Thread: WeatherWaxWorkshops ( Homemade soap)

Still 20 days to go until I can use take it for a real spin (that is, on my face), but I could not resist making a "test lather" today.

On the minus side, it's more a cream than a soap for now, but dang, the lather is good


I'm very happy with the result on my first try.
I used a recipe that's been approved by a good few French shavers. It's far easier than expected.

Martin de Candre lets
their soap dry for 6 months and it is still a croap

Aaaaand... It works ! Surprisingly well at that !

Shaved twice. Still a bit creamy in the original container, but after a few days in the bathroom it's getting more solid.

Very happy with this first batch!

Originally Posted by Aggelos

Still 20 days to go until I can use take it for a real spin (that is, on my face), but I could not resist making a "test lather" today.

On the minus side, it's more a cream than a soap for now, but dang, the lather is good


I'm very happy with the result on my first try.
I used a recipe that's been approved by a good few French shavers. It's far easier than expected.

Hi there
I'm interested in trying the recipe, could you help find it?
Matt

Did you use KOH instead of NaOH in some percentage?
This could explain the creaminess.

There's so much I should add to this thread now lol

@mattnat : well it's actually really simple, provided you have a Crockpot or a double boiler and a stick blender. And since it's superfatted hot process soap, you can use it almost immediately (like 24h and go). It will get better in time mind you, but you can use it immediately.

Since I have it on hand, I'll provide the original recipe I used for the above soap, because with all its flaws it works pretty damn well.

In the crockpot or boiler, melt
Stearic acid (or palm stearin) 135 g
Coco oil 107 g
Lanolin 5 g

In the meantime, prepare the rest of superfat and additives in a different bowl

10 g aloe vera juice
5 g sweet almond (jojoba or
22 g glycerin
16g for fragrances (most soap makers advise to use fragrance oils like Brambleberry like "a shave and a cut" but a lot of amateur shaving soap makers use essential oils, as do I)

At that point, you can also add a teaspoon of clay like kaolin or bentonic clay to the additives. It's important to put it at that point so that it can stabilise fragrances it time. Or so they say


NOW FOR THE DANGEROUS PART: READ CAREFULLY BEFORE DOING ANYTHING
We are going to prepare the lye solution.

Some soap makers use 50% NaOH (caustic lye, that you can find everywhere) 50% KOH. We use exclusively KOH (caustic potash) that can be a bit harder to source over here.

WARNING : the simple fact of dissolving or diluting an acid or a base with water are EXTREMELY EXOTHERMIC REACTIONS, which means that the lye solution WILL GET BOILING HOT even if you do things correctly.
And lyes are a nasty thing that will instantaneously turn the fat on your skin in soap, resulting in chemical burns (think Fight Club)
- USE GLOVES
- DO IT IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA
- ACID/BASE IN WATER, NEVER THE OPPOSITE
- ADD THE KOH PROGRESSIVELY

In a separate bowl,
- pour 95g of water.
- You should add about 16g of salt at this point and dissolve it.
- You can add some table sugar or sorbitol at this point, a few grams will do (16 is a tad too much, makes for a sticky soap)
Now take your time to incorporate 38-40g of KOH (there is no need to be overly precise, the soap is too superfatted for mistakes). Wait for it to be clear.

AND NOW LET'S MAKE SOAP !

At that point a strainer/sieve might be useful because sometimes even after stirring for a while, some impurities stay in the lye.

Caution : from this point on, things are going crazy fast, be at the ready

Carefully pour the lye in the melted fats (with strainer if needed).
Stir with a stick blender until the plot starts to thicken
Immediately add the bowl with additives

Continue blending until you feel that you can't do anything else with the forbidden mayonnaise that you now have it the pot.

Put the forbidden mayonnaise in pots or baking trays to cool down and dry.

Congratulations, you have shaving soap

Originally Posted by Slur

Did you use KOH instead of NaOH in some percentage?
This could explain the creaminess.

As said above, I use exclusively KOH. But that was not exactly the issue.
In hindsight, I think I used too much water on the first batch. A few months later the soap is as hard as a MDC can be.

Nowadays I don't use exactly the recipe above because it's full of little flaws that an experienced soapmaker will see.

I'm proud to say that branching from this recipe I've made a batch for the French Coupe Chou Club which was unanimously lauded.

Nowadays I have two main recipes for my shaving soap, one "basic" which is based on the above and an "advanced" which is... Very different.

And a lot of different products lol
- Japonisme : shaving soap, beard oil, moustache wax, fresh and sharp
- Oulipo : advanced shaving soap, beard oil, mossy and woody
- Sfumato : beard shampoo, shaving soap, beard oil
- Ladies Boudoir Honey : gentle liquid soap for ladies
- Wednesday: Gentle superfatted solid soap, for sensitive skins and skincare routines
- And a still unnamed superfatted shampoo for sensitive skin and fragile hair

Argh... I had posted everything in detail for the recipe in a post above that was deleted by an edit in the mobile version Y_Y

Can an admin retrieve it or do I have to post everything again ? It was a looooong post Y_Y

Dammit ! Why are my posts deleted when I try to edit them with the mobile version?

There was a long post with everything detailed about the recipe. Can an admin somehow find it ?

Originally Posted by Aggelos

Dammit ! Why are my posts deleted when I try to edit them with the mobile version?

There was a long post with everything detailed about the recipe. Can an admin somehow find it ?

Restored now