Shave Bar
Slip-rich shave bar with bentonite clay and high castor for slick lather.
A shave bar needs three things: slick lather (high castor), creamy bubbles (bentonite clay), and a hard bar (high stearic-acid sources). This recipe stacks all three.
Ingredients (1 kg batch)
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
Olive oil Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil | 300.0 g (30%) |
Coconut oil 76° Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil | 250.0 g (25%) |
Shea butter Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter | 150.0 g (15%) |
Cocoa butter Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter | 100.0 g (10%) |
Castor oil Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil | 150.0 g (15%) |
Sweet almond oil Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil | 50.0 g (5%) |
NaOH (lye) | 139.2 g (99% purity) |
Distilled water | 330.0 g |
Bentonite clay | 20.0 g (2% of oils) |
Open the recipe in the calculator to scale up or down by gram, ounce, kg, or pound.
Expected qualities
Step-by-step
- Standard CP procedure. Melt cocoa and shea first.
- Pre-mix the bentonite clay with a small amount of distilled water and add at trace to avoid clumping.
- Pour into individual round moulds (puck shape) for shave bars.
- Cure 6 weeks.
Notes & troubleshooting
- Bentonite at 2–3% gives noticeable slip; >5% can be drying.
- Add menthol crystals (0.5%) at thin trace for a cooling shave.
Calculator-flagged recipe notes
- Castor oil over 10% can produce a soft, slow-tracing soap. Most makers stay between 3–8%.
Regulatory disclaimer
FormulaNorth helps organize cosmetic formulation, label, costing, and CNF preparation information. It is not legal or regulatory advice and does not replace Health Canada guidance, professional regulatory review, or the maker's responsibility to verify product compliance before sale.
Selling in Canada?
Soap sold to the public in Canada is generally regulated as a cosmetic. Save this recipe to a free FormulaNorth account, then use the bilingual label drafter and CNF preparation tools to get ready for sale.
More recipes
Pure Olive Castile
100% olive oil. Centuries-old recipe. Long cure (6+ months), gentle, low-lather, near-mythical mildness.
Bastille (80% Olive)
Olive-dominant with 15% coconut for lather and 5% castor for stability. Castile mildness at half the cure time.
Coconut Salt Bar
High-coconut bar with sea salt up to 100% of oils. 20% superfat keeps it from being drying. Spa-feel hardness.