HP Olive oil soap

[ScrubbyHubby]

I plan on making some olive oil soap. I also have palm oil. If I just use olive oil is there any need to add castor oil to increase the amount of bubbles? Would I be better off to use some palm oil with the olive oil. I've been using canola oil and it is just too soft and I'm tired of it. That's why I'm asking these questions Oh, I also plan on adding some glycerine.

 

[melstan775]

if you're looking for a useable, bubbly lathery soap in short order, then yes, add other oils. Pure olive oil soap is castille soap and takes 6 months to a year to cure.

 

[Genny]

Why add glycerine?
Personally, I wouldn't add glycerine, it makes the soap softer & takes longer to harden up. Plus, if it gets humid, your soap can sweat.
You can add about 5% castor to help with bubbles.

Soaps with high amounts of olive are going to be soft, but once they've cured for a long time, they're hard as a rock.

 

[ScrubbyHubby]

Gee thanks. I can't wait that long. What percentage of each would you use?

 

[ScrubbyHubby]

How would 50% 50% olive oil and palm oil turn out?

 

[Seifenblasen]

How would 50% 50% olive oil and palm oil turn out?

It would certainly be usable sooner than a castile. Question is, what kind of oils do you have beside olive, palm, castor, and canola?

As someone suggested earlier, adding 5% of castor could boost your lather. How about some coconut (unless you have allergies or something against coconut)?

I vaguely remember a rather nice simple soap made with:
castor 5%
coconut 20%
palm 35%
olive 40%

 

[ScrubbyHubby]

I have dry skin and from what I have read coconut oil has a drying affect. Am I wrong? It seems that a lot of the recipes I've seen use coconut oil.

 

[Seifenblasen]

Yes, coconut oil tends to be very cleansing/drying. For most people it is fine to keep it around 20% or lower, especially you superfat the soap at 8-10%. It is in a lot of recipes because it is easily available, increases hardness and bubbles.

 

[layserbrat]

I'm confused... If scrubbyhubby is doing HP (Which the topic title says), does it still need such a long cure? I always though curing was cut down with HP... Is HP with just Olive Oil different?

 

[Seifenblasen]

A long cure benefits even HP soaps. Two of the most famous ones, savon de Marseille and Aleppo soap (both have a high olive oil content), are cooked for days before pouring, and cured for at least a month to several years.

 

[Gryfonmoon]

I've had good experience with 20% SF on a high coconut oil bar. A low SF on a coconut oil bar is certainly stripping, although some folks are super sensitive to even that. If you discount water then pure castille bars harden pretty fast. I make a lot of 100% OO bars.