It was hard for me to be honest about Bentonite. I really wanted it to not work; but that is not the case. It did improve Glide and Cushion. I never felt the razor was dragging against my whiskers this week, and it also permitted touchups without relathering, which is something that I now realize ought to have been a category. It did improve the overall shave from the base soap, though not as much as Shea Butter, but more than most of the other additives I have tried so far. All the mommy bloggers who report that their hubbies are happy with them adding bentonite are not fibbing, though if all they add ys bentonite, their hubbies are either not very fussy in the first place or really love their wives. It did not provide any significant reduction in irritation, so that if I wanted a very close shave, my skin felt a bit tender. It also left my skin feeling a tight by the end of the week. by Wednesday, I was using an aftershave balm to keep my skin from feeling too dry. I think if someone uses bentonite, they might be able to improve the soap a bit, but it would need some moisturizers to be added as well.
As you are seeing, different additives have different merits. That is why my shave soap includes shea butter, goat milk and bentonite.
It was Buttermilk last week, which was also a bit hard to describe. It definitely helped the lather feel very creamy and soft. I never felt as though the blade was dragging or that the lather was lacking in cushion of glide. My face never felt oily or dry. My initial feeling was that this was a very good additive to a shaving soap. I also thought I had a good shave each morning, but by mid day, I could feel substantial stubble on my face. It appears that Buttermilk somehow made my skin feel smoother than it actually was by the time I finished my shave. I don't feel the Buttermilk added anything to the closeness of my shaves, and may have actually reduced the effectiveness of the soap, but it did have a very pleasant skin feel while I shaved. This is probably why there are so many milk based shave soaps. .
Glycerine improved the soap's performance quite a bit. Every category was above the base, and better than most of the additives I have tried so far. I gave the lather a 6 each day, even though it was thin. The lather was very quick to build and nicely slick. The shave feel, cushion and glide were all very nice. Closeness was also decent, not on a par with better commercial soaps, but acceptable. The puck was also quite soft, which was a surprise considering how little I added. (about 7 grams to 200 grams of soap). So as many folks have commented in other threads, adding a few drops of glycerine can improve a mediocre performing soap.
Potato Starch was interesting. It collapsed the lather and made it quite thin. It reminded me of using William's years ago. The lather was incredibly stable, I left a dollop of lather on the bathroom counter, and that evening, although completely dry, it appeared identical to what I had left in the morning. Though there was a feeling of glide and cushion, this was illusory; it was not possible to get a close shave without irritation. The final shave quality was quite disappointing.
Crisco, it's not just for Sunday Chicken. It produced a decent shave, the lather was thin and was very sensitive to the amount of water I used. The skin feel was a bit odd, and left a film on my face that took a hour or so to dissipate. If I tried to rush the lather, or if I tried to face lather, it lost a noticeable amount of cushion, and I felt just shy of skin irritation, but when I decided to really show this soap whose boss, and whipped it to an inch of it's life, it improved quite a bit, not to mention it left my skin finger licking' good.
Another additive that is a bit difficult to review. Olive Oil produced a very soft puck; almost a third of it is gone after just the five days. This worked best when I used quite a lot of lather. It also had an odd skin feel, neither dry nor slimy, almost the same feel as a heavy layer of sweat is drying on my face. It may have been long, long ago, but I remember a crazy period in my live when I worked out heavily and sweat would dry on my face. It had something to do with trying to impress girls. The shaves were a real improvement over the last couple of week's ingredients. I never felt my skin was particularly unprotected, or that the razor was dragging on my stubble.
Possibly the best additive so far, with a very significant IF attached. hemp oil produced a nice lather, good shave feel, cushion and glide, but had a skin feel that prevented higher marks. By the second or third pass, I could feel a tingling on my skin, and each day I had a minor irritation that did not go away for a couple of hours. At first I thought I was putting pressure on the razor, and starting midweek, I was extra aware of pressure, it did not help. What did reduce the rash-like feel was on Thursday, when I made sure to shave a quickly as I dared, and made every effort to keep the amount of time the lather was on my face to a minimum. I might have been having some sort of reaction to the oil, rather than irritating my skin with the blade. In spite of that, these were among the closest shaves I have had in this experiment, rivaling Shea Butter. If I could combine the after shave feel of the Shea Butter, and the first pass feel of the Hemp Oil, it would be a very nice soap. I wonder what I might be able to add in addition to hemp oil to counter act the itchy feel it gave me.
Guar gum was a very pleasant surprise, it provided a very nice glide, shave, cushion and low irritation and produced the closest shaves so far. It hardened the puck noticeably. The only negatives, were that it left my skin feeling a bit dry, and would occasionally produce a random big bubble, so it took a little extra effort to whip the lather into shape. This would be fine addition to anyone trying to make a nice shave soap at home.
