olive Oil based soaps
- Thread starter Millay
- Start Date
General concensus is they are complete crud and the one I tried was exactly that. No lather, if you manage to build one-blink and it has gone. That is not to say that there isn't a good one somewhere but 95% are.
I got some from herehttp://www.thesoapshed.co.uk/, smelled quite nice but went in the bin.
C
I got some from herehttp://www.thesoapshed.co.uk/, smelled quite nice but went in the bin.
C
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- 10,991
I agree with Zubar, the soaps that contain Olive oil that I have tried are have been crud, building a good lather has been nearly impossible.
It seems that soap makers think that just because an ingredient is either good for you or good to eat then it will make a good shave soap.
It seems that soap makers think that just because an ingredient is either good for you or good to eat then it will make a good shave soap.
- Thread Starter
- #5
Please dont shoot me I could be totally wrong, but some products may work better without a lather. Really wether a product lathers or not is not as important to how it shaves.
Dont get me wrong i like the next man like nothing but the feeling of whipping up a good lather but wonder if this olive oil soap has been unfairly dismissed. I have a sample or two coming and will let you know how i get on, my only thing against it is that its expensive.
Dont get me wrong i like the next man like nothing but the feeling of whipping up a good lather but wonder if this olive oil soap has been unfairly dismissed. I have a sample or two coming and will let you know how i get on, my only thing against it is that its expensive.
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- 3,292
Hi,
I've been looking at this board for a while, but was reticent to join, being female. However, as a maker of handmade soap, including shaving soap, I was so interested in this thread I couldn't hold back any longer.
It is certainly true that soap made from ALL olive oil, and no other oils will have a very weak lather. However, nearly all soaps will have some olive oil in them, unless they are what we natural soap makers call 'syn det' bars i.e. synthetic detergent. These may have no vegetable oil or tallow at all in them.
Getting a good shaving soap is all to do with the formulation - olive oil will help in contributing gentleness to the soap and will also in cold process soap add to the total vegetable glycerine content (often removed by big commercial manufacturers, being a valuable by product). Glycerine is slippy. However, the soap would also need other base oils to contribute to bubbliness, creaminess and hardness (a pure olive oil soap wouldn't last long under a vigorous brush thrashing, being very soft and soluble). Additional ingredients can also be added to help razor slip, and I add bentonite and other clays, and also silk. So please don't shy away from soaps CONTAINING SOME olive oil, but I personally wouldn't sell pure olive oil soap as a shaving soap.
Hope that helps, and that you don't mind a member of the less hairy sex joining your forum.
I've been looking at this board for a while, but was reticent to join, being female. However, as a maker of handmade soap, including shaving soap, I was so interested in this thread I couldn't hold back any longer.
It is certainly true that soap made from ALL olive oil, and no other oils will have a very weak lather. However, nearly all soaps will have some olive oil in them, unless they are what we natural soap makers call 'syn det' bars i.e. synthetic detergent. These may have no vegetable oil or tallow at all in them.
Getting a good shaving soap is all to do with the formulation - olive oil will help in contributing gentleness to the soap and will also in cold process soap add to the total vegetable glycerine content (often removed by big commercial manufacturers, being a valuable by product). Glycerine is slippy. However, the soap would also need other base oils to contribute to bubbliness, creaminess and hardness (a pure olive oil soap wouldn't last long under a vigorous brush thrashing, being very soft and soluble). Additional ingredients can also be added to help razor slip, and I add bentonite and other clays, and also silk. So please don't shy away from soaps CONTAINING SOME olive oil, but I personally wouldn't sell pure olive oil soap as a shaving soap.
Hope that helps, and that you don't mind a member of the less hairy sex joining your forum.
- Thread Starter
- #11
Hello Soapalchemist.
I dont belive this is a men only board
Good to have you along, its great to have members of the fairer sex to give there opinion.
you'll be a DE shave convert before you know it
Also really interesting post about the soap. More food for thought!
I dont belive this is a men only board
Good to have you along, its great to have members of the fairer sex to give there opinion.you'll be a DE shave convert before you know it
Also really interesting post about the soap. More food for thought!
That maybe true for some but not all normal soaps (but soap manufacturers have a choice of Palm, Palm Kernel, Coconut and Olive oils)- and I love Savon de Marseille and Aleppo soaps, however its not true for shaving soaps:
Here are the ingredients of my favourite soap:
SODIUM PALMATE, SODIUM PALM KERNELATE, AQUA (WATER), GLYCERIN, PARFUM (FRAGRANCE), PALM ACID, BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA BUTTER), SODIUM CHLORIDE, PALM KERNEL ACID, AMYL CINNAMAL, TETRASODIUM EDTA, TETRASODIUM ETIDRONATE, TITANIUM DIOXIDE, D-LIMONENE, HEXYL CINNAMAL, BUTYLPHENYL METHYLPROPIONAL, COUMARIN.
The shaving guys will know its a French made soap :mrgreen:
Here are the ingredients of my favourite soap:
SODIUM PALMATE, SODIUM PALM KERNELATE, AQUA (WATER), GLYCERIN, PARFUM (FRAGRANCE), PALM ACID, BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA BUTTER), SODIUM CHLORIDE, PALM KERNEL ACID, AMYL CINNAMAL, TETRASODIUM EDTA, TETRASODIUM ETIDRONATE, TITANIUM DIOXIDE, D-LIMONENE, HEXYL CINNAMAL, BUTYLPHENYL METHYLPROPIONAL, COUMARIN.
The shaving guys will know its a French made soap :mrgreen:
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Will do later in the week. Time for bed.
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Hi Sabre,
Do you mean that it may be true that most normal bar soaps have olive oil but not shaving soap? I'll take your word for it until I do some more research on that. All I know is that I have had very positive feed back from users of my shaving soap - 'better than Bond st.' perhaps being my favourite. So I don't think having a proportion of olive oil in the soap is the death knell to good shaving. The fact that your soap is mainly palm oil may be partly due to the fact that it is just about the cheapest oil there is. Although having said that it does have very good soap making qualities including creaminess from ordinary palm, and bubbliness from the kernal. They both also give good hardness. I try to minimise the use of Palm oil, given the Orangutan habitat destruction problem....but hope soon to source some sustainably produced Palm. I would certainly expect that your soap would be as hard as a rock.
Millay, what's a DE shave? I'm looking forward to learning a lot from all you shaving experts.
Do you mean that it may be true that most normal bar soaps have olive oil but not shaving soap? I'll take your word for it until I do some more research on that. All I know is that I have had very positive feed back from users of my shaving soap - 'better than Bond st.' perhaps being my favourite. So I don't think having a proportion of olive oil in the soap is the death knell to good shaving. The fact that your soap is mainly palm oil may be partly due to the fact that it is just about the cheapest oil there is. Although having said that it does have very good soap making qualities including creaminess from ordinary palm, and bubbliness from the kernal. They both also give good hardness. I try to minimise the use of Palm oil, given the Orangutan habitat destruction problem....but hope soon to source some sustainably produced Palm. I would certainly expect that your soap would be as hard as a rock.
Millay, what's a DE shave? I'm looking forward to learning a lot from all you shaving experts.
- Thread Starter
- #15
Hi soapalchemist a DE shave is a double edged razor such as the classic gillettes.
They made some lovelly ladies version although apart from the styling the mechanics of it are the same.
Quite an interesting debate on soaps here.
I cant help but wonder if its all down to personal preference.
If you sell soaps why not post a sampler selection in the vendor corner or some such.. I certainly like trying different soaps and creams.
They made some lovelly ladies version although apart from the styling the mechanics of it are the same.
Quite an interesting debate on soaps here.
I cant help but wonder if its all down to personal preference.
If you sell soaps why not post a sampler selection in the vendor corner or some such.. I certainly like trying different soaps and creams.
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A question for soapalchemist: what is sodium olivate (included in the ingredients list of the TOC soap I like so much)?