WEEKLY SHAVING SOAP REVIEW

[Bladerunner7]

Do you know his cause of death ?
He was quite young and looked in good health,if he was ill it must have been very sudden.

@SpeedyPC 's right. it was Cancer. Lost three close friends to it in the last four months. Two former classmates in their late forties and the third a fitness fanatic who was a tee teetotaler. Two of them succumbed to a form of Turbo Cancer, gone in less than 90 days after they detected it. Seems to be a new form of the Big C.

 

[Gargravarr]

What a great review, well done. Even though I don't necessarily feel the urge to rush out and buy all of the soaps you have tried, I get immense enjoyment from your thorough and informative approach.

I was aware that Shannon Logan who honed her soap making and perfumery skills during the pandemic is known to use raw goats milk and grass fed beef tallow in her shaving soaps so I wasn’t surprised. However when I read the ingredients in the soap I was left shell shocked, Double Y has only Distilled Water, Potassium Hydroxide, Stearic Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Coconut Oil, Glycerin, Fragrance and Kaolin Clay in it. No goat’s milk, no tallow, no Tussah silk or any other fancy butters.

As a chemist (by training), I'd say that raw or pasteurised goat's milk or grass-fed vs silage-fed beef tallow would most likely be totally indistinguishable once you've boiled them up in the presence of NaOH or KaOH.

I've long ceased to be convinced that rendering down strange and unusual animals for their triglycerides makes for a better shaving soap. The 18-carbon fatty acid known commonly as stearic acid can as easily be derived from veg sources as from animal. That list of ingredients is not vastly different from the famous MdC base (apart than the kaolin) or the Eufros soap I used this morning, though I assume the proportions are different. One thing I would say in favour of such veg-based soaps is that the animalish residues from the tallow-making process do have a tendency to leave a more funky smelling product at the end of the process.

 

[Bladerunner7]

What a great review, well done. Even though I don't necessarily feel the urge to rush out and buy all of the soaps you have tried, I get immense enjoyment from your thorough and informative approach.

Totally appreciate the kind words Brother.

As a chemist (by training), I'd say that raw or pasteurised goat's milk or grass-fed vs silage-fed beef tallow would most likely be totally indistinguishable once you've boiled them up in the presence of NaOH or KaOH.

I've long ceased to be convinced that rendering down strange and unusual animals for their triglycerides makes for a better shaving soap. The 18-carbon fatty acid known commonly as stearic acid can as easily be derived from veg sources as from animal. That list of ingredients is not vastly different from the famous MdC base (apart than the kaolin) or the Eufros soap I used this morning, though I assume the proportions are different. One thing I would say in favour of such veg-based soaps is that the animalish residues from the tallow-making process do have a tendency to leave a more funky smelling product at the end of the process.

I couldn't have said this better mate, you are bang on here about the performance factor regarding non tallow and tallow based soaps. So many Vegan or non tallow soaps perform on par or even better than their tallow based counterparts. Having said that, I have noticed a difference in prescribed moisturizers for extreme dry skin where heavy tallow based ones outperform their vegan brethren. In shaving soaps I don't think it really makes too much of a difference and here's a strange one, I used a vegan soap today that had a pure tallow scent, it was strange

I did not know that you are a trained chemist mate, I think that is so cool. My older sibling is one as well and has spent his whole life in a pharma company. Being around him through my growing years is also what got me interested in the chemical composition of almost anything and everything and in the list of ingredients as well.

 

[Gargravarr]

I did not know that you are a trained chemist mate, I think that is so cool. My older sibling is one as well and has spent his whole life in a pharma company. Being around him through my growing years is also what got me interested in the chemical composition of almost anything and everything and in the list of ingredients as well.

I sort of fell into it by accident. When I was about 40, I started on a new chapter by enrolling in a BsC Biotechnology degree (which of course is all chemistry) which somehow spun off into a(nother) career as a cheesemaker. Go figure.

 

[Bladerunner7]

career as a cheesemaker

This is even more fascinating. J....You are a man of many talents, very admirable. My sensitive skin and allergies took me on a similar path a few years back and then finally into learning hot as well as cold process soap making, essential oil and fragrance molecule extraction and most importantly - learning about allergens in raw materials depending on source, processing methods and transportation pitfalls.

It's funny how our basic college education and degrees become a departure from the stuff we land up doing and love in later years, that's the joy of life I guess.

 

[Gargravarr]

This is even more fascinating. J....You are a man of many talents, very admirable. My sensitive skin and allergies took me on a similar path a few years back and then finally into learning hot as well as cold process soap making, essential oil and fragrance molecule extraction and most importantly - learning about allergens in raw materials depending on source, processing methods and transportation pitfalls.

It's funny how our basic college education and degrees become a departure from the stuff we land up doing and love in later years, that's the joy of life I guess.

The whole point of education is to start you thinking. Never mind what job you want/need to do (even if it's nothing), the ability to think creatively and/or critically is what's most important. Of course, many, if not most governments don't want you doing that, which is why education is always the first to be hit when the agenda comes to a point.

 

[Bladerunner7]

The whole point of education is to start you thinking. Never mind what job you want/need to do (even if it's nothing), the ability to think creatively and/or critically is what's most important. Of course, many, if not most governments don't want you doing that, which is why education is always the first to be hit when the agenda comes to a point.

Well said my friend...well said.