HP castile question

[pmartin]

So I made my first soap! It's a hot process castile with olive oil. I let it cook for over 2 hours and it wasn't zappy. My question is how do long do I need to wait before I can use it? I ask because I understand olive oil saponifies slower than other oils. Is there a chance that it's not fully saponified even though it did not zap?



The ingredients are olive oil, water and sodium hydroxide and I used soapcalc to make my recipe and I weighed everything very carefully using the full water amount and a 8% superfat.

 

[Obsidian]

Technically its safe to use as soon as its cut but it won't be a nice soap. HP needs to cure just like CP does and castile really needs at least 6 month cure, 1 year is even better.
Castile is well known to be a slimy soap with very little lather, a long cure will help with both.

 

[kchaystack]

Castilie's usually need a very long cure. 6 months to a year.

If the soap is not zappy, then saponification is done. You can use the bar with no fear of being exposed to un-reacted lye. But it won't be the best experience until cure is complete - which is a combination of water loss and the developing of a crystalline matrix in the soap.

there is no way to speed this process up - you just have to wait it out.

 

[amd]

My HP castile soap is at 3 months and I'm still fighting the urge to use it! I feel your pain, but in appearance and texture (just looking and holding the bars) I see changes every month, so let it cure!

 

[shunt2011]

I agree with letting it cure. I've made castile (twice) didn't like it even at 9-12 months, but could tolerate it once in a while. I still have a couple bars but haven't used them in a long time. Not my first choice in soap at all.