Thread: Making soap

Some of the more intriguing soaps are rather pricey. I've always been the type that if I can't afford to buy something I research how to make it instead. I've done the melt and pour type of soap in the past but the results weren't all that remarkable. I was using goats milk base though. Some of the expensive shaving soaps are advertised as handmade so I'm assuming they mean from scratch. I can see making my own soap as a way of fine tuning the finished product to do exactly what I want. It's possible to mix different pre-made soap bases to fine tune a soap up to a point. When I priced them they aren't all that cheap any more not like they were when I first tried it. It looks like the cost difference between buying soap bases and raw materials for scratch made soap isn't much. The main difference is that melt and pour is safe but making soap from scratch can be down right dangerous. Lye (sodium hydroxide) is used to saponify vegetable oils. I've got some of the safety equipment from other dangerous things I've done in the past. I've never done a soap from scratch though.

I know some of you have done soap making of both types. Is it really worth it to make shaving soap from scratch?

Lori

I don't find that making soap is worth the effort. There are great soaps out there to be had for not much money. Of the homemade soaps I've made (both cold process and melt & pour) they really don't seem to last as long as some of the really great soaps out there. The other thing is that, for the cost, many of the more expensive soaps aren't that expensive when you consider the longevity like what is found in MWF.
I have known many great soapers in the shaving world and the rest of the world. Most of these soapers cannot make a great shaving soap and even some of the very best soapers couldn't make what I would consider a passable shave soap.
I find making shaving soap to be a fun endeavor, but in my opinion it should not be done to save money.

I know where you're coming from with that LoriB, I'm sort of the same way. It's not that they are so expencive, like Gerrit says they last a long time and there are also many soaps that are great, for little money - and still, I've developed this thought that making my own soap would be a fun thing to do. So I've researched, quite a bit. Seems to me the major problem is, you want to use a good amount of stearic acid in making a shave soap, and as I understand it, this irrevokably calls for a hot process. This point is what has stopped me from going further. On the other hand, MWF lists tallow, coconut and glycerin as the main ingredients, and those could be done cold process no problem. So my research has not yet been archived in the "forget it, this is nonsense" folder

I don't make my own soap, but I've worked with a few that do it for a living, and I can tell you this. Goat's Milk is not the way to go. Don't ask me why, but most soap makers find that it doesn't work well for shave soap. If your planning on doing it, I'd look at it as a hobby, not a way to save money on shave soap. You learn something new, you may like, and then down the road, you actually have your free shave soap. I imagine like anything else, there's an initial investment....
Just my two cents...

Respirator and eye protection I've got so I wouldn't have to invest in a lot of really expensive equipment in that sense. Mostly I would have to buy the oils and lye. But even cold process is dangerous, messy and time consuming and you have to have room to store the soap while it cures. I've thought before that it might be fun to try but my kids were little then so it was out of the question.

Some shaving soaps are incredibly expensive. Some of them are more than my "mad money" allowance that I put aside for myself every week. (Obie, stop reading here.) There is one soap that I would have to save up for a month to afford one puck along with shipping. Compared to that soap one run of cold process soap would cost less than one of their pucks. It's possible to make educated guesses about the ingredients they use based on the properties of a soap. It sounds like fun till I imagine getting burned by lye.

Thanks for your input.

Lori

"I love bacon. I don't want to raise pigs though"
a quote from my Dad, since this is anniversary of his passing

Seriously, the man LOVED bacon.

If you want to do it for fun and the experience and knowledge you will gain, go for it. Otherwise, it's probably best to suck it up and buy some good soap. Even the expensive stuff. I haven't managed to talk my wife in to letting me buy Obie's favorite but come winter time when I start skiing again I'll buy myself some. I may have convinced my wife that shaving with a straight (Vintage and Poor Man's Strop) was going to cost less than 6 months worth of disposable blades. That was about 6 months ago. Now I have a shelf with 7 soaps, 2 brushes, 4 razors, 2 strops (plus balsa for CrOx) 4 after shaves and 2 after shave balms and will soon have a barber's hone in the mail. I won't even mention the 5 razors that are in a drawer waiting for me to clean them up and try my hand at building some scales for them...
Where was I??? Oh yeah, while you can save money by straight/DE shaving it's more pleasurable not to . My most expensive cream cost about $25 after shipping. The rest cost $10 or less. So far the only thing I've managed to use up is the small tube of Proraso that I started with. Most of the others get used 1-2x a week (I have a couple for travel only) and after 6 months there's barely a dent in them. Right now I'm saving up for a set of Norton's and some MWF in the cool container that makes it so expensive. And, quite honestly, I'm kind of having fun waiting and saving for the MWF after hearing so much about it. After that, it's on the the pricey stuff. If I'm going to be doing this for a long time I can at least enjoy myself.
Well crap. I got lost. Anyhoo, if you make your own, keep us posted and let us know how it comes out.

Originally Posted by LoriB

Is it really worth it to make shaving soap from scratch?

Probably not. I consider myself to be a good home shave soap maker. I can modify melt and pour and get a decent soap but its not as good as most like. Goats milk soap I cant get to do much of anything. My goal was to make a cheap soap for myself. I did and others can agree its good. It took many many batches of crap soap to get a good soap. To make good soap youve got to use good ingredients. Ive sold many a puck of mine and to be honest its almost not worth the hassle. I cant get the price super low and still make money. Now if you want to make it for fun and use it then go ahead.

Originally Posted by LoriB

I know some of you have done soap making of both types. Is it really worth it to make shaving soap from scratch?

Lori

I think it is since a small batch will yield a pound of soap which is 4 bars depending how you cut it.

The up front cost is rather expensive especially if you buy some high end fragrance oils..some of them can cost up to $30.00 an ounce. But once you have all the ingredients bought in bulk you'll have soap for a few years. Of course I'm talking just shower soap, shaving soap is a little differant and takes some experimenting. My first three batches were lye heavy and burnt my skin even after a year of sitting..needles to say they went in the trash. Once I found a good recipe and with a little altering I have plenty of shaving soap for a long long time.
But like the others have stated it's not really worth the hassle to try and sell it unless you live in an erea were no one else makes home made soap.