Castille Soap and lather

[z00100]

I made castille soap a couple of weeks ago.

Bars hardened and dried enough for me to try them out.

In the shower..........umm........yuck, the lather (or lack thereof) is like mucus.

No bubbles and foam whatsoever.

Mind you the water here is pretty hard. How would i fix this? I was thinking of adding a bit of coconut oil, but that would defeat the purpose of Castille

 

[Clemmey]

From what I have read Castille soap needs to cure for a really long time. I made some in February, and I will try it out in May/June. If the consistency is slimy, from what I have read, allow the soap to dry and cure the soap longer.

Hopefully others will chime in with more experience than me, as my bars are still curing in their racks.

 

[z00100]

From what I have read Castille soap needs to cure for a really long time. I made some in February, and I will try it out in May/June. If the consistency is slimy, from what I have read, allow the soap to dry and cure the soap longer.

Hopefully others will chime in with more experience than me, as my bars are still curing in their racks.

Wow!!! 3 months to cure?!? That's a lot. But I'm willing to wait to see if this turns out well.

 

[tryanything]

I'm with Clemmey. I made a 93% olive oil soap last summer for my daughters and let it have a good long cure (6 months). As I am making my way through the bars, they are better and better, each having a longer cure time.

 

[zeoplum]

I make mine with 85% Olive Oil and 15% Coconut Oil because pure Castile (100% Olive Oil) is too slimy for me.

Actually my 85/15 recipe is too slimy for me too, but it's at least tolerable.

I have some that I made almost 2 years ago and I just tested it again. Still slimy.

But wow is it gentle!! So it's a trade off. And worth it in my opinion.

 

[z00100]

Okay, so castille soap is slimy, I can buy that, but how come the commercial stuff is not?

Is it aged a year or longer? Or are they fibbing and saying it's castille when it's not?

 

[batty]

I have experienced the same thing with my %100 OO castile that I made HP over a month ago and another similar bar I made with only OO and cocoa butter. I have really hard water too, and I think that is the majority of the problem. I did discover while washing my kids though, that if I used a shower puff (you know those things made of plastic netting) the cocoa butter soap actually did suds up like crazy. And I did not have to get the bar so wet that it got all slimy, just a couple swipes was enough to wash each kids. I have not done it with the 100% OO, but I bet it will work with that too- the bars behaved really similar, and if you rub your hands together like crazy, there will be some sudsing.

 

[Hestey]

I was told a MINIMUM of 6 months cure for a 100% castille soap. Mine is currently 4 months old, hard as a rock since day 2 LOL. Will see how it is at the 6 month mark!

 

[serfmunke]

I do 90% OO and 10% shea and yes, the lather is, slick, easier to sell that soap than a slimy lather :wink: I have one last bar from about one year ago and the lather has "improved" compared to fresher bars. But I love the Castile, some do and some don't. I use a loofa as well and think that makes soap perform its best.

 

[Fragola]

Okay, so castille soap is slimy, I can buy that, but how come the commercial stuff is not?

To my knowledge, commercial soap has the glycerine stripped off. Also, I have a theory - could be wrong that it has a lower superfat.

 

[IrishLass]

I make 100% Castile's just for me because no one else likes the...er...rather unique lather. I let mine cure for 6 months to a year, and although things do improve with age, I find that the lather is still on the sparse and slimy side even in my bars that are 2 and 3 years old......that is, if the only thing I use to work a up a lather with is my bare, naked hands. However, if I use one of these, things are much different (as Batty and serfmunke also attested to in thier posts). Just a little bit of friction from my pouf is all it takes to transform the snotty oleic colloid slime into the most lovely, luxuriant lather on the planet to me.

Okay, so castille soap is slimy, I can buy that, but how come the commercial stuff is not?

Commercial soap manufacturers use a different process than home soapers. They chemically break the soap down to remove the naturally present glycerin, and what's left over is then flaked or turned into pellets. The flakes/pellets are then pressed through steel mechanical rollers under heat and pressure 3 times to triple mill it, and finally it's formed into (very hard and long-lasting) bars of soap.

IrishLass

 

[panzerakc]

I've got a Bastille that I made in February, and am waiting until August to test. It's 85% OO, 7.5% PKO, 7.5% castor. I made it with goats' milk, threw in a couple of egg yolks, and since I was living on the edge, added some sugar.

The only bad thing is that if it's the most wonderful soap on the planet, I'll have to wait another six months for the next batch!



Anita

 

[majstor]

Just a little bit of friction from my pouf is all it takes to transform the snotty oleic colloid slime into the most lovely, luxuriant lather on the planet to me.

So, what pouf does to soap that hands cant? And could it be possible to embed pouf into soap and use it as body soap?

 

[youreapima2]

My first cp soap was a castile soap recipe from Millers page. After 6 week cure time I used it, and I did not like it at all. It was very drying on the skin. I read in here to cure for about 6 moths; so I put them up on shelf and in the fall tried another 1/2 bar, and I love it now. It's so bubbly, I love the lather I get and it makes a wonderful shaving soap (for me anyways). I was so thrilled I gave some to a friend for Christmas that cannot even use Dove unscented without skin irritations, and she loved my soap. This past Christmas I made a 2 Lb. loaf of the same castile just for her, It will be ready to give it to her in July.

Try putting it up somewhere for 6 months and try it again Your opinion of the soap may change.

 

[IrishLass]

Just a little bit of friction from my pouf is all it takes to transform the snotty oleic colloid slime into the most lovely, luxuriant lather on the planet to me.

So, what pouf does to soap that hands cant? And could it be possible to embed pouf into soap and use it as body soap?

In 2 words- friction and air. I was going to say just friction, but my hubby suggested the 'air' part in addition to friction, seeing as how poufs have lots of tiny holes in them which help to act as little mini-whisks, whipping things up into a frothy lather. The surface of bare naked hands are just too solid and smooth in comparison to mimic what a pouf can do.

As for embedding pouf material, I suppose you could do that seeing as how I've heard of people embedding sea sponges, but I highly doubt that would do much of anything except to add exfoliation. I base that on my experiences with adding other kinds of 'friction' ingredients to my soap such as poppy seeds, pumice, coffee grounds, kiwi seeds and the like. All of them added friction, but none of them added anything in the way of working my soap into a frothy lather, but I'm willing to be proved wrong with embedding pouf material if you're willing to try it and report your results back.


IrishLass

 

[majstor]

As for embedding pouf material, I suppose you could do that seeing as how I've heard of people embedding sea sponges, but I highly doubt that would do much of anything except to add exfoliation. I base that on my experiences with adding other kinds of 'friction' ingredients to my soap such as poppy seeds, pumice, coffee grounds, kiwi seeds and the like. All of them added friction, but none of them added anything in the way of working my soap into a frothy lather, but I'm willing to be proved wrong with embedding pouf material if you're willing to try it and report your results back.

Ill try it , maybe even tomorrow, i think i have pouf somewhere. Embeded seeds and such doesnt work for good lather because you dont get "air" part, just the friction. To get air part too i think embeded item must not be fully embeded so i was thinking about embeding only half of pouf (or 2/3 or something) and the rest would be out of soap to create bubbly lather.
Loofa would be good for embedding too, i have source for seeds and trying to seed it this year.