lets talk 100% olive oil soap

[SweetBubbleTreat]

Hi there from Benton ky.:wave: How is everyone today?? I'm great thank you for asking. I have a few questions to ask about 100% Olive oil soap. As im sure some of you know and for those of you that don't know here's the dealio...I'm still fairly new to soap making (only been making for about 3 months) but I've been interested for years and have been researching off and on. So how is it when I enter into the calculator for 100% olive oil soap it has no bubbles or cleansing properties? Yes I know it doesn't have to have bubbles to clean but shouldn't it have cleansing properties? How will this clean anything if there is no cleansing properties?? I have heard many people love it but I don't see it cleaning anything if there's no cleansing properties. Can someone help me to understand this?? I'm so and its driving me :crazy:. thank you all for helping out this clueless newbie. I never realized there was so much to learn in cp soap making.
Thank you for all your help. I'm having a great time getting my hands soapy with all the beautiful soaps that I see on here.

 

[MorpheusPA]

Hi there from Benton ky.:wave: How is everyone today?? I'm great thank you for asking.

I seem to have picked up the Black Death, but I'm sure I'll get over it shortly. Could be smallpox.

I have a few questions to ask about 100% Olive oil soap. As im sure some of you know and for those of you that don't know here's the dealio...I'm still fairly new to soap making (only been making for about 3 months) but I've been interested for years and have been researching off and on. So how is it when I enter into the calculator for 100% olive oil soap it has no bubbles or cleansing properties?

SoapCalc is very nice. I love SoapCalc. But sometimes you just can't trust those numbers.

Cleansing is a combination of the Lauric and Myristic numbers. Olive oil contains neither of those fatty acids, so comes up with a zero number.

Really, cleansing is a misnomer. All soap cleans. This should be called "Stripping" or the like, but I can understand why they didn't use that.

Soaps made of olive oil will clean. That's what soap does. But it's not going to be as effective as, say coconut soap or fractionated coconut at doing so.

Consider--Castille is so gentle it's used on babies, whose oil production is not up to snuff just yet. Those of us (me) with really dry skin also like it. It's one of my go-to winter soaps, and all the winter soaps I make have a lot of olive oil in them, and higher superfat levels.

On the other end of the spectrum, my gardener's soap blend is half coconut and half filler oils. That stuff will strip your hands like nobody's business...which is exactly what I want it to do to remove the dirt and grime I just packed under my nails. Castille won't do that easily.

Yes I know it doesn't have to have bubbles to clean but shouldn't it have cleansing properties? How will this clean anything if there is no cleansing properties?? I have heard many people love it but I don't see it cleaning anything if there's no cleansing properties. Can someone help me to understand this?? I'm so and its driving me :crazy:. thank you all for helping out this clueless newbie. I never realized there was so much to learn in cp soap making.

It's a case of taking those numbers with a very large grain of salt. In the real world, all soap has a non-zero cleansing number. Castille just isn't as good at it as other things are.

Most of my soap doesn't fall in their recommended cleansing range. Most of what I make is low, with cleansing numbers of 0 to 10. I'm certainly not wandering around covered in dirt like Pigpen from the Peanuts.

So in this case, I'd take that number as meaning, "Castille isn't going to be great at removing mechanic grease from your hands." But for day to day washing up, it's just fine--and a great soap if you wash your hands a lot due to its lack of ability to strip the natural oils from your skin.

 

[Missmoneypenny]

Morpheus explains the science well. I have made 100% soaps too. You will get bubbles but they will be small. You have to cure for longer to get a good hard bar, at 4 weeks it might be a bit soft. Of course it will be cleansing, but not as stripping as one with coconut oil.
Personally I like the colour (yellow green) the smell and gentleness of olive oil bar. Also it's the 1st one I ever made when my Spanish friend showed me how to.

 

[cmzaha]

6 months to 1 year cure will give you the best castile you have ever tried. I just poured my castile that will not come out until the end of this year

 

[TheCleanFighter]

I make a 95% olive oil bar with the remaining 5% being castor. I also load it up with ground apricot kernel. My soaps are angled at the Martial Arts/Sports demographic. I train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and we are all barefoot all the time. The olive oil bars don't foam or lather up huge (castor is there to help a tiny bit plus add some other desirable qualities) but when you use it to scrub your feet it leaves them super soft and smooth.

Designing or creating a bar of soap is about the qualities you want it to have and what it's intended purpose is. I also make my soaps as hot-process. These are un-molded and cut and racked to dry within hours of being made. Within a few days they are ready to be used but will of course get more firm with time.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

.............I also make my soaps as hot-process. These are un-molded and cut and racked to dry within hours of being made. Within a few days they are ready to be used but will of course get more firm with time.

As you are selling, I really hope you don't consider "ready to be used" and "ready to sell to be used by customers" as the same thing! Castiles need a very long cure and all HP soaps should have at least 4 weeks before being classed as ready.

 

[DeeAnna]

Here's something that might be useful: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=383997&postcount=17