I should probably post this in the "Soaps" forum, but since I decided to give this stuff a whirl today, and it came out well, I'll share it here... aw, what the heck, I'll CC it over there, too... I was showering with Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile liquid soap, in the almond persuasion this eve. For those of you that don't know what it is, it is a brand of soap that was developed by a soap-making family in Germany, the most recent edition created by the late Dr. Emanuel Bronner. It is commonly found in Co-Op, organic, and outdoor-equipment stores, having all the certified organic, fair trade, and other eco-friendly buzz-terms and certifications attached to it. It is available in many "flavors", the most popular one being of the peppermint persuasion. We jokingly call it "Hippie-Soap" because that seems to be the clientele most often patronizing these shops. Now, whether hippies actually bathe, well, now that's probably a topic for another time, and another part of the forum... Anyway, the stuff has a humongous amount of very preachy fine-print on the label, but in all this, it claims to do everything from clean your car to clean your mortal soul, and everything else in between, and among it's "magical" properties, it says you can shave with it. O-kay-- I'll try almost anything once, twice if I like it, and if it's not illegal or immoral... So, after my shower, smelling like marzipan, I put enough of the liquid soap to cover the bottom of a small plastic coffee mug, and spun it up with a soaking boar brush; it created a thinner lather, wetter than I usually make with other products, but, I have to say I liked the texture and lubricity of the lather. Using my trusty Fat Boy, 9-4-1, with a 2nd.-day Feather, I skeptically scraped away about a day and a half's worth of stubble, rinsing with a wash cloth and re-lathering between passes. Well, the verdict: DFS, if I do say so myself. BBS is an elusive creature, which I do bag from time to time, but this was pretty darn close. The down-side is, this soap, while wet and slick, has fairly strong astringent properties, so I was left a little irritated for a while, and you must use an after-shave balm behind this product. So, all said, while not a purpose-designed shaving product, it will do in a pinch; I do carry the stuff camping and back-packing, so I don't have to come back from the woods looking like a refugee... If nothing else, the label makes an interesting read from an eccentric guy that knows how to make soap... The website says that they have a new shaving gel out; I'll see if I can track some down and review it--anything's gotta be better than the Burt's Bees axle grease that I tried a few weeks ago-- Happy Shaves! NCV
I really enjoyed reading this, good job. Yeah its not really meant to shave with due to the chemicals in it produced during production and your lucky it didn't burn your face
Thank you, Sir, for your kind compliments; I had to fix the typos, but now it's fine... You are right; I did get a little torched from that shave, thus the need for an after-shave balm. In reading the ingredients, there are all types of oils in it that one would assume to have soothing properties; and I'm no chemist, so I'm not sure what caused the burn, but, this product won't be my go-to lather-maker, it was more an experiment to check out the claimed shaving use of the product. It works, but so does Dawn dish-washing soap... I'll see what Bronner's purpose-made shave product works like, and report the results here. Again, thanks!
You're welcome. Sara and Joanna would know exactly what it is but I think something during the saponification stage makes it not suitable for shaving. Cheers
I've been using the soap for years but never thought of shaving with it. Too much of a jolt on the body let alone putting it on the face, But, I'm glad you got thru it ok
