I've had an Idea!

Hey guys!

I know I'm new here. I haven't even got a razor as of yet, but I have had a thought.

Making your own shaving soap, while not a new idea, can give you more control over exactly what you want. For the discerning perfectionist, you see?

So I was thinking:

1. Take your favourite bar of soap. Mutilate it until it is in little pieces (maybe with a potato peeler).

2. Add a little boiling water.

3. Add some Glycerine, other stuff.

4. Mix, try and see how it goes!

I will let those of you who see this ponder, write what you think and perhaps tell me that I will fail (very likely), while I go and try this. I will attempt to take photos and post back within the hour.

Zelka

P.S. This is in my mind because I just had an extemp dispensing class and I was bored.

Just an intial picture to warm things up!

Good for you as a newbie to try coming up with new ideas and experimenting.

With soap, you can do as you're doing and mix soaps with other ingredients. My current shave soap was made by shredding a soap puck, adding a shave cream, and glycerine, then adding water and mixing it in a blender, then waiting for the lather to settle, pouring in a dish and allowing it to dry.

If you want to go a step further, there are a few members on here that make there own soaps from scratch. There are a few methods of doing that. That would give you total control over every ingredient in your soap.
I don't do that, so I can't give you much information, but there is a little bit of information on that in the wiki, and searching the forums will lead you to all kinds of valuable information.

Good luck with your experiments!

Thanks HNSB!

I ended up not adding anything but water and glycerine.

My soap pieces where too thick (i got a little lazy) and I did not have the right tools for the job.

Having said that it did work to some extent. The mixture lathered beautifully on my face.

I covered half my beard with it, the other half with normal warm water applied with the brush. The individual hairs felt smoother and plumper, and overall running my hand across my beard is much smoother, and I even went as far as to get a third party (my neighbour) to feel both sides and she agrees it feels "silkier on that side" :D

All in all, I think this is a good recipe that can be great with some trial and error. I will certainly attempt to dry it out into a soap like HNSB.

HNSB: Do you heat the finished product at all or do you let it air dry?

If you let it air dry, do you have a problem with uneven drying?

I use a cheese grater and grate it up. I put just a little hot water in it. Just enough to make it mix and heat it on the stove on medium. I made a wood wheel with a bolt for a shaft and put it in my drill press. I then press it down in a mug and use a sponge to soak up excess moisture and let it dry for two days until it shrinks and comes loose at the edges.

The process you are describing is called milling or rebatching and it is very popular in soapmaking. In fact, a large number of shaving soaps, actually of soaps in general, is made using this method, often 3 times (triple milled). As mackie says, you can use variations this process to mold milled soaps to containers at the expense of some of the scent. As you know, this is a somewhat involved process. I think that perhaps you used too much water to rebatch your soap. Perhaps this video will help you:

YouTube - How to make Lye Soap : Hand Milling or French Milling Soap for Homemade Lye Soap Making

Al raz.

A pringels patato can works for a mould for the smaller shave soap bars and you can cut off the bottom and press it out. Then cut it up.

Instead of adding boiling water directly to the soap, put the milled soap into a closable sandwich bag (zip lock or similar) along with 1-2 Tbs. of cold water (distilled water is best). Close the bag and then put this in a second bag and close this. Place the double bagged soap into a pan of simmering water and let it set until the mixture softens. It will look somehting like oatmeal when it is done right.

Add glycerine, lanoline, etc. and pour into your container.

This works best with real soap, most bath and face bars are acutally synthetics. Ivory is soap and does not contain any fragrences etc. (its also full of air but that goes away when you rebatch it).

Some things you might want to add.

glycerine
lanoline
some type of clay (bentonite is the common)
castor oil
Essential oils for fragrence

Go easy with the additives, a teaspoon of most is probably enough for a single bar. No more than 1-2 drops of the EOs

Nice!

Thanks guys!

I will most likely use the plastic bag idea and the Pringles idea. The plastic bag idea is epic because I do something similar to defrost my meat, I should have used the same principle the first time round!

This time I will let it dry out for a couple of days. I will see how it goes :D

I need to get myself a cheese grater as well hahaa

I will post back when I am done. Also as part of my studies we learnt about shampoos, soaps and the like, I will attempt to find my old study guides and notes.

Zelka

--other stuff --

Consider some clay.... clay is a classic shave soap addition.
Just a small amount....
Depending on your skin bentonite dries more than kaolinite
both add smoothness but not a slick like mayonnaise feeling.

Check out Kirks bar soap if you can find it.
Kirk's Castile Original Coco bar soap makes a lather easy
and might be a good compliment to the soap you have already
chosen to work with. It seems to lather with hard water which
is a big bonus for some. It is also inexpensive...