Melting down shaving soaps.

So, hopefully i can make this story short...
I recently bought a cool, little scuttle with flying geese on it along with a matching brush (which i upgraded from boar to silvertip...that was cool.)
Okay, back to the story...so, i had three large pucks of col. conk, unknown puck of homemade soap and a puck of Tobac. The first two melted nicely and quickly and were poured into smaller containers for shaping. However, the Tobac was highly resistant to melting and eventually gave in a little and yeilded me some unsightly lumps, which i went ahead and poured anyhow.
Question: What on earth is in Tobac that could resist microwaves and why am i putting it on my face? Sigh...i cant get enough of the smell, so i dont want to give it up, but im kindof concerned as to what its made up of and should i really be putting it on my face...i have been breaking out a little more since i started using it, but its hard to pinpoint, since my acne seems to be cyclic too.
Anyone have some suggestions or know more about Tobac?

Looks alright to me <Products Ingredients Database - The Shave Den>

Tabac Shaving Soap
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Potassium Cocoate, Aqua, Sodium Tallowate, Parfum, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, CI 77891, Limonene, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, Citronellol, Courmarin, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Geraniol, Evernia Prunastri (Oakmoss) Extract, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Isoeugenol, Benzyl Salicylate, Benzyl Alcohol, Eugenol, Citral, Evernia Furfuracea (Treemoss) Extract.

As for the acne, I can't really talk to that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bpave777

Looks alright to me <Products Ingredients Database - The Shave Den>

Tabac Shaving Soap
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Potassium Cocoate, Aqua, Sodium Tallowate, Parfum, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, CI 77891, Limonene, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, Citronellol, Courmarin, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Geraniol, Evernia Prunastri (Oakmoss) Extract, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Isoeugenol, Benzyl Salicylate, Benzyl Alcohol, Eugenol, Citral, Evernia Furfuracea (Treemoss) Extract.

As for the acne, I can't really talk to that.

---

Wow!
Maybe i should stick with the natural stuff...good thing i dont eat it. Seems to have the same ingredients as a McMuffin. :cry:

Ingredients in plain english; Stearic Acid, Tallow, Coconut oil, Glycerine and a bunch of artificial surficants, essentials oils and perfumes as well as a preservative.. Not as bad as it sounds. LOL

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CarrieM

Ingredients in plain english; Stearic Acid, Tallow, Coconut oil, Glycerine and a bunch of artificial surficants, essentials oils and perfumes as well as a preservative.. Not as bad as it sounds. LOL

---

Thanks!
I do love the Tobac...maybe i can some up with another way of either getting smaller pucks of it, or someone has a suggestion on how to properly melt it for transfering.

Mac

You can only melt and pour glycerin based soaps. You can't melt triple milled, tallow based, or other hard soaps, and you can burn or ruin them if you try.

To transfer the hard soaps to other containers/mugs/bowls, you can mill them with a cheese grater, either the rotary hand one or even just the regular cheese grater. Then, just press and repack it into your new container.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pjrage

You can only melt and pour glycerin based soaps. You can't melt triple milled, tallow based, or other hard soaps, and you can burn or ruin them if you try.

To transfer the hard soaps to other containers/mugs/bowls, you can mill them with a cheese grater, either the rotary hand one or even just the regular cheese grater. Then, just press and repack it into your new container.

---

Ah...that is totally helpful. Thanks!

Mac

Well, this is not completely true. Milled soaps are rebatched (milled), often as many as 3 times and hence the name (triple milled). For this, you melt the softened soap and then add your additional ingredients to the mix. I do this all the time with very good results, I just do not use a microwave oven. Perhaps the only thing to be aware of while rebatching is that the scent and other volatile components can be partially or totally lost during the process. Hopefully this video/s would illustrate the method (there are several videos in the same page): Hand Milling or French Milling Soap for Homemade Lye Soap Making | Expert Village Videos

Al raz.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pjrage

You can only melt and pour glycerin based soaps. You can't melt triple milled, tallow based, or other hard soaps, and you can burn or ruin them if you try.

To transfer the hard soaps to other containers/mugs/bowls, you can mill them with a cheese grater, either the rotary hand one or even just the regular cheese grater. Then, just press and repack it into your new container.

---

Glycerin is required in a soap for it to be easily melted. It is removed from most modern soaps. If you purchase glycerin soap, you will find it very easy to melt. That is what I do.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

As said, its the soaps comprised of lots of glycerin that melt with just a few seconds microwaving, but when you do this you want to stir the soap til it cools so as to disperse the clay evenly throughout the soap again.

Some hard soaps such as the triple milled ones just won't melt no matter what. The best way to deal with these is by grating them and packing the shavings into a container, then adding a few drops of water to help them combine a little better. As I recall, Tabac is one such soap that needs to be grated.

---

Thats a great idea. I had a hard soap that I grated and tried to squash into shape. I just ended up with a puck of soap that liked to disintegrate. I ended up mixing it with a few drops of good shower soap and needing it into a dough. Then it was easy to squash into shape. I didn't even think of using water.
Not to worry. I used it last night and the result was fantastic.