Apologies if I am misreading the intentions of this post, but as a soap maker are you looking to create a pre shave soap?
I never got to use it but I read good things about it but read good things about it but it's resigned to history.
Valobra had a soap a few used for pre shave, it was called Glicerlanolina or something along those lines. I presume it was glycerine and lanolin, maybe tallow as well. I know there are a number of fans of the holy trinity here (tallow, lanolin and glycerine).
@TomG I searched here and you have this Valobra soap, what are your thoughts on it?