Tallow or Vegan, and why?

Just to mix things up Many vegan soaps aren't vegan! They use Stearic Acid, generally Stearic Acid comes from animal fats.

Edit:

Tallow or Vegan?

GroomingDept and ask4Edge make a good point. This question does leave out a large third category: soaps that don't contain tallow but are not vegan.

If the soap performs well, I don't care whether the fat is animal or vegetable.

+1

I use and enjoy both.

I prefer tallow soaps.

I enjoy lots of vegetable based soaps, but tallow soaps almost always give be a better shave and more often than not a superior after shave feel to my skin.

I do find it takes more product with tallow based soaps to achieve the lather consistency I want. I'm ok with that as I feel the result is usually worth the effort, money, and performance. Not always.

More often than not I get my best, most comfortable shaves when using tallow soaps.

I do not however really enjoy lanolin. It doesn't necessarily give me a "reaction" but it can be too oily on my face after the shave. I feel like it's sort of a crutch that some soap makers are leaning on instead of doing the leg work on dialing in their product's performance and consistency from batch to batch. As though it's some sort of shortcut to fake richness and the cushioning feel of genuinely richer soaps. I'm not against lanolin per se, but I'd be happy if it wasn't in a soap I'm considering buying.

If the soap performs well, I don't care whether the fat is animal or vegetable.

I couldn't have said it better. A big +1 here.

My favourite soaps happen to contain tallow (and most of those happen to be triple-milled).
That said, I'm not entirely convinced tallows are necessarily better. Theoretically, if the tallow fatty acids are perfectly replicated (in terms of proportion and type of fatty acids), using vegetable matter, the same results can be achieved.

Just to mix things up Many vegan soaps aren't vegan! They use Stearic Acid, generally Stearic Acid comes from animal fats.

Great point. Much of (industrial) stearic acid is derived from Palm, although it's also animal-derived; plus, many so-called vegan/vegetable soaps, contain animal-derived glycerin. Personally, I prefer just using the antonyms tallow and (versus) non-tallow.

I prefer tallow soaps...I do not however really enjoy lanolin...

Just to clarify, "tallow" soaps don't contain much actual tallow, if at all. Saponification of tallow yields salts (versus fat/oil) of tallowate - whereas lanolin is left unsaponified, and remains a fat/oil.

Phil! Long time no see. Hope you are well.

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Hey Chris! I pop in from time to time. I'm great, thanks. Always catch every TSE video too. Looks like you are back on a bit of a buying spree again lately

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Tough question! I go back and forth, but the most important thing for me is that I vary the types. Sometimes tallow soaps can be very moisturizing, but the downside is that they feel "heavy" on the face. To alleviate this I rotate my vegan soaps in between using my tallow soaps, and that seems to keep my skin balanced.

Tallow all the way for me. Specifically the tallow, shea butter, lanolin combo. I tend to have pretty dry skin so it's all about the post shave. I've found that most veggie soaps leave my skin feeling too dry. I haven't noticed a huge difference in the quality of the lather with either, just the post shave feel. If anything, I think veggie soaps are easier to lather. Soap Commander for example is about the easiest soap to generate a nice lather with in my experience.

I prefer just using the antonyms tallow and (versus) non-tallow.

I agree that's a better distinction for the conversation.


ask4Edge I see you quoted what I said regarding lanolin, but it's showing as though you're quoting someone else.
Regardless your reply is what I am saying and you were able to expand on the point better than I did. Having the un-reacted lanolin in the product does sometimes lead to the greasy feeling I experience and do not care for at all.

Shaving soaps with tallow and lanolin tend to provide a creamier lather and better post shave for me so I prefer them over non-tallow and lanolin soaps. It's probably a combination of the tallow and lanolin and not merely the tallow, but there is indeed a noticeable difference to me. In addition to tallow and lanolin, a few of my favorite soaps also contain silk amino acids and/or kokum butter which, I believe further improves the lather. There are some exceptional vegan and non-tallow soaps too that I enjoy shaving with from time to time but, typically I use tallow soaps. However, one artisan I am interested in trying is Route 66 shave soaps which are non-tallow soaps that include lanolin and silk amino acids in the ingredients.