Problem with the Nuavias

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In creating a soap there are things that you can tweak in the formula a bit to make it harder of softer. One of the things you can adjust is the amount of water/aloe juice you add as that will have an impact on the final product. Some prefer a harder soap thinking that it'll last longer while others prefer a softer soap for simplicity to lather. Somewhere in between is usually a good place to be.

What I've found with the soaps I make is that in time some of the liquid (water/aloe juice) will evaporate and the soap will become harder and shrink a bit. I try and adjust for the eventual evaporation by overfilling the containers initially as I don't want anyone to think they've been shorted. After the evaporation, what you are left with is the same soap that you had before with a bit less water in it now. So think of it as a more concentrated version of itself.

To get it back to how it was performing originally you will likely need to use a bit more water and lather it a bit longer in order to pick up enough soap. Softer soaps load faster and require less water than harder soaps do. So basically, try using a bit more water and lathering it twice as long as you used to to. You can always add water slowly as you go as I've found this to give me the very best results.

In overseeing the passaround for years I've seen this happen several times in varying degrees. Plus living in Arizona, we don't have a lot of moisture in the air here.

If you're completely opposed to spending a bit more time lathering it every time you could try rehydrating it a bit by adding some more water and letting is soak into the soap. Maybe add a couple teaspoons at a time, let it sit over night and mix it in the next morning. Repeat every couple days until it's rehydrated and back to where you want it. Too much too fast would cause it to bubble and become lather as opposed to soap. I've done this with a vintage tub of Yardley years back that was almost powder and it performed great. I would try this with a sample first though as I'd hate to see you ruin a tub of Nuavia.

In creating a soap there are things that you can tweak in the formula a bit to make it harder of softer. One of the things you can adjust is the amount of water/aloe juice you add as that will have an impact on the final product. Some prefer a harder soap thinking that it'll last longer while others prefer a softer soap for simplicity to lather. Somewhere in between is usually a good place to be.

What I've found with the soaps I make is that in time some of the liquid (water/aloe juice) will evaporate and the soap will become harder and shrink a bit. I try and adjust for the eventual evaporation by overfilling the containers initially as I don't want anyone to think they've been shorted. After the evaporation, what you are left with is the same soap that you had before with a bit less water in it now. So think of it as a more concentrated version of itself.

To get it back to how it was performing originally you will likely need to use a bit more water and lather it a bit longer in order to pick up enough soap. Softer soaps load faster and require less water than harder soaps do. So basically, try using a bit more water and lathering it twice as long as you used to to. You can always add water slowly as you go as I've found this to give me the very best results.

In overseeing the passaround for years I've seen this happen several times in varying degrees. Plus living in Arizona, we don't have a lot of moisture in the air here.

If you're completely opposed to spending a bit more time lathering it every time you could try rehydrating it a bit by adding some more water and letting is soak into the soap. Maybe add a couple teaspoons at a time, let it sit over night and mix it in the next morning. Repeat every couple days until it's rehydrated and back to where you want it. Too much too fast would cause it to bubble and become lather as opposed to soap. I've done this with a vintage tub of Yardley years back that was almost powder and it performed great. I would try this with a sample first though as I'd hate to see you ruin a tub of Nuavia.

Thanks for the detailed response.

I've spent a lot of time to get the lather I want. I've tried many things, but nothing worked.

On another forum there is a member who faces the same problem with me.

Maybe there is some chemical change going on. I can't give another explanation to this.

Yeah, once it goes through the original process and the lye turns the oils into soap then it should be just soap.  There should be no other chemical changes happening.  Unless it went bad and if that happened then you'd usually see and smell the change as it would be quite obvious.   

I'll bust out my Nuavia soaps and give them a try as it's been a while for mine as well.  If mine have dehydrated a bit them maybe I can offer some first hand knowledge.

I have to admit this thread gave me a little bit of a scare. So I went downstairs and pulled out my nuavias to check them out. The two back up Ross as seemed fine the and the Verde looked good as well however the Blu and the nera didn’t appear to look normal. Look at the pictures below. It’s been so long since I’ve used the blu that I can’t remember if it was always that Dark. And it appears that the nera is starting to darken as well although hasn’t gone as dark as the blu. I took the blu and the Nera upstairs and lathered them with a couple of boar brushes (Semogue and Omega) which lather well for me. Im happy to say that they both lathered up normally, which is to say, wonderfully. have a look at the pictures. I’m thinking I shouldn’t have so much soap lying around 

Sorry about the duplicate pictures and the out of sequence nera picture. I was on my phone and it’s a little trickier for me with multiple images

Nikos, another thought I had is if you say it has changed and the more product method doesn't fix the lather, then maybe it did go bad. I used a very hard soap last month for my shave and as dfolk mentioned, maybe it needed some water as that is what my experience was. This soap had been out of use for almost a year since last use so it was firm. But then again, I trust that you know when the lather is showing when something is underloaded. It seems like you are sure that is not what is leading to what your lather is yielding. Not sure what to say that may be helpful.

I have to admit this thread gave me a little bit of a scare. So I went downstairs and pulled out my nuavias to check them out. The two back up Ross as seemed fine the and the Verde looked good as well however the Blu and the nera didn’t appear to look normal. Look at the pictures below. It’s been so long since I’ve used the blu that I can’t remember if it was always that Dark. And it appears that the nera is starting to darken as well although hasn’t gone as dark as the blu. I took the blu and the Nera upstairs and lathered them with a couple of boar brushes (Semogue and Omega) which lather well for me. Im happy to say that they both lathered up normally, which is to say, wonderfully. have a look at the pictures. I’m thinking I shouldn’t have so much soap lying around 

Marko, the lather I see is not very dense. It's a bit similar to what I now get. I'll post pictures later to see what I mean.

Hi @"nikos.a" I'm going to actually shave with the Blu this morning and I'll put a complete effort into the lathering and see how it goes.  Despite the appearance of some bubbles in the pictures from yesterday the lather wasn't how I would describe as airy.  I have another Rossa that is in my rotation and I use it every second week so I'll try to do a side by side lather comparison to see if I can see even minor differences in lather quality.  As an aside, have you changed your water supply recently?  Moved? Had an earthquake in the aquifer supplying your water?  Theres always a reason why something like lather quality of an excellent soap would change.  Maybe its soap deterioration or maybe its water.  Have you done anything different with your brushes recently?  What is your climate like?  Its generally cold and dry where I live so I don't get much deterioration in quality due to heat or moisture.  Drying out is a risk.  I think you will have to take up the offer and send a sample back to the maker if you really want to get to the bottom of this.

Hi @"nikos.a" I'm going to actually shave with the Blu this morning and I'll put a complete effort into the lathering and see how it goes.  Despite the appearance of some bubbles in the pictures from yesterday the lather wasn't how I would describe as airy.  I have another Rossa that is in my rotation and I use it every second week so I'll try to do a side by side lather comparison to see if I can see even minor differences in lather quality.  As an aside, have you changed your water supply recently?  Moved? Had an earthquake in the aquifer supplying your water?  Theres always a reason why something like lather quality of an excellent soap would change.  Maybe its soap deterioration or maybe its water.  Have you done anything different with your brushes recently?  What is your climate like?  Its generally cold and dry where I live so I don't get much deterioration in quality due to heat or moisture.  Drying out is a risk.  I think you will have to take up the offer and send a sample back to the maker if you really want to get to the bottom of this.

Nothing has changed AFAIK regarding the water supply, Marco. Athens has a very good and quality water. I haven't moved, I use the same brushes, my climate is the typical Mediterranean with dry summers and mild winters. Actually I asked for a shipping address but I didn't get anything in reply. I said them I'm busy lately, but I'll do my best to send them what they asked from me. The whole things is a mystery to them too. If you ask me, they still believe it's a user error, I'm not a fool.