Thread: WeatherWaxWorkshops ( Homemade soap)

Here's the new one : Houhi-gassen


Bit of a "troll soap" hence the name.
Tried to get as close as possible to cold process soap, to see if you could make a "instamum soap". Turns out, practice says no, theory says no. Two colours that will slowly reveal a "yin yang" hopefully is as far as I could go.

It's a "glycerin soap" like my previous Oulipo. Which means it's a very strange beast when you compare it to the usual shaving soap. Chiefly, it will never be completely dry, and will always have a sweaty/sticky surface.
That's ok, it's a trade-off, which allows me to get something ridiculously easy to load on a brush, and that lathers like a beast.

The fragrance is a delicate and deep mint, with added menthol for an eye-watering freshness. Hinoki adds pepper, tea tree adds depth, lemon zest adds an acid fruitiness.

30% superfat, with coco, shea butter, avocado, castor and jojoba.

Just in time for summer!

Great work

So, I was wrong.

Talking about lard and tallow

@PaulFLUS
I'd wager they're so close they're almost swappable. That's just a parameter in the calculator, so I can have a look if need be.

So, I wanted to give lard a try. Boy did it go wrong.


The expected properties figures given by the calculator were good, but the damn thing was a gel, and would not lather.
I went back to the figures and there I saw what happened : stearic acid content was far too low (8% compared to my usual 24%).

Stearic acid is an absolute must have in a shaving soap, it must be in the top 3 ingredients, preferably first.

So, it appears that lard is rich in oleic acid (which gives the black colour I suppose, like in "black soap"), and while it contains stearin it's not enough by itself. Tallow is actually much better in that respect.

Luckily for me, the way I make my croaps allow me to melt them again at least once. So I melted it, and incorporated a dose of pure stearic acid soap.


Alright, now we're getting somewhere.

Tried shaving with it, and well so far I'd say it's overall better than what I was making a year ago when I first started, but it's not the creamy goodness of, for example the one above.

Interesting tradeoff, though, the thing reaaaaally slides. That's oleic acid for you.


Yes, it's quite ugly. I don't see the point in making pretty shaving soaps except to make it the point of a joke.

In terms of scent, it's oregano, oakmoss, vetiver, hinoki and cedarwood, smells like a walk in a damp wood. Perfect for the Fall.

Hence the name : WeatherWaxWorkshops "Arcturus", you know, the "Boar of Cornwall"

Something happened to some of the posts in this thread

What do you mean by that ? Looks good to me


Looks a bit cuter in its turned walnut box. Kept it rustic

Originally Posted by Aggelos

What do you mean by that ? Looks good to me

I mean it looked like some posts were missing. Maybe
I'm getting it mixed up with a different thread...????

Oh, I see what you mean.

I actually quoted you above from another thread by Cattleman02, about "spicy soaps". I thought I had derailed that thread enough as it was, and since what I wanted to say pertained more to my experiments in soapmaking than his search for bay rum soaps, I kept both separated

Sorry for the confusion.