Mixing my own soap

[heroblob]

May well be Steve that the soap was over heated when i transferred it into the ramekin. Melted much quicker thn i expected and caught me out. Found that the limes only needed about 6-8sec and lathered easier and more readily gave up a richer lather.
The resulting shave was very good, as i said. And the skin feels very soft and clean.
Now i am learning be interested to see ho the Lavender goes.
Will give both the lime and the rose another go tomorrow with my 2201 and see if that loads better.
Keep up the good work, and i will try and keep up with my technique. :lol:

 

[Sunburyboy93]

May well be Steve that the soap was over heated when i transferred it into the ramekin. Melted much quicker thn i expected and caught me out. Found that the limes only needed about 6-8sec and lathered easier and more readily gave up a richer lather.
The resulting shave was very good, as i said. And the skin feels very soft and clean.
Now i am learning be interested to see ho the Lavender goes.
Will give both the lime and the rose another go tomorrow with my 2201 and see if that loads better.
Keep up the good work, and i will try and keep up with my technique. :lol:

:lol: :lol: was not knocking your technique, just that every soap has a certain way to be used to get the "sweet" spot with the lather, this is the way i have found most beneficial with mine, if you use too little water or not enough whipping in the bowl then the lather is thin, but the way i said seems to give nice thick creamy lather, but i think because of the amount of stuff i put in it, the lather is protective enough and gives glide even if it is thinner rather than thicker.

will make up some more of the lavender and send everyone a double tester, and see if the chaps can get the same results as me

 

[Pig Cat]

I have used the lime tester for the last two shaves. It performed very well, just as I'd expect any soap to really. I might compare it to Prairie Creations I suppose. I prefer it to the rose fragranced tester but I think this is more about the scent than the performance. The first tester you sent did make my face tingle when I used it but this second batch does not have that effect so that's all for the good.

 

[Lipsy]

Yup, I tried the lime last night. Soap in a cube is a genius idea, btw. I am sure that newbs would appreciate bite-size soap chunks to heat up in a ramekin… I am being serious.

Found it really good, fella. You said that it was thirsty, and it proved to be a bit of work (I have liquid rock coming out of my taps), but I got a great load of lather and it was stable right the way through to the end of my shave. It's didn't feel super-luxurious/cushioning, but it certainly gave me a really good, comfortable shave with plenty of lather.

I thought that the scent was subtle rather than in-your-face, which was sort of a shame but not in the grand scheme of things. It didn't leave my face feeling AMAZING like Briallen's HoneySpice soap did (though I got more useable, longer-lasting lather from your soap, tbf) and I did wonder if it would be drying on other people's faces – my skin felt a little normal/dry, but I have greasy skin so it worked well with my skin type.

All-in-all a good little soap, that. I was beginning to think that there was something wrong with my brush/me/my water regarding artisan soaps, but yours seems to work like a charm. I got proper, shaveable lather that really did the job – nice work!

Looking forward to trying out the rose, so thanks chap.

Lipsy

 

[slash]

My samples arrived today,cheers sunbury..will update in a short while how i got on..

 

[heroblob]

Steve,
Just finished using the rose. The resulting shave was clean close and irritation free, However i had some problems with the lather. Before i go anywhere can you damage the soap by over heating it when you melt it. The reason i ask was this was the first one i melted, placed cube in the ramekin and microwaved for 20sec. The soap boiled up in the ramekin within about 10sec and then cooled.
I soaked the soap while i showered and soaked the brush. Normal prep, and then went about whipping up a lather. I poured the water off the top of the soap and started to load the brush. After the initial soft soap had been picked up the soap was hard and it became very difficult to load any more soap.
The resulting lather was a little thinner than i am use to, and didn't cover my face in masses of thick creamy foam, but stayed fairly thin. However the foam remained stable throughout the shave and afforded enough protection and slickness to deliver a clean irritation free shave.
the results were good, but i didn't get that luxury feel i like from a thick creamy foam.
The scent was quite mild as well, i certainly would reduce the EO any more. Unless i over heated it and boiled the scent out.

Many thanks Steve, looking forward to the Lavender.

Well big apologies Steve.
Disregard any of the problems from above. Retried the rose today.
Followed a similar path, applied a little hot water to the top of the soap while the brush soaked and i showered. This time however i used the NF2201 Being a little stiffer. Poured the excess water off gently squeezed the excess water from the brush and went for it. This time the brush seemed to load nicely and the soap appeared to feel a little sticky under the brush as if it had softened slightly. Loaded until i started to see the bottom of the ramekin so i new i had loaded a reasonable amount of soap.
Now i transferred the brush to a bowl, added a little water and started whipping. The lather produced was much thicker than before and very nice scent.
Once happy i lathered up and shaved. very nice again good close shave. I did have one pass which dried a little on my face but nothing major.
After i had finished i decided to add a little more water to the brush and just have a play to see how much soap was left in the brush. Well I was amazed. I kept adding a little water at a time and kept whipping. The result was a bowl of lather larger than the one i had just used to shave, and i thought that had been a good bowl full. The quality of this second batch was equal to the first.
My conclusion.
Now i have played and found the sweet spot, i would say this soap is excellent. Very well done mate. I haven't had a bad shave with any of it so far, but now know how to get the luxurious thick lather i like to wipe on my face. 10/10.

 

[Sunburyboy93]

Thanks for the review matey

the rose formulation is the one i am going to go with, i have tweaked it a tiny bit for moisturising properties, and there will just be enough EO scent so as not to give and tingling or reaction to it. will be sending out a couple of cubes of this but lavender scented to everyone, then will produse some decent sized cakes of it and see how it goes from there, nod nod wink wink

Thank you everyone for being such lovely...............

 

[slash]

Right just used the lime tonight..
Treated it exactly the way i do when useing mama bears soap..ie water on top soaking for a few mins,brush soaking then squeezed out and one flick..poured water off the soap and set about it..same as mama bears took a good 1-2 mins to fully load up a good lather..then face lathered for another 2-3 mins..WoW mate was very very surprised..Not kissing arse mate but the lather was on a par with mama bears and that takes some beating...Have wread on here of people having a problem lathering with mamas which i just dont understand to be honest,Im more than happy with my stash of mamas but deffo would be interested in this if you decide to make/sell it..Very very well done mightly impressed..

 

[Sunburyboy93]

Right just used the lime tonight..
Treated it exactly the way i do when useing mama bears soap..ie water on top soaking for a few mins,brush soaking then squeezed out and one flick..poured water off the soap and set about it..same as mama bears took a good 1-2 mins to fully load up a good lather..then face lathered for another 2-3 mins..WoW mate was very very surprised..Not kissing arse mate but the lather was on a par with mama bears and that takes some beating...Have wread on here of people having a problem lathering with mamas which i just dont understand to be honest,Im more than happy with my stash of mamas but deffo would be interested in this if you decide to make/sell it..Very very well done mightly impressed..

cheers me old mate, nice to get some good reviews, i could be making some soon, nod nod wink wink :? :? , may be sold as a secret under the counter contraband !!!

if anyone would like to have a nice big cake of my special soap nod nod nudge nudge wink wink :? :? , they would need to PM me so i can see if there is enough interest :?

 

[Lipsy]

Do it in cubes – it's a genius idea. Seriously.

I honestly don't know why someone else hasn't done it. It's like the perfect idea for noobs. Seriously.

Lipsy

 

[Sunburyboy93]

Do it in cubes – it's a genius idea. Seriously.

I honestly don't know why someone else hasn't done it. It's like the perfect idea for noobs. Seriously.

Lipsy

it's handy as you just put what you want into a bowl and melt..........

 

[Lipsy]

Yeah, and it's perfect for folk just learning… I was genuinely impressed with it as a concept...

Lipsy

 

[Urban Hermit]

Do it in cubes – it's a genius idea. Seriously.

I honestly don't know why someone else hasn't done it. It's like the perfect idea for noobs. Seriously.

Lipsy

it's handy as you just put what you want into a bowl and melt..........

Yeah, and it's perfect for folk just learning… I was genuinely impressed with it as a concept...

Lipsy

• ... unless you don't have a microwave oven.
  
  • ... like me.[/list:u][/list:u]
    :roll:

 

[Yellow Jim]

Yeah, and it's perfect for folk just learning… I was genuinely impressed with it as a concept...

Lipsy

If you produce it in cubes Steve, you could produce a dozen or so different flavours(lemon, lime, rose, lavender, cedarwood, sandalwood...) and folks could mix up their own soap cocktail mix. How's that for a plan? DIY soap fragrances! Remember me when it makes you your first million.

 

[Lipsy]

Do it in cubes – it's a genius idea. Seriously.

I honestly don't know why someone else hasn't done it. It's like the perfect idea for noobs. Seriously.

Lipsy

it's handy as you just put what you want into a bowl and melt..........

Yeah, and it's perfect for folk just learning… I was genuinely impressed with it as a concept...

Lipsy

• ... unless you don't have a microwave oven.
  
  Are you stuck in 1975? :lol:
  
  Lipsy
  • ... like me.[/list:u][/list:u]
    :roll:

 

[Lipsy]

Yeah, and it's perfect for folk just learning… I was genuinely impressed with it as a concept...

Lipsy

If you produce it in cubes Steve, you could produce a dozen or so different flavours(lemon, lime, rose, lavender, cedarwood, sandalwood...) and folks could mix up their own soap cocktail mix. How's that for a plan? DIY soap fragrances! Remember me when it makes you your first million.

Obviously… Imagine a pack with different fragrances for the week/month… Like a try before you buy thing, or the perfect holiday/travel sampler or such… It lends itself nicely (notwithstanding the microwave issue, obv).

Still, it's worth thinking about.

Lipsy