I'm thinking of making some soap out of castor oil, coconut butter and maybe a bit of canola oil as well, with lavender added for scent. Any one made any soap themselves that have any ideas how to get good shaving soap and how to do it. The ideal result of this would of course be really creamy lather, since I don't want to bother making anything that isn't better than anything I can buy...
Read the threads in this forum (soapmaking and lotions) - there are a few guys who posted about making their own shaving soap. If you have any specific questions, ask and our soapmakers will help you out.
Well, I've done a bit of browsing, but I can't really find much info on cold-process soap, but I'll keep digging...
I don't know anything about cold process shave soaps, but clays are added to a lot of shave soaps to give them the slickness. Have you made cold process bath soaps before?
Once in Junior High in chemistry class, but I have a lot of laboratory experience so I feel that boiling fat and sodium hydroxide together can't be that much of a challenge, it's the composition that has got me worried...
I've done a bit of searching, but sofar I haven't found any good stuff on shaving soaps, and from my personal try with other soaps I've found that they seem to be quite a bit different in compostion. Any good resources I should check out? Oh, and thanks for the forum tip, I'm a member on every forum I can think of on everything I do, so I can't really see why I didn't think of looking for a forum about soap-making...
I have recently started playing with homemade shaving soaps and I can give you a few pointers about what I've learned. My very first attempt at a soap that could be used for shaving had a high percentage of coconut oil. It lathered nicely, but the coconut is far too cleansing so it dried my skin out. I would keep the coconut oil under 40%, less is probably better. Oils that are good to consider as a base: Tallow - I believe many of the best shaving soaps are tallow based Mango Butter - this stuff has a pretty decent fatty acid profile as a shaving soap base Palm Oil - not Palm Kernel Oil (which is much like coconut), also referred to as vegetable tallow Coconut or Palm Kernel - cheap and easy to get, just don't use too much Nearly crucial oils: Olive oil - the light variety is probably better to use than virgin, keep the amounts low 10% maybe, too much will hurt your lather Castor oil - this stuff is magical, it stabilizes the lather so it will last a long time while you shave. 10% max I'd say, otherwise your soap may end up too soft The secret sauce: Stearic Acid - this really belongs with the oils. It's just one of the fatty acids that makes up some of the oils. There's a decent bit in mango butter, but the pure stuff gives you a lot of oomph. This makes a hard bar and awesome shaving lather. Typical use at up to 10%, but some (including myself) have played with 20% or more. Note that stearic acid doesn't have the glycerin backbone that natural oils do, so you may need to add some Bentonite Clay - clay gives the soap a good slip and helps with the lather. Bentonite in particular has a high salt content which helps lather in hard water. Glycerin - adds a little slickness and moisturizing to the soap. Don't use too much or it gets sticky. Also imparts a touch of sweetness if you get the soap in your mouth. Sugar - a small amount of sugar (seems most suggest 1 tbsp per pound of oils) will help your lather Good moisturizing oils: (there are a lot) Rice Bran Oil - fairly cheap Jojoba oil - expensive, but one of the best matches to your natural oils Avocado oil - supposed to be excellent for the face Sweet almond oil - a very popular oil for the skin, absorbs quickly. Can go rancid more quickly than many oils Grapeseed oil - similar properties to sweet almond, including the short shelf life Feel free to play with all sorts of combinations. My list is far from inclusive and is 90% research and only 10% experience. I use a hot process for soaping, so I can add the moisturizing oils as superfat oils after the soap is cooked. (though whether this truly works is debated, I think the chemistry seems sound)
Thats pretty cool!I really wanna make my own soap but just for fun and for trying something that our grandmas used to do.I have founded this recipe for shaving soap and I would love to try it when I get some free time: http://jabon-soap.blogspot.com/2009/04/receta-jabon-de-afeitar-shaving-soap.html its in spanish and english and by the comentaries it seems that its good.I hope to make it soon.
