Thread: Making shave cream with Dr. Bronner's Soap? Shave gels?

Dr. Bronner Soaps are excellent soaps made from natural organic oils including coconut, olive, and hemp oil. Its texture and lather ability make me guess that if combined with other ingredients or techniques it might make an excellent shave cream. I am not sure how that might happen. Has anyone ever tried shaving with Dr. Bronner's Soap and/or Dr. Bronner's Shave Gel? It seems like a straight forward process as the base is already there. Any comments about shave gels in general are welcome also.

After looking further in SRP forum I found the links and info that pertain, Eco-Friendly Homemade Shaving Cream: How to Make Shaving Cream

membudo,
Thanks so much for the link as i have been trying to find the best and most natural shaving cream at a reasonable price and i think i might give this a try. Have you tried this yet?
Cheers

membudo,
i have been using Dr. Bronner's for over 18 years now and i have tried to get their shaving soap, but have been unsuccessful finding it here in Canada and ordering it from the US would be too expensive with shipping. i have often thought about shaving with Dr. Bronners, but i do not think the lather will hold up through the whole shave and you will waste too much soap in the process.
Cheers

I started using a shaving brush in 1973 thereabouts and when I ran out of Old Spice or maybe it was Williams I grabbed up my bar of Dove and lathered in my hand. Shaved that way for years. I sometimes used Dr Bonner's Peppermint back in those days. I don't remember if I ever lathered with it but probably did. Now I use "real" shaving soaps and creams but there is no reason not to try it. You'll find you either like it well enough or you won't. Let us know how it works for you.

Dr. Bronners shaving gel is on amazon.com. Anyone try it?

Thanks for all the responses. I am fairly certain that the best oil to add to this shaving cream recipe would be Hemp oil. Al Raz made a comment on an earlier thread suggesting that long chain EFA's would be the best for lather. I have not experimented with it yet but I will post pictures if so.

For what it's worth, have been shaving with Dr. Bronner's liquid soap for years. This has been with disposable razors and cartridges -- I'm waiting for my first straight razor now. I do plan on trying a lather with Dr. Bronner's once I get things squared away with technique and using standard shaving soaps.

The way I've been using Dr. Bronner's so far is usually in the shower with a fog-free mirror, and simply making a lather with my hands and then rubbing into the beard. It's always worked well for me. Bronner's soap is super-fatted, and the soap retains the glycerine formed in the soapmaking process.

As a result it seems to lubricate well, at least compared to the commercial shaving gels I used prior to that. And it seems to eagerly form a lather even when I've been in locations with hard water. The plant oils used seem to be a well-balanced mixture of coconut,olive, jojoba, and hemp, in deliberate proportions. Not sure how it will do with a straight razor or compare to "real" shaving soap but I'll be interested to see how it works up with a brush.

I've used Dr. Bronner's soap for years. Just haven't used any in the years between 1985 and 2011! Well, just picked some up recently and tried using the liquid almond scented as a shave soap. I don't remember ever using Dr. Bronner's for shaving, but have to say that it did quite well. Didn't lather anywhere near as well as traditional shave soaps, but kept my face moist and lubricated. And I'll swear that Bronner's softened my beard as well as, if not better than, my usual soaps do. I just wet the brush, and then poured a few drops of soap into the center. Not bad.