YAQI BOT Artisan Handcrafted Shaving Soap 170g

Product Overview

YAQI BOT is an artisanal handcrafted shaving soap in a 170g puck, made for traditional wet shaving with a brush and bowl rather than for squirting out of a can.

The full ingredient list, as printed: triple-pressed stearic acid, purified water, tallow, coconut oil, castor oil, avocado oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, palm oil, bentonite clay, glycerine, sodium lactate, essential oil, fragrance oil, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, xanthan gum, D-panthenol and tussah silk.

Contains Tallow – Please Read

Tallow is rendered beef fat, and it is a main ingredient here. It is what traditional shaving soaps have always been made from, and it is why they produce a lather that canned foam cannot match.

Two consequences, and neither is on the seller’s listing:

• It is not suitable for vegetarians or vegans.
• Its halal status depends on how the animal was slaughtered, which no shop can determine from a soap puck. We will not claim a certification the maker has not given. If this matters to you, message us before ordering and we will tell you exactly what the packaging states.

Why Artisan Soap Is Different

This is not the same category of product as a can of foam, and the price reflects that:

• The lather is denser and far more slippery. Tallow, stearic acid and the butters build a cushion that canned foam does not approach.
• It lasts. A 170g puck used with a brush gives many months of daily shaves — cheaper per shave than aerosols despite the price.
• Bentonite clay adds slickness, and shea, cocoa butter, avocado and castor oil are there for post-shave condition rather than for the label.
• No propellant, no aerosol can.

How to Use a Shaving Soap

1. Soak the brush in warm water for a couple of minutes. A dry brush will not load properly.
2. Shake out the excess water — damp, not dripping.
3. Load the brush by swirling it on the soap for 20 to 30 seconds.
4. Build the lather in a bowl or on your face, adding water a few drops at a time until it turns glossy and holds a peak. This is the step that takes practice.
5. Paint it onto the beard in circles so it works down between the hairs.
6. Shave, then rinse the puck lightly and leave it uncovered to dry — a lid put back on a wet puck grows mould.

How to Shave Without Wrecking Your Face

1. Soften the beard first. Shave after a shower, or hold a warm damp towel to your face for a minute. Dry hair is about as tough as copper wire of the same thickness; wet hair is far easier to cut.
2. Apply the cream, foam or gel and give it a minute to work before you start. Most people start too soon.
3. Shave with the grain, in the direction the hair grows, using short light strokes. Let the blade do the work.
4. Do not press. Pressure is what causes nicks and irritation, not a blunt blade.
5. Rinse the blade every few strokes so it does not clog.
6. Rinse your face with cool water at the end to close things down, and pat dry — do not rub.
7. Moisturise or apply a balm while the skin is still slightly damp.

Change the blade often. A blunt blade drags and tears rather than cutting, and that is what leaves you sore. Most people get five to seven comfortable shaves from a cartridge.

Razor Bumps and Ingrown Hairs

Those small red, sometimes painful bumps after shaving are ingrown hairs — a hair that has curled back and grown into the skin instead of out of it. They are not an infection and they are not dirt.

Coarse or curly beard hair is far more prone to it, which is why this is such a common complaint here and much rarer for men with fine straight hair. What actually helps:

• Stop shaving against the grain. Going against the grain cuts the hair below the skin surface, which is exactly how it ends up trapped. A slightly less close shave with no bumps is a better shave.
• Do not stretch the skin tight while shaving, for the same reason.
• Use a fresh blade, and fewer passes.
• Exfoliate gently a couple of times a week to keep the hair from being trapped under dead skin.
• Never dig a hair out with a needle or tweezers. That is how a bump becomes an infection and then a scar.
• Give the skin a rest. A few days of not shaving lets trapped hairs work their way out.

If bumps are widespread, painful, filled with pus or leaving dark marks, see a doctor — there are treatments for it, and it is worth not living with.

Patch Test First

Before the first full use, put a small amount on the inside of your forearm or behind the ear and leave it for 24 hours. If there is redness, itching, burning or a rash, do not use it on your face.

This matters more than it sounds for grooming products. Freshly shaved skin has had its top layer scraped off, and a fragranced product that is fine on an arm can sting badly on a face that was shaved five minutes ago.

Keep it out of your eyes. If it gets in, rinse with plenty of cool water.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a brush?

Yes. A shaving soap has to be whipped into lather with a brush — there is no other way to use it. Brushes are listed separately in this category.

How long will 170g last?

Many months of daily shaving. Artisan soaps are used a few grams at a time.

My lather is thin and bubbly. What am I doing wrong?

Almost always not enough soap or not enough time. Load the brush longer, then add water very slowly. Big airy bubbles mean too much water too fast.

I have sensitive skin. Is it suitable?

Patch test it first and see. Fragrance and alcohol are the two most common causes of a reaction in grooming products, so check the ingredient list for both if your skin is reactive.

How should I store it?

Cool, dry, closed and out of direct sunlight. Not on a sunny windowsill and not in the hottest corner of the bathroom — heat degrades fragrance and active ingredients faster than anything else.