Everything but the brush that is. Yep, I did it. Well, I guess I should say for me at least. I bought a three pack of Dial Naturals Soap (White) a huge honking bottle of lotion that said "Extra Dry Skin" and is light Yellow in color, 60% free it says on the bottle, and went down a couple of aisles and bought a great big brick red soup mug. Cut up the bars and nuked 'em, found out that they foamed up just like Ivory, though it took longer. Gave the melted soap a huge squirt of the Yellow lotion, I'd say about almost a third of the bottle. A good big salad spoon and some considerable elbow grease to stir the melted soap and lotion together, then scooped it all in until it was even with the brim of my soup mug and then smoothed it out. Put it in my back porch on top of the washing machine to let it cool down for a couple of hours. The concoction was solid but not hard. If you really wanted to, one could probably push their finger in it. Next day I used it. I hardly worked the brush at all to make the lather (probably a good thing since all I have is a Burma Boar with a really loose knot LOL). The lather was a little thinner than (yes, you guessed it) the foam in a can I normally used. However, it was very moist and slick and it shaved just fine with a lowly Dollar General DE blade (Dorco?). I did 2 WTG north to south passes to be on the safe side. Had no irritation or dryness that I have experienced with any/all of the shaving soaps I have tried. Albeit, admittedly, the soaps in question were Williams, Colgate, Burma Shave, and VDH (Glycerin, Select, and Deluxe), which I guess are the low end brands I am told. The only exception is when I used Williams Menthol but probably it was the menthol masking any irritation I may have had. All of this, of course, is just my own experience with said brands and am not judging in any way. Getting back to my home brew, I will do my normal WTG north to south and ATG west to east shave the next time with confidence. So, if you happen to be a little short on finances for the time being, try it out. Only 3 bucks and some pennies for a huge whopping soup mug of home made moisturizing shave soap that didn't even put a dent on the cake after the first shave. Also, FYI, the soap that I bought, the "Dial Naturals" contained glycerin in the ingredients, and the giant bottle of lotion contained Vitamin E and Cocoa Butter, without the Cocoa Butter scent if that matters to you. To add on to the quote "Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention", I say "Curiosity Must Be The Father." P.S. : Goodbye Can of Foam!
