Rolling My Own

What is your opinion on fine shaving creams and hard soaps? Do you like Trumpers, Coates, Taylors, Truefitt & Hill? Post your reviews and opinions here!
brothers
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by brothers »

Tim, makes sense. Thx for the suggestion.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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The_whingnut
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by The_whingnut »

My wife and I have been making our own soaps/ lotions/ scrubs / spa items for a few years now, tailoring each one for diferrent things,relaxation, work, moisturizing and landry. It just never crossed my mind to make a shave soap or cream :lol: . looks like i have a new project coming up next soapmaking day!
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Squire
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by Squire »

Looks like you do! The experience of other members here has proven you can make a soap that works as well as what you can buy.
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Squire
ShadowsDad
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by ShadowsDad »

I should have read this first before responding in the other thread. You found it on your own.
Brian

Maker of Kramperts Finest Bay Rum and Frostbite
Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
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The_whingnut
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by The_whingnut »

last night i started my first batch of shave cream.

1/3 cup shea butter
1/3 cup cocnut oil
1/4 olive oil (infused with lavender(from our garden))

melted Coconut / shea butter on low
removed from heat added in the olive oil mixed well and letting it harden i'll whip it today.

i think if this turns out ok i have some chamomile infused oil for another batch.
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Squire
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by Squire »

Looking good TW, keep us posted.
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CMur12
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by CMur12 »

It will be interesting to see what you get. I don't think olive oil has typically worked well for shave soap.

- Murray
brothers
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by brothers »

I too will be interested in seeing how your soap turns out. If you've been able to read through this wonderful but long thread then you will have seen the differences in recipes.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
gsgo
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by gsgo »

The_whingnut wrote:

1/3 cup shea butter
1/3 cup cocnut oil
1/4 olive oil (infused with lavender(from our garden))
Whingnut, I have tried this shave cream formula a couple of years ago, it basically gives you a brushless very oily type of cream that is shavable. Truly non-lathering and quite oily makes it tough to rinse off the razor, your face and the sink. I scented mine with pepermint, spearmint and a touch of lavender, it smelled great but I tossed the cream after a few shaves. The nature of this concoction makes it quite good for post shave, you probably will not need to use an aftershave.

Good luck!
Last edited by gsgo on Thu Apr 10, 2014 6:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
Good shaving,

Gary
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The_whingnut
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by The_whingnut »

Here it is i noticed what gsgo was talking about it may be set aside as my aftershave balm very smooth and lavender is very strong with it.
file.jpg
file.jpg (86.15 KiB) Viewed 7442 times
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drmoss_ca
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by drmoss_ca »

I resized your photo so it shows up better. Hope you don't mind.

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
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The_whingnut
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by The_whingnut »

Not at all i guess i need to resize down 75% then. Thanks!
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Squire
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by Squire »

Very interesting.
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jkajfes
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by jkajfes »

Hi Chris & Et...all
I'm a newbie and I'm a new soaper... sounds like an intro to an AAA meeting!

I would like to try my hand at making this recipe maybe tonight maybe tomorrow. I think I've got all the ingredients. I've only work with NaOH, cold process soaps just started playing with them... got several batches on the cure and the wait time is killing me to try some of them!

So I bought a crock pot cheap... and would like to try the HP process and hopefully try some home brew on the stubble this weekend...

Got to tell you all reading through this thread took me a big well long time... tons of stuff to absorb and try to understand. Not sure if I should have quoted the whole post from Chris again. I'm still feeling my way around doing forums stuff.

I do have a question hopefully Chris or somebody can help...
Chris you talk about making 2 lbs of soap here but when I look at the amounts for the lyes involved they only come to NaOH @ 63g and KOH @ 88g. Everything else is doubled up.
So should one be doubling the two lye amounts also? Would it not be NaOH @ 126g. and KOH @176g. ?

I don't want to screw up something that might be obvious to others but with me it's a challenge...



drmoss_ca wrote:No problem! The fats and oils should add up to 100%. The alkalis are a separate consideration, and I use half NaOH and half KOH. It might have been clearer if I wrote 50:50 for these two. Now, when you go to SoapCalc, the saponification numbers for each fat will vary for sodium vs. potassium hydroxide, so you have to do two calculations, one for the half of the batch that is being saponified by NaOH and again for the other half with KOH. So for example with a two pound batch you get:

For NaOH:
Image

and for KOH:
Image

Then I add up the amounts quoted for all of the fats, oils, alkalis and water in the two recipes, rounding up or down as needed:
Lard 418g
Stearic acid 272g
Coconut Oil 136g
Castor Oil 64g
Lanolin 18g
NaOH 63g
KOH 88g
Water 344g

and this will make 2lb of soap. Do ask if anything else is unclear, as it is a lot of effort to go to if you end up with a toxic mess to throw away because something was done incorrectly!

Chris
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Squire
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by Squire »

Hey jk, welcome aboard. Look forward to reading about progress.
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brothers
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by brothers »

I believe more recently in this thread, Chris addressed this issue, and has explained what the actual quantities of the products should be. You might check back and read towards the end of the long thread and maybe you can find where the question was raised and explained. I have made this recipe, Luckily I was able to get it figured out and the soap is great. My big area of weakness is the fragrance.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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drmoss_ca
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by drmoss_ca »

jkajfes wrote:Hi Chris & Et...all
I'm a newbie and I'm a new soaper... sounds like an intro to an AAA meeting!

I would like to try my hand at making this recipe maybe tonight maybe tomorrow. I think I've got all the ingredients. I've only work with NaOH, cold process soaps just started playing with them... got several batches on the cure and the wait time is killing me to try some of them!

So I bought a crock pot cheap... and would like to try the HP process and hopefully try some home brew on the stubble this weekend...

Got to tell you all reading through this thread took me a big well long time... tons of stuff to absorb and try to understand. Not sure if I should have quoted the whole post from Chris again. I'm still feeling my way around doing forums stuff.

I do have a question hopefully Chris or somebody can help...
Chris you talk about making 2 lbs of soap here but when I look at the amounts for the lyes involved they only come to NaOH @ 63g and KOH @ 88g. Everything else is doubled up.
So should one be doubling the two lye amounts also? Would it not be NaOH @ 126g. and KOH @176g. ?

I don't want to screw up something that might be obvious to others but with me it's a challenge...



drmoss_ca wrote:No problem! The fats and oils should add up to 100%. The alkalis are a separate consideration, and I use half NaOH and half KOH. It might have been clearer if I wrote 50:50 for these two. Now, when you go to SoapCalc, the saponification numbers for each fat will vary for sodium vs. potassium hydroxide, so you have to do two calculations, one for the half of the batch that is being saponified by NaOH and again for the other half with KOH. So for example with a two pound batch you get:

For NaOH:
Image

and for KOH:
Image

Then I add up the amounts quoted for all of the fats, oils, alkalis and water in the two recipes, rounding up or down as needed:
Lard 418g
Stearic acid 272g
Coconut Oil 136g
Castor Oil 64g
Lanolin 18g
NaOH 63g
KOH 88g
Water 344g

and this will make 2lb of soap. Do ask if anything else is unclear, as it is a lot of effort to go to if you end up with a toxic mess to throw away because something was done incorrectly!

Chris
Think of the above screenshots as a recipe for a pound of NaOH soap, and the second is a recipe for a pound of KOH soap, then you make them both at once. So the ingredients common to both must be added together, but the two lyes stay the same. Does that make sense? Don't try it unless you understand because using the wrong amounts will be frustrating and ineffective. If you can't get your head around using SoapCalc for two different lyes at once, don't panic—just use the amounts I give at the end of the quoted text ie:
Lard 418g
Stearic acid 272g
Coconut Oil 136g
Castor Oil 64g
Lanolin 18g
NaOH 63g
KOH 88g
Water 344g

Good luck!

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
jkajfes
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by jkajfes »

ah yesss... crystal now... Chris... can't see the forest for trees! It clicked when you said... "So the ingredients common to both must be added together, but the two lyes stay the same." and that does make sense... It was the way I was reading interpreting stuff before...
and thanks
jk
jkajfes
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by jkajfes »

got another question regarding the purity of KOH... Normally what's used is not 100% pure, correct? I believe it's 90%. If this is the case the recipe "Shaving Soap MKIII KOH portion done in SoapCalc is using the 100% formulation...
In Soapcalc you have the option when choosing the KOH to toggle on 90%. Is this something to consider? I think I'm asking the question... well I don't know why I'm asking the question because I'm to darn new at this... but something is telling me to ask it regardless of the flack I might take... because if you don't toggle it on you are increasing superfatting or the potential of it?
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dosco
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Re: Rolling My Own

Post by dosco »

jkajfes wrote:got another question regarding the purity of KOH... Normally what's used is not 100% pure, correct? I believe it's 90%.
Looks that way ... according to Essential Depot their stuff is "90% pure."
In Soapcalc you have the option when choosing the KOH to toggle on 90%. Is this something to consider? I think I'm asking the question... well I don't know why I'm asking the question because I'm to darn new at this... but something is telling me to ask it regardless of the flack I might take... because if you don't toggle it on you are increasing superfatting or the potential of it?
I hadn't noticed or considered it ... I thought my soap was 3% SF but after some consideration it would appear that the SF was much higher (probably about 10% to 12%) because I was computing using 100% pure KOH. Whoops.

:oops:

Interesting. I'm not sure how much of a difference you will get if you don't use the 90% toggle ... although since you're aware of this then I guess you should use the toggle. FWIW the soap I made opened my eyes to the world of "good soap" ... so in the end I'm not sure how much of a difference it will make.

I haven't made a batch since my previous exploits, although it's on my list of things to do. I'll have to take this into consideration next time!

Regards-
Dave
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