It was a couple years ago that I decided to try making my own soap. There were a couple reasons I wanted to try, the biggest reason was that it seemed fun and I love to make things. The other reason is that store bought Castile soap can be expensive, like $5 bars of Dr. Bonner's soap! If you aren't familiar with castile soap, it's a handmade type of soap that is made with olive oil that come from the Castile region of Italy (my olive oil is from the Italian store....close enough haha), I think the name is now just used to describe soap made with olive oil. When I first started researching recipes and how to make my own soap I learned that most store bought soaps are made with animal fat (anything that lists 'tallow' on the ingredient list contains an animal product), I'm not a vegetarian, but this surprised me! Here is the simple recipe and the instructions on how to make you own castile soap!
Recipe: (adapted from here)
6 ounces Lye (sodium hydroxide) - this can be hard to find in Canada, I order mine from
here
12 ounces water
44 ounces olive oil
Essential oils
Tools needed:
-digital scale
-immersion blender
-glass bowl
-glass jar
-wooden or silicone spoon (not metal or you may burn yourself)
-well ventilated area
-eye protection
-soap mold or pliable plastic food containers
Directions:
-weigh out lye and water in separate containers
-add lye to water (never water to lye - this can be dangerous), and stir until clear (about 3-5 minutes) with wooden/silicone spoon in a well ventilated area - I always do this outside as it smells pretty terrible- be careful here as the solution is boiling hot, you should wear eye protection, and make sure to use a glass container at least 3 times the volume of the water as it could boil over if not
-weigh out olive oil and heat in microwave (or on stove top) to approx. 120 degrees F
-measure the temperature of the lye/water mixture, we want it to be about the same temperature as the oil, so place it in an oil bath to help cool it down faster
- once both the oil and the lye/water solution are about the same temperature (120 degrees F is ideal), add the lye/water mixture to the oil
- use the immersion blender to blend the solution until you reach 'trace' (like pudding) consistency
- once you have reached the trace consistency you can add any scents or colorings you want
- pour into your mold and cover with parchment paper or tea towels and let sit for 24 hours
- after 24 hours remove from mold slice to deisired size and allow to sit for 4-8 weeks! (this is the hardest part!) - the bars should have air circulating around them so I place mine on a board all sperated and put it away for a month so I don't get tempted to use them too early
Things to remember/cautions:
- always add lye to water and wear eye protection
- the solution is very basic (more than our skin) right after it is combined and can irritate the skin, try not to get it on you, or wear gloves
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| ^^ the 'trace' consistency ^^ |
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| ^^ I made a 2 layer bar, one layer plain^^ |
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| ^^ and the other layer orange- coloured with tumeric^^ |
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| ^^ cover with parchment paper and let dry for 24 hours ^^ |
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| ^^ after taking it out of the mold ^^ |
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| ^^ slice it to whatever size you want ^^ |
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| ^^ wait patiently while they cure ^^ |
