Teach Soap

Hello everyone. I am new to this forum and new to soap making. I need help in finding out the recommended amount of bentonite clay for shaving soaps. Do you have any suggestions?
I have been reading quite a bit about clays, but haven't found much information on how it affects the CP of soapmaking.
Thank you in advance!!!

You can use 1 teaspoon of clay per lb. of oils. With that said, I don't use clay in my shaving soap as I was told that it dulls the razor.
I don't know what your recipe is, but a standard, handmade soap does not create, stable, long lasting lather.
You need a high amount of stearic acid to do that.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Hi Irena! Thank you much for your reply. Do you have a suggestion of basic stearic acid recipes for making shaving soaps. I wad going to add bentonite clay along with coconut oil, olive oil, palm oil and shea butters.

Regular handmade soap will not make a good shaving soap. You need as high amount of stearic acid and HP it as the stearic acid will make your soap seize. I don't have a recipe for you as it took me almost a year to come up with one.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Irena, another question, if I may... I've been trying to formulate a shaving soap for severa.

My recipe is:

30% Lard
50% Tallow
10% Olive
10% Castor

Hubs is in LOVE with it, but he shaves in fits & jerks... when he doesn't wanna be a "beach bum" anymore.

Reckon there's enough stearic acid in the tallow/lard combo, or should I be adding some to the above? The lather is creamy & thick, but I'm not an expert on shaving, either (I like Arabic wax), so have to rely on feedback from others. This recipe seems to have a nice body to the lather and it "stands" awhile... I'm wondering how long one should expect a lather with good body to stand?

My shaving soap lather lasts way past the three shaving passes that most wet shavers do. If your husband is happy with the recipe then don't change it. My recipe has a much higher amount of stearic acid.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thank you for your answer, Irena.

Sure hubs is happy, but then he could shave with a Bowie knife & be happy.

I'm wanting to please the average well-dressed, clean-shaven fellow here... and a few ladies who shave. Should I sub in an extra 5% since I have about a kg on hand? Or, would you recommend more than that, mebbe 8%?

Stearic acid is one of the easy, cheap things to come by down here, so no need to be stingy with it, but I like to keep my recipes as simple as possible so I don't strain my old brain...

Try 10% of the stearic acid and see how the formula works.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks so much, Irena! <bow>

I'll muck about & see what I come up with. You're the greatest. I'll let you know how it comes out, hopefully with photos.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I think I know just how to tweak it now...

Much appreciated, Mistress of Lather...

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.