January 2019 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

thank you perry..

 

thank you clint..

 

Y'know, people in England, Australia, and I guess parts of S, Africa would say it's a slow prEAUcess.

 

Thank you Andrew. Getting close but the soap is hanging tough.

Thank you Bruce.

 

Excellent shave and photo Andrew.

Excellent lineup and progress Robert.

 

Thanks Clint!

 

I thought I would follow up with a couple of photos of the business end of the razor with a blade loaded:

 

That is certainly more blade exposure than the SS.

 

I would have guessed beef to have the stronger scent. Not sure what lanolin smells like but maybe I'll stick with the hamburger for now

 

Thank you, Clint.

 

Not much information on the web about the chemical analysis and soap making properties of that tallow source. Closest I could find was on THIS site.

Lard (pork fat)

Oleic 44-46%
Palmitic 26-28%
Stearic 13-14%
Linoleic 6-10%
Myristic 1-2%
Contributes to: soap hardness, stable lather, conditioning, quicker trace. Lard is made from pig fat. Its advantages are that it is cheap, easily obtainable, and makes a nice lathery, white bar of soap. This fat should be combined with vegetable oils such as coconut or palm. Without
other oils it can tend to not work very well in cold water.

Of the tallow soaps I've looked into none list the source as Lard. Each different fatty acid has it's own properties and reasons to be used in a soap.

Lauric Acid: Hard bar, excellent cleansing, lots of fluffy lather, can be drying to skin

Linoleic Acid: Conditioning, silky feel

Myristic Acid: Hard bar, cleansing, fluffy lather

Oleic Acid: Conditioning, slippery feel, stingy lather, kind to skin

Palmitic Acid: Hard bar, cleansing, stable lather

Ricinoleic Acid: Softer bar, conditioning, moisturizing, lots of fluffy, stable lather, kind to skin

Stearic Acid: Hard, long lasting bar, stable lather

 

Does Mitchell's use mutton tallow? The ingredients just list sodium tallowate. I usually take the word tallow, by itself, to mean dead cow. Mutton is usually mentioned explicitly. The lanolin is something altogether different. Comes from outside the sheep, not inside.

Fragrance-wise, Mitchell's Wool Fat has a pretty light floral scent. Not strong enough to cover up any animal funk. And I don't smell any animal funk in mine.

 

Only soap that I've had with lard was a house brand from Griffith Shaving Goods. They called it "pig tallow," just to get the word "tallow" on the label I guess. Lots of people wouldn't give it a second look otherwise. But according to wikipedia, tallow comes from beef or mutton. And they know everything, right?

It was actually a pretty good soap I think. I ended up giving it away because it was billed as frankincense and myrrh but I couldn't really smell any frankincense or myrrh.

 

Or try a sample of Stirling electric sheep. The scent is loud enough to subdue any tallow funk in the soap. Lemon, citronella, and eucalyptus, and lots of it.

 

I don't think Mitchell's uses mutton tallow. The "Wool Fat" is a reference to lanolin.

 

The Pacific razor that Dollar Tree previously sold was a bit better made. With the Assured, you need to be careful not to overtighten it, lest you strip the opening mechanism.

 

Either was, it costs a dollar. And has some decent aggression!

 

Not claiming expertise, just poking the Web and seeing what dribbles out. From my experience sheep do indeed have two sides - inside and outside.

Dr. Oz says, "Sodium tallowate is a true soap created when the fatty acid from animal tissue is combined with some type of lye, usually sodium hydroxide." So if tissue includes the outside... I dunno. Learning as I go!

 

The lanolin in most soaps is not saponified but rather added to the mixture after the main fats have been saponified with the lye(super fatting). On MWF ingredient list lanolin is listed by itself and not listed as sodium lanoate(guessing on the name here) meaning it was not altered by the lye.