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Olive oil castile bar soap |
There are two attractive aspects of this recipe. First, because of the liquidity of olive oil, there isn't any rush and no seizing of the soap mix. Second, it cures in at least four months rather than the traditional 12 plus months for most castile bar soap recipes. This is due to the significant reduction of water that directly reduces the evaporation and hardening time.
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Olive oil for castile bar soap |
Ingredients
- 567 grams (20 ounces, 80%) olive oil
- 72 grams (2.546 ounces, 10%) Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH lye)
- 72 grams (2.546 ounces, 10%) of water
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Self labeled vinegar spray tottle |
Tools
- Stick blender
- Stainless steel pot
- Stainless steel spoon
- Pyrex measuring cups
- Kitchen calculator
- Vinegar in a spray bottle
The Process
Put on your long shirt and pants, grab the goggles and rubber gloves. Walk the lye and water outside, or take everything outside (which is what I did).
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Equal parts water and lye |
- I weighed the olive oil, and put it in the stainless steel pot.
- I weighed the water in a large pyrex measuring cup.
- I weighed the lye in a pyrex cruet.
- The lye was added to the water in the larger pyrex cup, and stirred up with a stainless steel spoon (it takes a bit longer for the lye mix to become clear due to the 50/50 ratio).
- The pyrex cruet was sprayed down with the handy vinegar sprayer while the lye was dissolving.
- The lye was slowly poured into the olive oil while the hand mixer was on low.
- After the oil became as thick as it could, the mixture was poured into one of my old soy milk cartons
100% olive oil castile soap in
milk carton mould - Tools were sprayed down with vinegar, then filled with water to prepare for cleaning.
- I couldn't resist giving it a bit of a squeeze after 24 hours. It felt pretty firm at the top and bottom ends, a bit of give in the center. Not ready.
- In total, I waited 48 hours for the soap to harden enough for cutting. The carton was peeled away from the soap, and the soap loaf laid on a long side to prepare for cutting. The loaf is a bit odd shaped, and I wanted the
Olive oil castile bar soap loaf
The center of the soap ended up with a dark ring. This goes back to the gel phase, and insulating or not insulating to control or prevent the gel phase. It's explained more in a reddit post.
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Olive castile bar soap, after cutting |
After curing, you can use the bar soaps to make some super creamy liquid castile soap, as described by frugalberry. This will result in opaque liquid soap. For clear liquid castile soap, follow my earlier recipe, First Stab At DIY Liquid Castile Paste.