This recipe goes along with the Pre-Shave Oil that I posted May 4, 2012 . I originally made my son the shave cream that I have made from the Frugal Granola Blog, and that shave cream is great. I decided that I would try to make shave soap and put it in a mug since he uses a brush to put his shaving cream on his face. My son, Vince, has been kind enough to show us how great this shave soap works.
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| Pre-Shave Oil |
I looked through many recipes and didn't really find anything that I thought would work, so I decided to experiment. I knew that I did not want to used glycerin soap, since it does not seem to lather as well in shaving cream, it seems to get gummy ( I found that out the hard way making Jillee's Shave Cream). So I decided that I was going to use Dr. Bonner's Baby-Mild Pure Castille Soap. I also wanted to use Coconut Oil since it works well on his face. I also added some essential oils. When I write the recipe below, I will give the measurements
Next I tried to melt the soap and the coconut oil on the stove. That did not work at all. So I took it out of the pot and put it in the mug to heat in the microwave. Now here is the tricky part. You can only put it in the microwave for about 20 seconds at a time. You must keep a close eye on it, because as I found out, it will boil over and make a huge mess. It will not look smooth and great in the mug, but it works great, as you will see in the pictures.
Natural Shave Soap Recipe
1 bar Dr. Bonner's Unscented Baby-Mild Pure Castille Soap grated
2 TB coconut butter
2 TB distilled water
5 drops tea tree oil
5 drops bergamot essential oil
3 drops lemon essential oil
Put the soap, coconut oil, and distilled water into a double boiler to start to heat and melt as best as you can. It seems to form a ball, and not melt well, which is okay. Once it is semi soft, take off of the heat, and add the tea tree, the bergamot, and the lemon essential oil mix with a spoon.
Then put into the mug that you are going to use it in. Then put it in the microwave for about 20 seconds at a time. Take it out and stir, then put back in. It will probably take a minute at most. Push down from the sides of the mug and smooth out in the bottom of the mug, as best as you can.
Let it cool down, and it is ready to use.
Here are pictures of how well this Natural Shave Soap works.
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| Applying Natural Shave Soap |
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| Finishing Applying Natural Shave Soap |
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| Shaving |
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| Clean Shaven Face |
Have fun and enjoy,
Debi
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This looks like it works well! Is there a reason you picked those specific oils? Or just for scent? :)
ReplyDeleteMy son says it works well. He likes it a lot. I did some research on shaving creams. I used these oils in the soap, because tea tree oil and lemon essential oil have anti bacterial properties, and the bergamot was to give it a little bit more of a masculine scent.
DeleteI hope that helps. I would have sent you and email, but you are a no reply blogger.
Also, how much did it cost to make? I want to be able to make one like this for my husband as he is allergic to shave creams.... but I need it to be affordable. :)
ReplyDeleteThe Dr Bonners soap costs about 3 to 4 dollars. I can't remember how much the cocoa butter costs, but probably about 8 dollars. You will probably to get 6 to 8 more shave soaps out of it. The essential oils are about 8 dollars a piece. You will get many uses out of these. Initially this probably costs about $35, but you should be able to use your ingredients to get at least 6 more shave soaps. You would only need to buy more bar soap. So it would probably cost about $6 per recipe.
DeleteI hope this helps.
Debi