How to Make Cold Process Shave Cream Lotion Bars

 How to Make Cold Process Shave Cream Bars

I am a big fan of handmilled shave soap. In fact, everyone in my house has used nothing BUT my shave soap for about 2 yrs now.
I make it with skin nourishing oils, and I add bentonite clay and colloidal oatmeal to give it the perfect 'slip' that shaving cream needs.

To try something different than the usual square bars of shave soap, I tried pouring it into plastic push up tubes, like the tubes deodorant comes in. I also lined a few tins with plastic wrap and poured into the tins.

Never use tin or aluminum with cold process soap! The lye reacts with the metal and will corrode it. If you use an aluminum pan while making your cold process soap, the batch will turn to concrete before your eyes.

I started with 1 4lb Batch. Once the lye water was added to the oils, I blended to a light trace. I didn't want the soap mixture to be too thick, because I needed to be able to pour it into the tubes.

I blended it until I thought it was at least emulsified (mixed beyond separating) then divided it into 2 equal portions. The first portion was scented with Lavender Essential Oils. The 2nd part was scented with Coconut Cabana fragrance Oil.

The Lavender EO batch traced nicely, went easily into the tins and tubes, but the coconut cabana soap was not so lucky.

AFTER I poured it into the tubes and tins, the oils began to separate. I had oil floating to the top of the soap! This can happen if you mix at too low of a temp, and can also be caused by certain fragrance oils.

I poured all the tins and tubs back into the big pyrex cup and blended with my mixer until proper trace was reached.
It was messy, and I had to wash all the tins and tubes from the first time around. Luckily I had extras I was able to use while the orig tubes could dry out.

I will update this post and let you know if the shaving soap being in tubes as it cures causes a problem or not.
I think it will take a little longer to dry out but should be fine.

 If you want to make some of my shave soap, here is the cold process soap recipe below.

Also, this recipe can be made in the crock pot using the Hot Process method. With the hot process, the soap would be hard to pour into small molds but would work well in a regular loaf or wooden log mold. Hot Process Soap does not need to cure, just a week or so to harden up for a long lasting bar.

Shave Soap Recipe

45% Olive Oil  23.9 oz

20% Coconut Oil  10.6 oz

20% Castor Oil 10.6 oz

8% Palm Oil 4.2 oz

7% Sweet Almond Oil 3.7 oz

3 TBS Bentonite Clay

4 TBS Colloidal Oatmeal

1 oz Lavender Essential Oil- makes a subtle fragrance preferred in face products

1tsp Sodium Lactate (optional) makes a harder bar of soap

20 oz water

7.26 oz Lye

Take the time to Prepare before you dtart your cold process soap recipe.

I like to get my colors and add in's dispersed ahead of time. Below you can see the Bentonite Clay after I added a little distilled water. If you don't moisten the clay, it will suck water out of your soap recipe and can leave you short on water. This can result in crumbly soap, or harsher soap than you planned.

Weigh and Measure everything FIRST!

I always weigh and measure all my ingredients. Nothing worse than finding out half way through the soap making process that you are a few ounces shy of something. This means a trip back to the lye calculator to recalculate with whatever oil you use as a substitute!!

 1. Add  Lye to Distilled Water, Stir and set aside to cool

2. Put hard oils, Coconut and Palm into a microwave safe large Pyrex cup or double boiler
Melt 45 seconds at a time until hard oils are melted. Add remaining oils, stir, put back in microwave for another minute or so.
3. Once Lye Water and Oils have both cooled to 125, add Sodium Lactate to the Lye Water and Stir
4. Add Lye Water/Sodium Lactate to the warm oils SLOWLY.
5. Mix to thin trace, stir in dispersed Clay and Oatmeal.
6. Stir by hand until mixed well, then a few short blasts with your mixer.
7. Add fragrance or Essential Oil, then pour into molds.

Allow this soap to cure a few weeks. This makes a wonderful shaving cream that will outlast several cans of commercial shave cream.

Lavender Essential Oil is good for your skin too!
You can sprinkle a few grains of oatmeal on top of finished bar for decoration.
Here is a pic of my last batch of shave soap, I forgot to add Sweet Almond Oil on the label, but the recipe is the same.