Phoenix&Beau: My vegan & tallow shaving soaps [testers required]

1st Shave:-
Schick Dial, NOS Schick Blade (1)
Mongoose Feather Pro Super (1)
BeeJay Custom Brush
S.W Bowl
A/S Fine Platinum
Music Rubber Soul The Beatles, played on my old Hacker Record player.
Bit of a trying shave..........
Squished a splodge of the croap into the bottom the bowl with about 1mm of water, soaked the brush for 10 mins and then shook out the brush and started build a proto lather quickly. I did not add more water to the mix and just carried on until I got to the stage where I could paint it onto my face. The lather seemed to the usual yogurty smooth lather that I get from other soap/creams.
At this point the record needed turning over, when I got back to my shave in a few mins the lather had started to dry out and needed another application. I started with the Schick Dial but quickly gave up as the new blade was dog rough. I carried on with the Mongoose and did a 2 pass shave.
Slickness. I found to be ok but needs a bit more work
Glide. Again ok
Cushion. Surprisingly good I never felt the "too sharp " feeling that this razor/blade combo can give with some soaps/creams
Lather. Quite thin and dried out quickly yet looked the part........ maybe more work is needed by me to find the sweet spot. Although I normally get it pretty quickly, but we will see.
Post Shave. Neutral towards slightly drying.
The "soap" is ok, I would like it to be easier to find the sweet spot between runny & dry. It needs improvement in the slickness, glide and post shave for me. I await version 8 (?). One last thing I noticed there was a lot of soap scum left in the sink, a lot more than usual ?
 
I am no expert in soaps but the one thing I took on board a while back that hit me in the head like a hammer regarding lathering any soap and or cream is that the more water thirsty that they have especially regarding vegie based soaps the poorer they perform....Its hard to get a vegie soap that isn't water thirsty and all that happens is that's its getting watered down and diluted...Its a no brainer...Some shaving creams can be thirsty as well...

After soaking my brush, I never add water to any soap or cream now....I add Moroccan Argan Oil instead of water as its really thin and quite unique in terms of its thinner properties...I can honestly say that using Argan Oil instead of adding water will turn any mediocre product into a slick well cushioned product....Adding water is a no brainer to me....I did notice that the Test Soap did not require me to add more water after soaking my Boar brush but it doesn't appear to have any solidity either as the moment I went to load it onto my brush it just started to fall apart in small lumps and It took a lot of the product for one shave....o_O

I don't believe that Tallow soaps are good at what they do because tallow is better, its just that most of the companies that make them have been doing so for over a hundred years or more and have perfected their recipes over many years...Bearing in mind just about all soaps were tallow based until the War years...They have been doing it a long time and keep their processes highly secret...:p

Billy
 
Just had a shave, what can I say about it. Well first of all I nice scent of citrus came across when I was pressing it in a lid so I could load. The loading was good.

I use a synthetic brush that was dipped in water and shook out, I loaded for 30 sec as I usually do and lathered in a bowl.

The lathering came on quite quick but was very airy and light, I added a few more drops of water and it thickened slightly but was very light. After 3 - 4 mins I stopped lathering with a bowl full of white peaks. The lather was still quite light. However it lathered really well but just on the light side for my liking.

I painted it on my stubble and as stated above was light and had little cushioning to it, this was the same with the slickness however I did feel very protected and suffered no nicks or irretation.

I completed 3 passes with lather left over so this was great. The post shave was slightly dry.

All in all it was a passable shave and I cant wait to try V8 if I can.

I would of thought I could get 2 more shaves out of the remaining with ease.

In summary there is improvement to be had with it but as it is now I would get a good shave.

Thank you again for letting me try this.

Stuart
 
It is quite interesting to see people's views isn't it?

What HAS come out of this is a fairly consistent opinion.
I can't think of any other thread that ever has this.
You can normally expect a good 5-20 differing opinions.
At least you know what direction you need to head in eh?

I am also looking forward to the next version.
 
Third and final test today as the soap was all but finished...

Exactly the same hardware as previous, albeit with what is now a three day old blade. A little bit more water than yesterday and I really gave it a long intense lathering in the bowl before continuing on my face so that a yoghurt like texture developed. Results were better for the extra time and water, certainly the cushioning was more like my first test on Wednesday.

To sum up my experiences of the week:

Lathering - 4/5
Glide / Slickness - 4/5
Cushioning - 2/5 (or 3/5 if the sweet spot is found)
Post Shave - 3/5
Fragrance - N/A
 
Morning all,

@SeanC thanks for taking Version 7 to a 3rd shave and thanks for the comments. Interesting to see that a touch more water and longer lathering (how long?) bumped the cushion up to a 3. Nb, not that 3/5 is good enough, mind :confused: but still, interesting nonetheless. Many thanks.

@Fergiebilly all noted; do you think the dryness is down to the shave you had with Version 7?

We've just @Hippo @isaiah53 @mouse to report back, once we've that I'll summarize everyone's findings / comments and then outline the formula that was used for V.7 :) Moving forwards Version 8 is on the drawing board and whilst it will have the same core of ingredients I've a number of new ones that are vying for position, e.g. shea butter, cocoa butter, aloe butter, avocado oil, pumpkinseed oil, soy protein, macadameia nut oil and a few others. I'll have a batch done soon, will use that myself and (once happy) have V8 out to you chaps.

In the interim I'm waiting on my lab grade 2ml plastic vials to arrive; once they're here I'll divvy up a sample of each scent and we can see what your noses think of those :D

Thanks,

Kerry.
 
Last edited:
phoenixandbeau said:
Question to all: In your opinion what ingredient passes on the greatest amount of cushion?
Click to expand...
I don't claim to be a soap maker and anything I say is guesswork but I suspect that cushion comes from the degree of overfatting you use for your soap. High overfat, especially with a high molecular weight fat, produces more cushion. Tallow has a higher molecular weight than the average vegetable fat and hence cushions better. Of course, you have to hit the sweet spot between adequate cushion and a greasy soap.
 
phoenixandbeau said:
Morning all,

@SeanC thanks for taking Version 7 to a 3rd shave and thanks for the comments. Interesting to see that a touch more water and longer lathering (how long?) bumped the cushion up to a 3. Nb, not that 3/5 is good enough, mind :confused: but still, interesting nonetheless. Many thanks.

@Fergiebilly all noted; do you think the dryness is down to the shave you had with Version 7?

We've just @Hippo @isaiah53 @mouse to report back, once we've that I'll summarize everyone's findings / comments and then outline the formula that was used for V.7 :) Moving forwards Version 8 is on the drawing board and whilst it will have the same core of ingredients I've a number of new ones that are vying for position, e.g. shea butter, cocoa butter, aloe butter, avocado oil, pumpkinseed oil, soy protein, macadameia nut oil and a few others. I'll have a batch done soon, will use that myself and (once happy) have V8 out to you chaps.

In the interim I'm waiting on my lab grade 2ml plastic vials to arrive; once they're here I'll divvy up a sample of each scent and we can see what your noses think of those :D

Thanks,

Kerry.
Click to expand...
Yes..I know it was the Test Soap that dried out my face Sir..No bones about it...As far as the best ingredient for cushion goes I don't feel qualified to comment on that one...That said ...I reckon that the cushion and glide of a soap is integral to the soap being rich and full bodied which I didn't find the Test Soap to be....o_O

Billy
 
Thanks guys. I'm hopeful that the introduction of some or all of the above mentioned butters and oils will help. I've some past experience with cocoa and Shea butter and they're wonderful ingredients :D:)
 
used my sample tonight, and im pretty much of the opinion of most of the testers. nice and glossy with plenty of glide, but could do with a bit more cushioning. im on the fence as to whether it was slightly drying, my skin did feel a little dry afterwards, not massively though.
not a bad soap, im sure a bit of tweeking will work wonders.
 
Schick Type E 2 Injector...;)
Type%20E_zpshngvnad1.jpg
Three Pass Shaving Routine...:cool:

Hot Water prep & massage with Coconut Oil
Schick Type E 2 Injector
Feather Pro Injector Blade ( Modified ) x 2
Semogue Boar Brush
Test Soap
Organic Aloe Vera Gel
Logona Mann After Shave Splash (From Germany)

I used the same tools and bowl lathering as the last time to keep variables to a minimum...I had two days of whiskers to cut down...I had a nice DFS with the first downward pass with the razor/blade & Test Soap Combo...I went for an upward pass as usual for me and took it easy...The Test soap was very much the same as last time but I painted a someone thicker layer the pass was acceptable but the cushion & protection was becoming an issue for me again with the Aggressive Injector Crazy Sharp Blade Combo...I attempted my final across the face pass which is largely against the grain for me...:rolleyes:

Here again I abandoned it and lathered up a Fresh Bowl of Wars Classic Shaving Cream and ended up with one of the closest shaves of my life...Here again if I had continued to use the Test Soap I would have been in trouble as it felt as I was shaving with almost no cushion glide & or protection from the blade...:eek:

To sum up then after 2 shaves with the Test Soap..o_O

Lather..Very easy to lather...5/5
Glide..Some glide but doesn't feel as good as it looks in the bowl...2/5
Cushion...Here again doesn't feel as good as it looks in the bowl...1/5
Scent...Smells a nice Lemon Citrus Scent ..5/5
Skin Care..Dried my skin over 24 hrs of first shave...0/5

Thank you for the opportunity to testing your Soap Sir....Its been well organized and I have enjoyed the experience and I have tried to be as objective & honest as possible...I do not use expensive artisan soaps and expensive shaving products but I know when a product is offering me a comfortable shave and the Test Soap in its present form just isn't doing it for me...:p

Billy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom