Thread: VDH Soap Experiment

I melted a puck of VDH to conform to my ramekin bowl. I think I may have "nuked" it too long, approx 20 seconds, and it completely liquified. At that point I figured "what the heck", and mixed some African Black Soap shave butter into it for good measure. It smells great, but my question is this: Will it turn pack to its original solid form, or did I just make a bowl of goo?

I've only melted soap a couple of times (VDH & Williams) and from what I have read 10 seconds seems to be the average time used. At that point you can add cologne/aftershave or whatever to scent the soap or combined different soaps.

As far as what you have returning to its original form a more experienced member will have to chime in with info.

All that worrying was for nought- the soap has hardened back up. For future reference, I will nuke for 10 seconds instead of 20.

Normally (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) Glycerin based soaps can be melted and poured, I'd do the the microwave at 1/2 power and watch it.

Tallow based soaps need to be grated and pressed, like MWF. I'd imagine VDH could easily be grated. I use a fine cheese grater.

I do this also with VDH Deluxe. I've poured some bay rum aftershave in as well, and that gives it a nice fragrance.

I've shaped soaps into bowls by nuking, grating, and using the double boiler method.

I find that:
* Grating, then pressing the soap shavings into a bowl works very well for hard soaps.
* The double boiler method works very well for soft and glycerin soaps. It doesn't work well for hard soaps. You just have to make sure that you don't get any water in the melted soap.
* Nuking can be challenging, but can be successfully used on either hard or soft soaps. You have to manage the microwave heat power level and nuke times properly. A longer nuke time at a lower power level is ideal to keep from damaging the soap, especially its scent.

I'm having trouble lathering vdh. I get it to the cool whip/meringue consistency and it feels silky smooth between the fingers but it starts going transparent on my face before I can even get one cheek shaved.

Originally Posted by Vegita182

I'm having trouble lathering vdh. I get it to the cool whip/meringue consistency and it feels silky smooth between the fingers but it starts going transparent on my face before I can even get one cheek shaved.

What VDH are you using? Deluxe? Luxury? Glycerin?

What type of brush are you using? Boar? Badger?

It sounds like you're not getting enough soap on your brush. How long do you swirl the brush on the soap? With VDH Luxury you should try to swirl a badger brush on it for at least a minute. Otherwise, you may get a water-downed lather.

Originally Posted by henryconchile

What VDH are you using? Deluxe? Luxury? Glycerin?

What type of brush are you using? Boar? Badger?

It sounds like you're not getting enough soap on your brush. How long do you swirl the brush on the soap? With VDH Luxury you should try to swirl a badger brush on it for at least a minute. Otherwise, you may get a water-downed lather.

Its the select. I always seem to have too much Water but I've taken it to the dry side and it just isn't holding up. I'm using the vdh boar brush.

Originally Posted by Vegita182

Its the select. I always seem to have too much Water but I've taken it to the dry side and it just isn't holding up. I'm using the vdh boar brush.

The VDH boar brush was the first shave brush I ever used years ago. I always had problems lathering with it. It just didn't hold lather well enough for me. When I switched to a badger brush, I saw a huge improvement in my lather.

I think the problem is with the VDH brush's ability to hold water. I still have the boar brush, but I use it to strip bristles from it and do the HHT on my straight razors when I hone them. I will try lathering on a VDH soap tonight with my old VDH boar brush to see if I can get good results. I'll let you know what I find out.