Spa Foodie: DIY Hot Lather Shaving Cream

Most of the Spa Foodie features we’ve put together over the past few months have been almost exclusively geared toward the needs of women (think Lavender Bath Truffles and Honey Apricot Beeswax Cuticle Cream… okay, we know our gays love this stuff too). But lest us not forget about our fellow bearded friends… men! Guys need at-home DIY spa treatments, too. Even though, there’s a big possibility that you will be the one making this recipe for your man instead of him making it himself, we’re pretty sure he’ll love to see you in the kitchen whipping this stuff up (in heels and an apron? Wink, wink). Plus, the ingredients are super cheap and most of them are already in your pantry (so he’ll love that you’re not spending loads of money). All of this catering to your man might even score you a Phenomenon-inspired John Travolta/Kyra Sedgwick sexy-face-shaving-scene. Bow chica wow wow.

Ingredients:

• 1 bar Dove® soap
• 1 bar Ivory® soap
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon castor oil
• Essential oils (try sweet orange and clove)
• 1 bottle of distilled water
• 1 grater
• 1 stainless steel pot (8 quart)
• 1 ceramic coffee mug
• 1 Pringles can, emptied and cleaned
• 1 shaving brush (badger hair is best, boar’s hair is acceptable)
• 1 razor (a classic double-edge razor is the most traditional, but any will work.)

Directions:

1. Grate 1 bar of Dove® soap and 1 bar of Ivory® soap into a large stainless steel pot
2. Add the olive oil and the castor oil to the soap mixture
3. Add just enough distilled water to the mixture so that the grated soap starts to stick together when stirred
4. Over low heat, continue stirring the soap mixture until everything is combined and the water begins to evaporate. This is called rebatching.
5. As the soap thickens, add essential oils for more manly fragrance
6. Pour the still-pliable thick liquid soap into a clean coffee mug and let it cure for several hours to a day. The final product should not be “goopy” … if it is, you can reheat it over a stove and evaporate more water out of the product. The best texture will be like chilled soft margarine (think the kind in a tub)
7. You’ll probably have leftover soap. Pour this into a small, cleaned Pringles® potato crisps container. After it hardens, you can slice through the cardboard to make disks that you can use to refill your mug

To Use:

• Dip  a shaving brush into very warm water and then whisk the brush in the coffee mug to create loads of lather. Spread on your face and shave as normal
• Rinse the shaving brush carefully and let it air dry between shaves

Tips/Tricks:

• You’ll probably have leftover soap. Pour this into a small, cleaned Pringles® potato crisps container. After it hardens, you can slice through the cardboard to make disks that you can use to refill your mug
• You can make a non-lathering shaving oil which works as well as the shaving cream by mixing sweet almond oil, olive oil, castor oil, and adding a few drops of peppermint oil, clove oil, and sweet orange oil. Spread a few drops over a wet face using the palms of your hands, and then shave.
• Castor bean oil is the oil that gives these shaving creams their thick moisture-rich lather

Recipe via