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Homemade Cedarwood soap - 4 years old

Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2018 8:00 pm
by brothers
I made my own in late '13 and early '14. I had 10 pucks/sticks/tubs and a year ago I ended up throwing 2 of them away because they reacted very strongly with my face. That was a bad batch. Anyway, the subject of this post is that I've recently cracked open a new unused tub of my Cedarwood batch that I made in March of '14. Smells great and the lather is as good as any name brand I have ever used. This surprises me because it is a veggie soap (no tallow), and the amazing fact that I made it in my own kitchen. I got the recipe from a gent who went on to form one of the USA based artisans from somewhere in southern California, and his brand has the name of his city in it. He had decided to try to reverse engineer one of the most popular French shaving soaps that only has a few ingredients. He posted his activities (in one of the other forums) and ingredients and most importantly, a step by step description on making the soap. Obviously it worked. Now, the 4 year old soap is blowing my mind. I splash some water on the soap and let it sit for a few minutes, then I load the synthetic brush for only 5 seconds. (True and I will gladly swear to this. I am not exaggerating.) The lather I build on my face only takes a couple of minutes before the double-santa claus mountain of thick rich lather is finished. Just think - I have more where this one came from.
PS: I almost forgot to make it clear that I don't remember how I made it, and I haven't entertained any hope to ever be able to duplicate my efforts.

Re: Homemade Cedarwood soap - 4 years old

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2018 5:23 am
by fallingwickets
I don't remember how I made it, and I haven't entertained any hope to ever be able to duplicate my efforts.
you're such a tease Gary :D :D

clive

Re: Homemade Cedarwood soap - 4 years old

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2018 8:39 am
by brothers
It involves a crock pot, lye, and stearic acid, that's all I remember. My face still burns whenever I remember the burn I got from that second batch that got thrown away.

Re: Homemade Cedarwood soap - 4 years old

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:21 am
by Gene
I remember when we discussed this back then.

It sounds magnificent.

I was making my own bath soap back then - and have the feeling I found/got that recipe as a PM, but then I foolishly blew up all my old messages.

What a loss...

Re: Homemade Cedarwood soap - 4 years old

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2018 6:52 pm
by brothers
A comparison to the soap I was using immediately before I switched to the Homemade Cedarwood soap is naturally going to occur. Here's mine. I was using the tallow soap called Salter's Solid Shaving Soap. Here are the similarities and if any, differences:
They are remarkably cheap
They make great mountains of thick rich lather
They are effortless
They smell quite pleasant
They leave slick residue when it comes time for the latherless water splash for a touchup pass
They are a match made in heaven with the SilkSmoke synthetic brush
They load onto the brush in seconds
They are a huge and very pleasant back to back surprise
One has tallow, one does not

Re: Homemade Cedarwood soap - 4 years old

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:13 pm
by brothers
It's becoming apparent that the delightful homemade soap I'm currently using has 2 or 3 weeks left before it expires in an avalanche of thick rich lather. When it runs out I think I should re-activate the Salter's Solid shaving soap that was working so well a little short of a month ago when I suddenly and temporarily brought my Homemade Cedarwood up from the minor league. Success! Who knew! :D The Salter's needs to be completely used up so I can add it to my Hall of Fame, (not to be confused with the wall of shame :evil: ).

Re: Homemade Cedarwood soap - 4 years old

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2018 9:43 am
by Bill_K
TRBeck wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 7:42 pm Gary, you can figure it out again. Just start experimenting with some ingredients. My guess is you used something along the lines of 50 percent stearic acid through a combination of stearic and tallow, and that you used coconut oil in a good amount. Fill in the rest with some other fat or use more tallow. You probably used mostly potassium hydroxide but some sodium hydroxide to firm up the texture. Do a lime eo if you're worried about cedar burning again.

I want everyone making soap. The artisans are all overcharging these days and the big producers are limited in scent variety. Be a homebrewer! Make altbier! Be a baker! Make real bagels and country-style boules! Be a soaper! Make a double-Santa lathering soap!
Um, no. I'm painfully aware of my many limitations and soapmaking ranks high amongst them. I'll gladly pay for artisanal products. Thanks for the encouragement, though. :wink:

Re: Homemade Cedarwood soap - 4 years old

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 9:04 pm
by brothers
Yesterday I stumbled onto my old files that contain the recipe and the step by step directions I used. I recall I had a lot more energy back then. Even if I could make myself some soap again, when would I ever get around to actually using it? I'm sitting on 8 (soon to be 7) 5 year old tubs of some really good homemade soap that will certainly take some time to use up.

Re: Homemade Cedarwood soap - 4 years old

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 5:36 pm
by brothers
Using this soap every day for the last 49 days. Probably have 8 to 15 more shaves to go.

Re: Homemade Cedarwood soap - 4 years old

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 7:53 am
by brothers
I can see the bottom of the container in a few places now, looks like the end is near.

Re: Homemade Cedarwood soap - 4 years old

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2018 12:53 pm
by fallingwickets
time to pop the champagne :D :D

Re: Homemade Cedarwood soap - 4 years old

Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 2:17 pm
by brothers
This is what it looks like after 59 daily shaves -
Homemade Cedarwood after 59 shaves 13OCT2018.jpg
Homemade Cedarwood after 59 shaves 13OCT2018.jpg (521.45 KiB) Viewed 4742 times

Re: Homemade Cedarwood soap - 4 years old

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 4:44 pm
by brothers
It is gone after 60 shaves and the homemade soap has met and exceeded my expectations.