Pb 40 Thieves

Pbgoose

Pbgoose

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Jun 1, 2017
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I wanted to explore Barber Shop scents so had a bit of a play and came up with this. I think the closest relative in the Barber Shop genre might be Green Proraso. You're not going to pop the tub lid off and go 'yeah, that smells just like Proraso' but that gives an idea of what field it lies in (more Italian than American). It reminds me little of Pb Robaiba Blue which is a lot simpler and herbal, as it has a bright camphorous note, but 40 Thieves is a lot more complex with some woody notes and darker shading of Oakmoss with some Eucalypt and Spearmint freshness. The main body is carried by citrus, Orange, Lemon, Lime, Petitgrain, & Bergamot.

The base is a lanolin and tallow variation of Pb Bay Thyme which lathers and performs well. The palm oil provides some nice structure in the lather. I refrained from using some of the heavier scented base oils to avoid affecting the scent profile too much. I used bentonite as it's probably my favourite clay in terms of performance. The soap is mentholated but at the mild end of the spectrum, and may need adjusting upwards in further iterations.

Ingredients: Stearic Acid, Palm Oil, Tallow (Beef), Castor Oil, Coconut Oil, Lanolin, Shea Butter, Glycerine, Filtered Water (RO), KOH, NaOH, Tussah Silk, Bentonite, Menthol, Essential Oils, Rum.
Fragrance: Patchouli, Lavender, Nutmeg, Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Lime, Jasmine, Bergamot, Sweet Orange, Lemon, Geranium, Spearmint, Hinoki, Petitgrain, Blood Orange, Eucalyptus, Copaiba, Oakmoss and Rum.

I'll put up a lather shot with the next use of 40 Thieves. The test shave got cut short today so didn't have time.
 
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Lather shot this morning. Pb 40 Thieves w/ Bernard. This soap takes plenty of water and lathers easily, especially with Bernard which is like no other brush I own when it comes to lathering in terms of speed of lathering with very little loss of quality of lather.
Palm oil in the base means the lather doesn't maintain gloss for an extended period but adds very nice structure and stability to the lather, which is why I selected Pb Bay Thyme as the starting point for this soap base.
As I've said previously, I've stopped looking for 'The One' base and enjoy the various characteristics of the various bases I make. I found it interesting when somebody posted the interview of Will from Barrister and Mann by West Coast Shaving. Will was talking about his Reserve base in those terms i.e. he designed it to have certain characteristics which means it's requires a different lathering approach. I think it's the same as using a multitude of modern and vintage razors. They all have their quirks and good and bad points which provides interesting variety to this sport. Even the worst base I've made (which I probably won't reproduce) had it's fan. It was very slick, but lacked stability, and was very good for certain DE set ups.
40 Thieves is much more general purpose and will perform well with straights, DE's and SE's.
 
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