Handmade shaving soaps?

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.

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.
 
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