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Thread: Greener Soaps?

  1. #21
    The original Skolor and Gentileman. gugi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by joke1176 View Post
    As far as "green hones" goes...get a vintage from ebay or someone on the forums. It's the ultimate in recycling!
    Oh, I'm so gonna use this on the next hone I sell

    Quote Originally Posted by JimR View Post
    though if yoU7re worried about animal issues then I would certainy not recommend using badger--they are harvested in China, and no matter what anyone tells me about "humane harvesting" and "people eat them", I have no faith in Chinese animal husbandry and humane treatment.
    Well, in their defense I believe they do eat the meat, and if they have use for the bones, I'd consider it a fairly green process


    Anyways, looks like you're pretty much set for now. It's hard seeing you torture yourself with the boar brush conundrum, but I'm sure you'll come up with a satisfactory solution.
    And some people like to mix cream with soap, so don't worry about the Williams too much. But I suspect it's more the lard in it that's troubling you than the idea of wasting it, although I may be wrong.

  2. #22
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    Do you think you could advertize as green if you had a brush company where you just went into the countryside, pulled a tuft of hair from a badgers ar*e and then just ran off?! It may be a little angry but it would live to tell the tail

  3. #23
    Senior Member blabbermouth JimR's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gugi View Post
    {snip}

    Well, in their defense I believe they do eat the meat, and if they have use for the bones, I'd consider it a fairly green process
    {snip}
    I have no doubts that they eat the meat. It's not the "green" thing that I care about as much as the fact that China has a crap record when it comes to careful treatment of animal species; I mean, the Giant Panda is still sometimes sold as food in Shanghai street markets, despite it being 1) incredibly endangered and 2) the national symbol to the world. Am I supposed to believe that badgers will be protected better? The reason that we have to get badger hair from China is that badger hunting in Europe is heavily controlled due to overhunting--they're almost extinct there. If they go extinct in China, then they're gone.

    Now, some people don't think it's a big deal, and that's no problem for me. I'm not even that politically interested in it myself, but the fact remains that when people saay "The badgers are killed in a humane way, and the Chinese officials make sure there is no overhunting", my BS meter almost explodes. Don't even get me started on the whole "badgers are farmed and gently shaved so there is no harm to them at all" stuff...

  4. #24
    cla
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    I am unsure how many people in this forum will actually see this new posting buried on the second page of an old post but here goes. China and eating badger/boar meat aside..........I came across a web site greenyour.com which actually turned me on to straight razor shaving. This site has a section about "Green" Shaving Products for both men and women I am unsure whether these products are sold in local stores but it is worth a shot.
    Here are some other green soaps Aloe Vera Soap, Sassafras Soap, and Basil and Mint.

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by nobby View Post
    Do you think you could advertize as green if you had a brush company where you just went into the countryside, pulled a tuft of hair from a badgers ar*e and then just ran off?! It may be a little angry but it would live to tell the tail

    You sir, have CLEARLY never encountered a badger up close!

    I can just picture the news report now....

    Well meaning environmentalist attempts to collect badger hair from wild badgers to make animal friendly shave brushes, and is savagely mauled to death by the worlds most vicious animal under 25 lbs.

    lol

  6. #26
    Freakin' Ladies Man Hillie's Avatar
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    Let me start by asking you what do you consider green? There are a few aspects and they might be conflicting when looking for shaving gear. The most "green" would be to not shave, but the resulting green-ness might be predominantly found in the color of your wife's face and the color of the paper departing your possession after the divorce attorney paid a visit.

    If you opt for "not hurt animals", you'd best go with anything synthetic or plant based. But how many animals died or suffered for the farms for your plant-based kit, or in the oilrefining processes? If you opt for "lowest pollution" you'll need to factor in transportation. Buying a locally-made animal product in general has less impact than flying in a plant-based product from the other side of the world (and then we haven't even looked at the gathering of all ingredients and the chain goes on and on and on ). Picking "least impact on nature" is also difficult. Both plants and animals are farmed, which requires land. Animals require, farmed usually, foods. Synthetic stuff requires a chemical plant of some sorts for the base product. All products need to be manufactured, which means a production plant. And yes, those big factories are ugly (and of course polluting), but they have the advantage of working big-scale. The small neighbourhood workplace with handmade products looks nice and traditional, and it is, but keep in mind that to be able to serve the same market, you'll need a lot of them and I doubt whether that'll be less impacting than one big factory. Of course you then have the added transportation from the big factory, etcetera, but you get the picture.....

    .....choosing "green" isn't as easy as one might think.


    I find it very unfortunate that the so-called (yes, I am very cynical about them and one could consider this a rant) environmental movements/groups usually focus on a single point of attention (i.e. palm-oil farms are hot these days), instead of looking at the bigger picture. The bigger picture is sensationally complex and many factors impact each other and ripple through to others. Which makes the bigger picture difficult to grasp and of course less sexy for the marketing. And yes, the greenies market too, in general the aim is the feeling of guilt of the public. [/rant]


    Don't get me wrong, I prefer to have a "low environmental impact" as well, to some degree, and I wish you luck in finding a solution that works well for you.

  7. #27
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    If you want to take it to an extreme, just use water and some oil of choice to shave with. Any oil you are happy to cook with / add to food will act as shaving oil - and work better than canned foam. And no need for a brush. Not everyone's cup of tea, but it would work just fine.

  8. #28
    Senior Member persco's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LuckyCynic View Post
    Apparently they say that this is a good synthetic. It seems to cost a decent amount so at least I know it probably isn't one of incredibly poor quality.

    men-u Premier Shaving Brush and Stand, with FREE Shaving/Skin Travel Set.
    I have a Men-U premier brush and do not like it much. It is very floppy. Plus, it is very crappily built. The handle it comes with is really cheap plastic. I just got a Jack Black brush and it is built like a tank. Very good quality. Plus it is a much denser brush and seems better with the triple-milled, non-tallow soaps I use. The brush is the biggest challenge I have found in wetshving without using animal products. For every other aspect there are great alternatives, but mimicking the performance and quality of a badger hair brush has left a lot to be desired. I have tried the Body Shop brush, too. But have not tried the Omegas. I have heard they are also pretty floppy.

    Tony Miller -- wellshavedgentleman.com -- makes very high quality vegan strops. I have been using one for almost a year and it works very well. He takes making vegan alternatives very seriously, and will work with you to make whatever you want. He made a very nice cotton strop for me that I use for sharpening pastes, and it uses the same synthetic components where normally he would use leather. The two strops match perfectly and are high quality.

  9. #29
    Senior Member blabbermouth Kees's Avatar
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    For vegan shaving soaps look here: No animal products shaving soap list - Badger & Blade
    Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr.

  10. #30
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    Shave dry, Use water, Go roman with olive oil, step up to saponification of that olive oil to castile soap, save your excess animal/vegetable fats from cooking and process with your own hard wood ashes... how far do you want to go? That being said it looks like you have your problem solved.

    Also my understanding is palm oil comes from the fruits where palm kernel oil comes from the kernels while both from Arecaceae Elaeis. It's the kernel oil that actualy contains the 12 carbon saturated lauric chains in it's tryglycerides in any appreciable amount.... you know just incase you have to make sodium lauryl sulfate some time soon don't want to get fired over ordering palm oil instead of the kernel oil....

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