Wet shaving thread.

[deere322]

How did I miss this thread.

I'm a Merker Safety razor with Astra blades guy. Flawless shaves with no nicks what so ever. I love the Astra's. I bought a big sleeve a few years back and have not even come close to going through 1/4 of it. Not a fan of Feathers.
My go to soap is an Arco stick during the week and Blades Grim Smolder screw top soap puck on the weekends. It smells wonderful and always get an awesome shave with that soap.
Plus numerous half pucks of different soaps smushed into my shave cup.
I've not spent a dime on shave equipment for the last 4 years.

I also have a big jug of Osage rub and Pinaud Whiskey Woods, Brandy Spice, Gent's Gin and Clubman after shaves.

 

[LBussy]

Thanks for the kind word @passedpawn. I'm always thrilled to hear that I've helped folks a little in making their own shaving soap.

For me it's Merkur 37C slant, cerakoted (because, why not?), and Polsilver Iridiums! Since I started making my own soap a few years back I've not used anything else aside from trying out some samples other soapers have sent. When I did buy my own I generally used P160, with Cella as a backup. I really liked Tabac except for the scent. Either you like it, or you don't. These days I finish with an alum block (Gentleman Jon because of the large size) and some Fine Snakebite aftershave. The alum really tones my skin but I think I have a menthol addiction and can't not use the Snakebite.

On mud in shaving soap, here's my take on it in two parts:

• Despite my current profession, I went to school to be a Civil Engineer. I worked as a Geotechnical Engineer for a while and I have a pretty good idea what's in "clay" (which is about as descriptive as "soap" by the way.) I'd have to look it all up again but trust me when I say the particle size of clay is larger than that of the "slurry" straight-razor honers use to finish a good sharpening job. The clay is also less consistent, meaning you've (microscopically) got some boulders and got some dust.
  
  When I made up my mind about clay, I was consistently shaving with one of my matched pair of Filarmonica 14 Doble Temple (Jose Monserrat Pou of course!) 8/8 straights. I also had a small collection of JNats (which I never learned to use well) and a microscope with which I could view the edge. I used to make a habit of always examining the edge after a shave, and was able to compare the damage (there's always some) with and without clay. The clay always caused more visible damage. Seeing that was enough to make me swear off clay.
  
  When people say they get a better glide with clay, I'm reminded of walking on a slate-covered slope once. I lost my footing and slid down about 100 feet. Yes it was slippery, but I also was covered in literally hundreds of small cuts (and my clothes were shredded). Not all slide is comfortable (or good for the blade).
  
  If you are using disposable blades, I mean it might make the difference between 10 or 11 good shaves before replacing it, but there was only ever gonna be so much steel on my Filamonicas.
  
  
• I learned after quitting the use of clay that a great soap can be made without it. It "seemed like" many artisan soapers, most ladies (no guns cocking ladies, let me finish!), somehow latched onto the idea that clay was "necessary." The thing is you can take a soap that's probably good for other things, add clay to it, and make it feel slippery. Calling that a shaving soap is a stretch though. Shaving soap is made from high levels of stearic acid, plus a surplus of glycerin, both of which are uncommon in regular soaps, and in my opinion are vital to a great shave soap. So these ladies were often told by their loved ones that their shave soap was "better." Three questions there you should think about: 1) "Better than what?" Edge? Barbasol? 2) What man in his right mind would ever tell his wife that he didn't like what she made? 3) Are these demanding/discerning wet shavers? Or are they using a 22-blade disposable and would never know the difference?
  
  So, these artisan soapers lacked good, qualified, and frank feedback and suffered for it. I had the unimaginable benefit however of the assistance of a good number of these ladies while formulating my soap. They knew how to make soap, they just didn't (couldn't) know what most men wanted. So we had some great discussions, knocked things back and forth for several months, and the "Silver Fox" recipe is what I came up with as a result. Having made what I like in a soap, I find there's no improvement by adding clay to the recipe.
  
  Short story: Good soap needs no clay; clay will (partially) make up for a less than good shave soap.

Let me be clear (this phrase will forevermore remind me of President Obama): I do not think my soap is the perfect soap for everyone. I have however seen/experienced a lot of variations meant to improve upon it. People have added a plethora of "fancy" oils and fats, used goats milk, and one lady shared her own breast milk (yes, really) shaving soap. None have made unicorns appear, nor make me look less than my now 53 years.

What I do think is that if you can follow instructions enough to make macaroni and cheese, you can make a great shaving soap of your own. I always encourage people to follow the recipe the first time however before departing the reservation. I can't tell you how many emails I get along the lines of "I made your recipe except I swapped A for B, C for D and E for F. It's not really all that (slippery/cushioning/moisturizing)." My response is generally "that's not my recipe."

Awesome to see a wet shaving thread here!

 

[applescrap]

If anyone needs a new hobby , I've been making my own shaving soaps for a while now. One of our members, @LBussy, showed me the way. It's all in this incredible tutorial, here: http://www.silverfoxcrafts.com/shaving-soap/

I followed his recipe pretty closely, including using the same little crockpot for the cook. I've played with the ingredient ratios a little bit, and experimented with a bunch of different essential oils (sandlewood and whisky is a pretty sweet combo, like shaving while smoking a pipe).

I use a Timeless bronze razor, feather blades.

That stuff seems awesome! Need to give it a try. Have you ever compared it with art of shaving or something like that.

 

[applescrap]

Since I shave in the shower with a fog free mirror is that wet shaving, or does it have to be from a razor blade to be wet shaving?

 

[z-bob]

Get a dedicated Crockpot for making soap, because the lye will destroy the glazing on the pottery insert. (unless, like me, you don't care about that) I used to make my own soap, then lye became almost impossible to buy because terrorism or drugs or something. Now lye is back on the shelves but I haven't gotten back into it. I should tho', I already have a ruined Crockpot...

 

[z-bob]

Since I shave in the shower with a fog free mirror is that wet shaving, or does it have to be from a razor blade to be wet shaving?

Does a mirror have a sharp enough edge for shaving? (intrigued...)

 

[LBussy]

Since I shave in the shower with a fog free mirror is that wet shaving, or does it have to be from a razor blade to be wet shaving?

Wet shaving is shaving with shaving cream and a razor. So yeah, I'd say that qualifies. There are definitely ways to improve the shave though.

Speaking of horrible shaves ... look at this article. It even goes on to say how it was "co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness."

 

[passedpawn]

Get a dedicated Crockpot for making soap, because the lye will destroy the glazing on the pottery insert. (unless, like me, you don't care about that) I used to make my own soap, then lye became almost impossible to buy because terrorism or drugs or something. Now lye is back on the shelves but I haven't gotten back into it. I should tho', I already have a ruined Crockpot...

Here is the crockpot I bought (which, not so coincidentally, is exactly the one Lee suggested). $20. So far, except for the stirring which has left some scrape marks on the inside, there isn't any noticeable affect from the soap making on the pot. Though small, this plenty big for the batches you should be making (I make 8 oz batches, and that's probably too big when experimenting but the measurements are easy).

Most of the ingredients you have to buy online. Some of the oils are available at your local grocer, though you might not have known they were there. But for lanolin and odd oils, you'll want to just go to www.brambleberry.com. I bought bulk and I think I can make a lifetime supply of shaving soap from the crap I have here now.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002CA3C6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[applescrap]

Lanolin is awesome stuff, no?