like it! It fails only on the tallow test. ;-) I think I'll order a bar and give it a try. Stay tuned...

 

[Bristlingbeardofodin]

Based on Bristlingbeardofodin's tongue-in-cheek criteria, I think Caudalie would qualify. It's expensive, it's French, and I like it! It fails only on the tallow test. ;-) I think I'll order a bar and give it a try. Stay tuned...

Look forward to your results and thanks for getting the humor.

We may need to take a stand though when someone asks:

"Cascade works great on my dishes; I wonder how it would shave?"

 

[rosborne]

I can't give you an exact answer to the difference but I jut read it here the other day on a thread. I do know it is basically one ingredient which simply changes the lather in a way that it is creamy and doesn't dissolve quickly. Sue from SCS can tell you for certain.

 

[Vinlander]

Well, I finally made the experiment. The "Caudalie" soap that I ordered after my last post arrived yesterday, and I gave it a try today.

The verdict: a great soap, but a poor shaving soap. I was able to whip up a voluminous lather with my brush, but the lather was foamy rather than creamy. If regular shaving soap makes a yogurt-like lather, this was more like whipped egg whites. Curiously, the marvelous grape-flower scent (the reason I like the soap so much) wasn't readily apparent in the foam.

I put it on my face and shaved WTG...not a terrible shave (I've had worse from products that are, nominally, shaving products), but not a good one, either. No nicks or cuts, and no irritation, but the razor didn't really glide over my face. I switched to a conventional shaving soap for the other passes.

So I guess there really is something different about shaving soaps after all.