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Author Topic:   Campbell Lather Machine
Coragyps
Member (Idle past 735 days)
Posts: 5553
From: Snyder, Texas, USA
Joined: 11-12-2002


Message 4 of 51 (305350)
04-19-2006 7:56 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Percy
04-19-2006 4:22 PM


Percy, thickness (viscosity) of a foam is primarily a function of the liquid:gas ratio - soap solution to air in this situation, I suppose. If there's a way to get a little more air into your mix, you should get stiffer lather.
As to the nature of the soap, my bet would be that it's fairly generic stuff. But unless the label on your current container lists "laureth-3 sulfate" and the like, it's pretty hard to guess exactly what to try. I've got chemical company formularies for bunches of cosmetic stuff like shampoos, whitewall tire cleaner, and Windex, but I don't remember shaving foam mix in any of them. Let me know, though, if ingredients are listed on the stuff you get.
Hot lather! Maybe I can find by genuine badger-hair brush and buy a cake of shaving soap somewhere.....
edit - kant spel
This message has been edited by Coragyps, 04-19-2006 06:57 PM

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 Message 1 by Percy, posted 04-19-2006 4:22 PM Percy has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 5 by Percy, posted 04-19-2006 8:35 PM Coragyps has replied
 Message 21 by Percy, posted 05-02-2006 9:21 AM Coragyps has replied

  
Coragyps
Member (Idle past 735 days)
Posts: 5553
From: Snyder, Texas, USA
Joined: 11-12-2002


Message 6 of 51 (305376)
04-19-2006 9:36 PM
Reply to: Message 5 by Percy
04-19-2006 8:35 PM


The solid soap I used to use with Mr Badger was Crabtree & Evelyn, and it was just about as creamy as the aerosol stuff. Kind of expensive, but hey - a cake lasted over six months.

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 Message 5 by Percy, posted 04-19-2006 8:35 PM Percy has replied

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Coragyps
Member (Idle past 735 days)
Posts: 5553
From: Snyder, Texas, USA
Joined: 11-12-2002


Message 13 of 51 (305556)
04-20-2006 9:32 PM


My only barber-shop facial shave ever was from a barber who I swear had the beginnings of Parkinson's disease - his hands shook up to the point that he applied that bare blade to my skin, and then he turned just as steady as you'd like him to be. Strange experience.
Percy, I'd always wet just the brush and get warm - not barbershop hot - lather. Better than cold from an aerosol can.
Trixie - try canned shaving foam after warm water, and let the foam soak on your legs for half a minute before starting. I don't know if Gillette sells in bonny Scotland, but try something sharper than a "cheap disposable." Gillette's Sensor is as comfortable as I've found, and comes in gray for boys or pink for girls.

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Coragyps
Member (Idle past 735 days)
Posts: 5553
From: Snyder, Texas, USA
Joined: 11-12-2002


Message 22 of 51 (308472)
05-02-2006 11:19 AM
Reply to: Message 21 by Percy
05-02-2006 9:21 AM


Laureth-3 sulfate and its kin are used in durn near anything that's foamy and used on people - shampoo and the like. You might try any cheap shampoo that you like the smell of - you obviously don't need one that "nourishes your hair!" or prevents split ends. Hell, dishwashing liquid would likely be just as good, especially if you'd been working under the car and needed degreasing.

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Coragyps
Member (Idle past 735 days)
Posts: 5553
From: Snyder, Texas, USA
Joined: 11-12-2002


Message 25 of 51 (308544)
05-02-2006 3:03 PM
Reply to: Message 23 by Percy
05-02-2006 11:37 AM


If the cleaner solution really *is* iso-propyl alcohol,
It's more likely to be isopropyl 50:50 or so with water. If it smells like rubbing alcohol, there's little else it could be.

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Coragyps
Member (Idle past 735 days)
Posts: 5553
From: Snyder, Texas, USA
Joined: 11-12-2002


Message 31 of 51 (308564)
05-02-2006 4:59 PM
Reply to: Message 30 by EZscience
05-02-2006 4:52 PM


Re: On a related note...
Probably some nasty chemistry there, though.
Naw. Just slaked lime and/or triethanolamine and/or caustic soda. All of which they'd throw you under the emergency shower for if you got them on your leg at the lab.....
AbE: http://www.nairformen.com/
This message has been edited by Coragyps, 05-02-2006 04:02 PM

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Coragyps
Member (Idle past 735 days)
Posts: 5553
From: Snyder, Texas, USA
Joined: 11-12-2002


Message 37 of 51 (308722)
05-03-2006 9:25 AM
Reply to: Message 23 by Percy
05-02-2006 11:37 AM


A little research in the canned shaving cream aisle at WalMart reveals the secret: they all have a liquid soap in them, too. (In addition to a synthetic detergent/foamer like sodium laurel sulfate.) The soap probably is what makes shaving foam creamy-feeling instead of "dry" like dishwashing liquid foam. Gillette uses stearic acid, from tallow, and triethanolamine to make theirs. The Coragyps Research Facility is at your beck and call, Percy, if you want me to submit a couple of formulations - chemical suppliers love to send me free samples of their wares.
"Never tested on animals, except chemists!" - my new motto?

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Coragyps
Member (Idle past 735 days)
Posts: 5553
From: Snyder, Texas, USA
Joined: 11-12-2002


Message 48 of 51 (316743)
05-31-2006 10:02 PM


Glycerine is almost always available in drugstores in little brown plastic bottles. Ask rather than search, though.
I think that the problem Percy sees with shampoo or dish soap is due to those being synthetic detergents. Omni's link and my aerosol can of shaving cream both mention stearic acid and triethanolamine. These ingredients make a (semi-"natural") soap as opposed to a detergent: the reason for triethanolamine instead of lye (sodium hydroxide) that's used to make Ivory bar soap is that triethanolamine gives a liquid product, so it'll go into a can easier and stay in solution. I don't have a "because" for the "why" of soaps working better on the face, though. Mayhap it's Just Because.
Chemical history note: if you take cow fat, melt it, and add the appropriate amount of lye, you get soap, AKA sodium stearate, and glycerine. If you acidify the sodium stearate, you get stearic acid. Use potassium hydroxide instead of lye, and you get "soft soap" like the pioneers got by using wood ashes as their source of (mostly) potassium hydroxide. Use triethanolamine, get liquid soap. None of the properly-made finished soaps are dangerous, as all exactly neutralize the base used with the stearic acid.
AbE: Omni's link is mistaken about triethanolamine being a surfactant - it's just the neutralizing agent for the stearic acid. That neutralized product is formally a surfactant in the sense that all soaps are surfactants.
Edited by Coragyps, : No reason given.

  
Coragyps
Member (Idle past 735 days)
Posts: 5553
From: Snyder, Texas, USA
Joined: 11-12-2002


Message 51 of 51 (525206)
09-22-2009 12:28 PM
Reply to: Message 50 by JCtheBARBER
09-22-2009 11:45 AM


Re: Alternative Shaving Ideas
Contributing to thread necromancy.......
There are some of us out there that will give you an EXCELLENT wet shave.
By far the best shave I've ever had was my only barber shop shave with a straight razor. I was a big teenager, and only noticed that the barber had a touch of Parkinson's after I was already in the chair. I was far too polite to scream and flee from the shop, so I let him put on the hot towels and lather me up while I watched his hand tremors.
As soon as he picked up the blade he was a steady as a rock. Whew!

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