Thread: Home made?

Has anyone made their own shaving soaps?
I've been cold-processing for a few years; wondering if anyone has recipes or suggestions for ingredients.

I'm also interested in this topic.

Is that even worth it? I mean, having to figure out the ingredients to be used, the ratios, the quality of ingredients, and experimenting with all that can't be cheap.

I never seen any specific recipes other than from google searches and those are mostly what goes into and how to s on you tube.
What soaps are you making now ? I have wanted to try it but I need another project started like I need a hole in the head :<0) Go for it though.

Originally Posted by mainaman

Is that even worth it? I mean, having to figure out the ingredients to be used, the ratios, the quality of ingredients, and experimenting with all that can't be cheap.

My opinion only, it just isn't worth it for personal use, now if your ramping up to sell, I suggest you talk to some of the artisan soap makers and see if they can encourage you on the subject, as for your own use, I can't see it, I can buy the most expensive stuff around and I think it would be more economical, But hey some have other hobbies so have fun. Tc

Lots of great choices on Etsy. It might be fun to try however.

Hey guys, I'm worried this is getting outside the realm of this forum, but to address economy and ingredients of soapmaking:

Yes, making soap does feel like a hobby, but if you can find a recipe that you like, you can take an hour of work and make enough soap for 5 years for a cost of probably $ 30. That's efficient and economical - even if you're only paying a dollar per 100g for your store soap. The major selling point to me, though, is knowing all the ingredients and their sources.

That said, from what people have PMed me on the subject, shaving soap is a more difficult soap-making adventure. A quick rundown: glycerine added after trace, hot process recommended (more chance for danger), KOH rather than NaOH recommended.

Just to give you an idea of how simple the ingredient list can be for soap: oil, water, lye.
That's it.
I add stuff like coffee grounds and make different oil mixes, but that's how simple it can be and if you've measured things properly, it should take about forty minutes of intermittent stirring for cold process.

For most shaving soap, I think you're going to have both KOH and NaOH. Good results for lather and soap hardness appears to be in the 60% KOH:40%NaOH area. I've been thinking about it myself. Not sure if I want to mess with it though.

In another thread we also discussed adding clay. Bentonite clay is use for slip of the razor. Also, most of us soap makers use large amounts of coconut oil and I don't think the resulting lather would be right. I would think a high amount of castor oil should be the base. With palm perhaps being the next highest amount. This is what I was thinking of.
I make bath soap now so with a Little tweaking I may come up with something good.
May be if we all collaborate we can come up with a good product.

Originally Posted by Cohibamatt

In another thread we also discussed adding clay. Bentonite clay is use for slip of the razor. Also, most of us soap makers use large amounts of coconut oil and I don't think the resulting lather would be right. I would think a high amount of castor oil should be the base. With palm perhaps being the next highest amount. This is what I was thinking of.
I make bath soap now so with a Little tweaking I may come up with something good.
May be if we all collaborate we can come up with a good product.

If you want to be attacked by hordes of environmentalists, by all means use palm oil. Otherwise, that's a good oil to avoid. Incidentally, if you're getting your info from soapcalc or something similar, that's not going to help you much with shaving soap recipes.