Handmade shaving soaps?

soapalchemist said:

Welcome back Henk, it's good to have you with us again.

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Absolutely! It might be interesting to hear Henk's opinions on the reformulate Palmolive stick thread.

henkverhaar said:

Sir_eider said:

Just check if they have olive oil in its composition : if so, discard them immediately. Most of artisan soaps claimed that they are suitable both for bath and shaving purposes, and that is not true: olive oil is a big enemy for a creamy lather.

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Actually, not _quite_ true. The advise is, although incomplete, usually correct - most 'artisan' shaving soaps listing olive oil as one of their ingredients are worthless; but not necessarily because they were made with olive oil. I could make a decent, if soft, shaving soap with only olive oil. Thing is that 'using olive oil' usually indicates that whomever made the soap hasn't got a clue what _does_ define a shaving soap, so it generally IS a good indication that the soap will be hopeless. But there's always a theoretical possibility that someone out there would offer a shaving soap with olive oil that would in fact be a decent shaving soap. Although that is _not_ very likely...

Henk (crawling out from under his rock) ;-)

Edit - I notice that I have to severely update my avatar... the numbers have changed. Some for the better, some for the worse

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You're right, mate! I should be concreted telling that "avoid artisan soaps which have olive oil like its MAIN ingredient". I mean, the first ingredient instead of Palm oil, Stearic Acid, Tallow, Coconut oil and so on.

Maybe I was only unlucky, but many artisans think that taking a regular olive oil based soap and adding some fragance plus a bit of a more foamy oil like coconut is enough to get a good shaving soap with a thick lather... and in most case that will not happens. Yeah, probably you'll get more than enough foam to clean your hands, but never will take the consistency of a good lather for face shaving.

IMHO a shaving soap must meet very different tasks compared with a bath soap, so its composition should be adapted to them. So an artisan soap maker who usually only sells bath soaps and suddenly starts to sell a new shaving soap with a very similar composition usually is a bad sign.

Cheers!

Artifact Soap Works..... Great lather and slickness. Unbelievably good products at an unbelievably good price.

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By the way..... The main ingredient is Olive Oil and they are the best soaps I've ever used..... and I've used a lot.