Thread: Soap Lathering Question

Hello,
First post on the forum happy to be here have already learned so much.
I have been shaving with Sraight Razors and Safetys for about 4 months now, and i will never go back.
I have had one problem that i cant seem to figure out.
I've been using Dirty Deeds Shaving Soap, great brand extremely happy with all of the product i have gotten from them. Their scents and feel are great, but i can't seem to get my soap lather to stay. it just dries out and basicly dies before i even finish my first pass(which really it doesnt take me more than about 2 minutes to do my first pass). Curious if any one if familiar with their products, or if any one has some ideas on what the problem might be it would be greatly appreicated.
Thank you for reading.

Welcome to SRP,

I don't have any experience with that soap, nor have I heard of it. Typically when that happens the lather isn't hydrated enough. Depending on how you lather the best fix might be to wet the tips of your brush and give it another once-over to moisten it.

Other options include loading the puck with a slightly wetter brush, or (if you bowl lather) adding more water to your mixture. I would however recommend trying only one technique at a time to reduce variables.

As mentioned, get some more water on the brush during the lathering. Try soaking the brush in hot water before the lather too.

What I also find helpful when lathering soaps in their own bowls or containers is pouring hot water on the soap, flooding the container a bit, and letting the water sit for about 10 seconds or so before pouring it out. This helps soften, wet, and warm up the soap for lathering.

It really depends on your method of lathering. Personally when using a soap, I try to get the brush wet and warm, shake it a time or two and give it a few swirls on the top of the soap while applying a little bit of pressure. Just enough to the the top portion of the brush filled with soap. Then I go straight to the face, and if it doesn't seem "lathery" enough, or slick enough I'll add a little water until it reached the smoothness that I prefer.

Never heard of the soap and we discuss a lot of soap brands around here. Personally I'd stick to one of the better known brands that has been vetted.

If after adjusting your water mixture if it's still the same then you have your answer.

Here is the little I know about making shave soaps. Good shave soaps even the cheap ones have oils that are soapified by both sodium hydroxide, and potassium hydroxide. As the ingredients don't list both hydroxides it could be any where from ok to good, but if you keep having trouble try Williams, Arko, or Palmolive all are cheap but good. Get some and practice lathering well through the puck/stick, you will learn a lot for just a few dollars. While you have all that lather go ahead and shave with it occasionally. Below are the ingredients for some of these soaps.

Dirty Deeds Shaving Soap etsy listing
Beer Soap Ingredients:
coconut, sustainable palm, safflower, aloe vera and castor oils, glycerin, bentonite or kaolin clay, cocoa butter, sorbitol sorbitan oleate, water, lye, soy bean protein, fragrance, beer

*some contain cosmetic grade dyes

Williams mug soap:
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Cocoate, Water, Glycerin, Fragrance, Sodium Chloride, Titanium Dioxide, Stearic Acid, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Etidronate; may also contain Sodium Palm Kernelate.

Arko Shave Stick:
Potassium Tallowate, Stearic Acid, Potassium Cocoate, Aqua, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Glycerin, Parfum, Paraffinum Luquidum, Titainum Dioxide, Tetrasodium EDTA, Etidronic Acid, Disodium Distrybiphenyl Disulfonate

Jonathan

OP,
Can't do much more but echo strongly what others have said here. Most of the artisan shaving soaps on Etsy are made by otherwise fine soap makers who don't understand the differences required in a shaving soap. It's worth trying these from time to time as a new worthwhile vendor will emerge as a great soapmaker (think of Mike's Natural Soaps, Calani, Savon des Volcans to name only three), but you should assemble a few well known and proven brands first so that you can perfect your technique.

I recently bought some "shaving soap" from a local soap maker in my small town at this year's Town Fair. I knew even at the moment of handing over the 8 bucks that it was going to be a disappointment, but if one doesn't leave oneself open to being proven wrong, then the world is a tired, dusty place. The puck produced overly frothy, light lather which didn't last more than a minute. Fortunately, I have a small apothecary of truly excellent soaps to call on and this went into the bath.

There are more excellent soaps than you can count and any recommendations are necessarily the result of bias by the user. For a relative newcomer though, I'd recommend a cream. Hard not to get good lather out of cream. Go to any of the online stores that specialize in shaving supplies and choose a couple of tubes of cream that appeal to you and try them out. I suspect you'll be shocked at the difference. If you just want to go straight to soaps, that's fine also, but you'll need to learn the vagaries of what each soap wants in terms of load times and water.

Good luck to you.

Thank you everyone that replied. I greatly appreicate it. I will post with results soon.