- Joined
- Wednesday September 23, 2009
- Location
- Almere, Netherlands
Interesting that there is no ingredients list on the powdered soap -- that IS a violation pf the cosmetics directive...
For the creams: too much fluff and faff, but that won't explain the (lack of) lather quality. The main ingredients are OK -- sort of, that is. The list is incomplete/incorrect, or if it IS correct it is clear why this won't lather worth a damn. It list water, stearic acid, glycerin, and palmitic acid as main ingredients. And although stearic acid and palmitic acid are the important fatty acids to make a (shaving) soap from, the acids itself are not soap. If it is a soap, it should either list sodium (or potassium) stearate and palmitate, or stearic acid and palmitic acid and sodium (and/or potassium) hydroxide. either they forgot to include the hydroxide in the list, or they really put the acids in instead of the salts. In the latter case, it is not a soap but a cream, and it CAN"T produce lather, in the former case, we still don't know whether it is supposed to be a good shaving soap. A shaving soap should contain at least 60% potassium soaps. If a soap contains only, or primarily sodium soaps, it won't make a good shaving soap...
So either it is not a soap at all, or it is, but the ingredients list is incomplete...
I've been checking my handbooks, which confirmed my suspicion. If anything, this ingredient list resembles a non-foaming shaving cream, which is a true cosmetic cream rather than a shaving cream (which basically is a thin soap...). A nonfoaming shaving cream is a stearate cream (or in this case a stearate/palmitate cream) in which a mixture of stearic acid and some stearate and water create a heavy cream (oil in water emulsion). In stearate creams the stearate may be sodium or potassium stearate, or a (organic) aminostearate. The kation here is created from the aminomethylpropanol, but the amount of it is such that there will be much more stearic acid than stearate. That's probably why there is a load of other, nonionic, surfactants too.
Anyway, whatever it is, it is quite certain that this product is not meant to lather at all. It is most likely an oil-in-water emulsion cream that is meant to be smeared on the beard as is. It will not lather, and in fact will kill any lather you were able to whip up from the powdered soap alone.
Note that the general consensus, at least according to my handbooks, is that non-foaming creams constitute an inferior shaving product to true lather-building products (and that includes canned goos, which usually are quite similar to traditional soaps or creams).
Henk
For the creams: too much fluff and faff, but that won't explain the (lack of) lather quality. The main ingredients are OK -- sort of, that is. The list is incomplete/incorrect, or if it IS correct it is clear why this won't lather worth a damn. It list water, stearic acid, glycerin, and palmitic acid as main ingredients. And although stearic acid and palmitic acid are the important fatty acids to make a (shaving) soap from, the acids itself are not soap. If it is a soap, it should either list sodium (or potassium) stearate and palmitate, or stearic acid and palmitic acid and sodium (and/or potassium) hydroxide. either they forgot to include the hydroxide in the list, or they really put the acids in instead of the salts. In the latter case, it is not a soap but a cream, and it CAN"T produce lather, in the former case, we still don't know whether it is supposed to be a good shaving soap. A shaving soap should contain at least 60% potassium soaps. If a soap contains only, or primarily sodium soaps, it won't make a good shaving soap...
So either it is not a soap at all, or it is, but the ingredients list is incomplete...
I've been checking my handbooks, which confirmed my suspicion. If anything, this ingredient list resembles a non-foaming shaving cream, which is a true cosmetic cream rather than a shaving cream (which basically is a thin soap...). A nonfoaming shaving cream is a stearate cream (or in this case a stearate/palmitate cream) in which a mixture of stearic acid and some stearate and water create a heavy cream (oil in water emulsion). In stearate creams the stearate may be sodium or potassium stearate, or a (organic) aminostearate. The kation here is created from the aminomethylpropanol, but the amount of it is such that there will be much more stearic acid than stearate. That's probably why there is a load of other, nonionic, surfactants too.
Anyway, whatever it is, it is quite certain that this product is not meant to lather at all. It is most likely an oil-in-water emulsion cream that is meant to be smeared on the beard as is. It will not lather, and in fact will kill any lather you were able to whip up from the powdered soap alone.
Note that the general consensus, at least according to my handbooks, is that non-foaming creams constitute an inferior shaving product to true lather-building products (and that includes canned goos, which usually are quite similar to traditional soaps or creams).
Henk
