I got the following soap at a craft show in my area. The owner is in my neighboring town and makes all kinds of handmade soaps with 100% natural products, essential oils, etc. Among her products was a Eucalyptus Cedarwood Shaving Soap. Here is a link to view the product. http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/4332339 Ingredients: Saponified oils (Lard, coconut, olive, castor, sunflower) cocoa butter, evening primrose, eucalyptus essential oil, cedarwood essential oil, betonite clay. Pros: The soap is all natural, reasonable price, (4.00) and great quality. The scent is amazing. I would carry it around and smell it all day if I could. Here is a pic of the lather I got using a cheap (5.00 brush) which is the only brush I have at the moment. I got about twice the amount shown in the pic. I did a 20 second spin on the soap puck. The best I could get was a nice slippery foam. It did better when I massaged it on my face with my finger tips. Still not a great lather. Is this a trial and error thing or do some soaps just lather this way? Another benefit is that it left my feeling very soft and refreshed.
Judging by the size of the bubbles in the not so great pic, I would say try using a little more soap and a bit less water and work the lather a bit longer. Soaps containing Bentonite clay are harder to lather. You might find this thread helpful: http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/lathering-tsd-soaps.27563/ TSD soaps contain bentonite clay as well.
Thanks! I also emailed the soap maker for a few tips. I am sure she will have some advice being it's her product.
Some excellent advice so far! Hope you can conquer the soap. As an aside; Lots of artisans make shaving soaps. Whether they actually know what wetshavers require from a shaving soap is another thing.
Thanks! I hope so. And if for whatever reason it does not work to what I need, it will still make a great bath bar. Awesome scent and great feeling on the skin!
Update: Trial two was much better! Here is what I did. Soaked my brush in hot water. Shook off excess and lathered the soap directly on the puck and not in a 2nd mug. I added about 2-3 drops (literally) of hot water after about a 30 second spin. The lather was creamy and slippery, but not a lot of volume. I face lathered this one and a nice thin layer (you could still see my face through the lather) then I squeezed the remainder out of the brush with my fingers and applied. I also scraped the bowl to get all the lather. The shave was nice and left a nice feeling and skin is very condition post rinsing. I would say that this is a great soap for everyday shavers as the amount of lather you get may not be enough for say a 4 day beard. But so far so good.
I just went and took my still damp brush and did a 15 second spin on the already damp puck for a 2nd pass. Great slip on the razor this time with a thin creamy lather. (feels face) ahhh!
