• @theunknownmuncherEnglish
    2•2 days ago

    If it’s the best soap you’ve ever used, that would negate the claim that soap is soap.

    Disagree, the difference is that there is stuff in it that isn’t soap… in the case of that powder soap being superior, it is the added borax that acts as a great detergent, but probably not something you want to use on your skin regularly. And sure, there can be different ratios of water to fats in soap or different fats (lard, tallow, olive oil, beeswax, etc) that do not saponify fully (no soap should be 100% saponified or it would be possible that there is still lye in it that was not used up in the chemical reaction) and give the product different qualities, but the soap in it is still just soap. Or it could be sodium hydroxide lye vs potassium hydroxide lye to make solid vs liquid soap, respectively.

    My comments are not really meant to be about hobbies but BS products marketed from massive corporations that are just adding more to our mountain sized landfills.

    • waldenEnglish
      1•2 days ago

      RE: BS products from massive corporations, I’m with you for sure.

      RE: soap is soap - there are lots of different types of soap. Each type of fat has differing amounts of loric acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, etc. Lard makes a soap that’s a good firmness (not too soft, not too hard), not very cleansing (so it won’t dry your skin out, but also won’t do much hard cleaning), very conditioning, not very bubbly, but very creamy. Other fats/oils yield much different results. Soaps with a lot of coconut oil are very cleansing, so they’ll dry your skin out. Your soap sounds like it could be used daily without any problems.

      So, I disagree that soap is soap. Soap that’s made specifically for shaving typically has a lot of added stearic acid, because no natural fats have enough natural stearic acid to produce a really stable lather that won’t dissipate during the shave. Most use a lot of beef tallow, but there are also a lot of vegan options.