Only one unscented soap in residence.
If you can tolerate scent:
Tabac
Cyril R. Salter Wild Rose (technically a Cream)
Saponificio Varesino Dolomiti
Stirling Electric Sheep
Any of these will provide volumes of yogurt consistency lather. A pleasure to paint on and shave with.
YMMV
Tabac is awful !!
Ive got Cyril R Salter sandalwood. Great cream!
Sold off all 4 of my SV soaps.
Stirling seems to burn my face.
Just ordered Wholly kaw and some declaration grooming.
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Ahem.....Tabac is "awful" in your opinion.
There are lots of folks out there (me included) who think it smells great. Wife enthusiastically approved in our home.
The SV and Stirling soaps are among my favorites.
Seems that, with the exception of Cyril R. Salter, we have very different taste and opinions regarding soaps and creams.
That is one of the best things about this hobby - there are so many different soaps and creams out there that we can all find the "just right" product.
Hoping that the Wholly Kaw and DG soaps work out for you.
Just my opinion and YMMV.
Lol, for sure!
Tabac is an amazing performer, probably one of the best....but the scent just puts me off. And my wife also cant handle it.
I love SV soaps!! They are also top performers . but ive since opted for unscented soaps now.
Only recently after about 4 years of wet shaving are scented soaps starting to irritate my skin a little. Strange...never had an issue until now.
I have to start giving some stuff away soon...lol
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Sorry to hear that the scented soaps are irritating your skin. That would be a bummer.
Might warrant a discussion with a good dermatologist.
If you're looking for a soap that makes a Yogurt-like lather. Look for Potassium Stearate as a #1 or #2 ingredient and Palm kernelate and cocoates comparitively low on the ingredient list.
It's not the soap, it's the person who whips the leather.
Keep practising!
It's not the soap, it's the person who whips the leather.
Keep practising!
There are two prime functions in lather structure when it comes to the soap.
Thickness and volume
Thickness comes mostly from Stearic acid and to a lesser extent Palmitic (sodium/potassium stearate)
Volume comes mostly for Myristates and, Laurates... coconut oil is loaded with both of these and why it is ubiquitous in soap (it also is extremely cleansing/drying and hardening).
Basically to make lather you need a significant amount of the latter... but there's a relatively small window where it makes thick "yogurty" lather.
You also need a TON of the Stearates and Palmitates. Like an insane amount. It's POSSIBLE to make great shave soap without using their isolated forms, but it requires the use of extremely expensive fats like cocoa butter and/or extremely "tacky" fats like castor oil, which is loaded with Ricinoleic acid (whose soap does BOTH thickness and volume extremely well, making its use a balancing act).
Additionally, Potassium salts load into the brush and whip up MUCH faster than Sodium salts... which makes for a easier to build and creamier lather if your stearates are K-bound.
If you're looking for a soap that makes a Yogurt-like lather. Look for Potassium Stearate as a #1 or #2 ingredient and Palm kernelate and cocoates comparitively low on the ingredient list.
If you're looking at artisan's and want a REALLY thick, almost sticky lather, look for one that swaps out cocoate and palm kernelate (or their respective oils) for Ricinolate (or castor oil). If you use Ricinolate for your primary volumizer and don't overdo it, the lather gets ridiculously dense and (as mentioned) an almost taffy-like behavior.
Because of this behavior (and how soft Castor soap is), I'd look for Na-ricinolate over K if the makers specify.