Feedback on natural vegetable shaving soap

SoapAlchemist

SoapAlchemist

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As my shaving soap has begun to drop thorough letter boxes up and down the land, I'm setting up this thread so people can give their honest opinions on what they think of it. This will give any of you who are wondering whether to buy any or not an idea of whether to risk the investment, and will also be very useful for me to consider whether to tweek the recipe, and if so in what direction. So I'm hope the very knowledgeable shaving experts who are now (or about to be) the proud possessors of a puck/cake/round bar of soap, and even a couple of bowls will be able to rank it on all the relevant criteria in the fairly near future.
I tremble with trepidation.........
 
Soapalchemist's Warm Spice Shave Soap

I'd like to thank Soapalchemist(SA) for making a positive contribution to to the forum and for making a brave decision by engaging with us
and giving members a chance to review her soap. I think it would be fair to say that some members do have environmental and ethical concerns
about the products they use and would generally prefer to use more natural products if possible.

Rather than simply describe the performance of the soap I thought it would be wise to demonstrate the differences pictorially
with another soap. In this case I have used Palmolive soap which is a good performing tallow based shave soap that most members are familiar with. I have found the ceramic tile test in previous soap reviews to be an excellent medium in judging lather quality and stability.
To be fair I used the same brush, loaded the brush with as much soap as I thought necessary and "hand" lathered to achieve the best lather I could. There was a two minute interval between the application of both soaps, the first soap (Palmolive) was applied 2 minutes before the second soap (SA's) whilst I rinsed, reapplied and re-lathered.

Like other natural hand made soaps I have tried this soap has the texture of slightly soft wax and brush pick up was relatively easy.
The warm spice sent was not unpleasant, there are some elements of it that I liked but I found it to have a mixed identity being neither citrus, spice or wood. On lathering by hand I could certainly feel the benefit of the added clay and silk between my fingers but I found the lather very difficult to hydrate due to the instability of the lather, the lather really did start to disintegrate as soon as it was created and applied and had almost disappeared within the first 2 minutes. I repeated the test several times, building lather with different brushes but the results were no different. Other members who received a sample may have a different opinion but as I have a course beard a fully hydrated lather is paramount in being able to soften my beard, unfortunately this was just not possible with this current formulation.
 
Well, I can't pretend I'm not disappointed, but thank you for your honesty. It is all useful information as far as I'm concerned, this being the only one of my soaps that I can't use for its intended purpose myself. There are ways to improve the stability of the lather I think, without resorting to synthetic stabilisers.
However, I have been told that although the lather may not be as much as some soaps, the lubricating ability is better. I can only go on what I'm told.
With scent, it's such an individual thing there is no such thing as one that everyone will like.
Certainly, as regards its effects on the skin, I have customers who used to find shaving a very irritating experience causing them to have an itchy rash, who tell me that my soap has greatly improved their skin.
But I will wait to hear some more feedback......before I decide to take up knitting instead :)
P.S. Antdad - have you tried shaving with it, or has the tile test instilled too much fear into you to give it a try?
 
P.P.S. Antdad, seems like you have a good nose, and the soap does of course have elements of wood, citrus and spice. I find the mix is a quite comforting smell.
 
When my sample arrived first thing I did was rip the envelope open and stick my nose in. I've got to say I quite liked the scent, my kids had a sniff and liked it too :D

Now for the bad news :( I'm afraid I had the same experience with the lather. I'm a face latherer and treated it like I would any other soap, swirled my wet brush on top to load it up and straight to the face. A lather started to build but just as quickly I could feel it fizzing on my face and disappearing. I then thought about using it as a stick and rubbed it straight on my face and build up with the brush. Unfortunately this had the same result, I didn't get as far as shaving with it as it didn't stay on my face long enough.

Hopefully it'll be a simple fix to address this problem as I did like the smell :) Please don't give up and start knitting :D
 
Thanks Stitch, at least if you find the smell acceptable you can use it as a bar soap :) I do wish tho' that someone would brave actually using it to shave. Lots of other people seem to have managed this successfully.
I have already spent some time tonight reformulating the recipe, and think I can definitely achieve a more creamy and less bubbly lather, which should help stability, which is what seems to be required.
Does anyone like the colour perhaps?
 
And yet another P.S. The reason I am confused is that this is some of the feedback I have received from other people - none of whom have ever met me - the second from a prefessional barber - so I am quite taken aback at the divergence of opinion.

beautiful aromatic fresh yet soothing best i've bought. better than bond street

I really like the shaving soap. It does a great job and my skin feels really good afterwards.

It foamed almost instantly and and as a lubricant, I don't think I've ever had better! This is seriously good stuff which should be marketed to the shaving fraternity

:?
 
soapalchemist said:
P.S. Antdad - have you tried shaving with it, or has the tile test instilled too much fear into you to give it a try?
Click to expand...

Ahh that old too scared to try line. I think most experienced shavers viewing those pictures would understand why I chose not to use it.

I have enough experience to know whether a soap is really worth trying or not and I would have been happy to do so had the lather remained intact as Stitch has now also suggested.

The scent of a soap is I agree very personal but performance for me is non negotiable and you will find a general consensus on most shaving forums about what the best performing soaps are, that is not a coincidence but the result of many hours of shaving experience and feedback about how best to use those products.

Building a good usable lather is not necessarily about making it more creamy or less foamy, it's about it's ability to hold water and hydrate the beard. A lather with good lubrication is also desirable as it helps the razor travel over the skin, ideally you really want both otherwise we'd all be shaving with scented olive oil.
 
antdad said:
soapalchemist said:
P.S. Antdad - have you tried shaving with it, or has the tile test instilled too much fear into you to give it a try?
Click to expand...

Ahh that old too scared to try line.
Click to expand...

The comment was meant tongue in cheek, and in good humour. I am genuinely interested in your comments and those of others, and am more than happy to learn. I think a smaller bubbled creamier lather will be more stable and last longer. In terms of lubricating ability, I think the soap has that. Is that the same as ability to hold water and hydrate the beard?
 
Antdad - just reread your post, and obviously lubrication is not the same as ability to hydrate, but should a creamier lather that is more stable not hydrate better than one that dissolves quicker?
 
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