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Morning all,

I'm planning on making some olive oil soap next week and have a couple of questions. Firstly, I understand that pure olive oil soap, whilst good for the skin, doesn't lather well and becomes a bit, well, snot-like when used. To get over this you can add a little coconut and or palm oil. I'll probably just add coconut. Anyone had experiences of making soap this way?

Secondly, I have enough oil to make a lot of soap, so plan to do some for gifts. What would be the best way to make different varieties of soap? Can I separate once saponification has been achieved and add whatever I want to each batch or should i just make each batch separately?

All tips gratefully received.

Hey Contadina!

I haven't made castille soap, only mixed oil soaps.

From my limited experience, once you hiy trace you dont have a lot of time to get the soap into a mould etc (assuming you are using cold process). So if it were me I would be making small batches and making additions to each rather than one large batch.

Nev

Nice one Nev.

That's what I was erring towards. This will be my first attempt at soap-making, so it probably makes sense to take small steps first. I may even leave the first soap plain and add stuff with subsequent soaps as I get better at it.

contadina wrote:Nice one Nev.

That's what I was erring towards. This will be my first attempt at soap-making, so it probably makes sense to take small steps first. I may even leave the first soap plain and add stuff with subsequent soaps as I get better at it.

That makes a whole stack of sense to me! some ingredients can retard or accelerate the trace so I think it is a good idea to get a feel for the basic process first. Are you using pomace grade oil for your soap?

Nev

Fingers crossed yes, but with 150 olive trees I don't want to buy any oil in. I'm hoping to swap some of our olives for pomace grade oil at one of the local mills or find out if they can produce some with the residue of our next pressing. I spoke to one of my elderly neighbours about soap-making plans and he says it was really common about 30 years ago and that people used their 'forte' or strong oil, so I'm guessing that this is pomace.

Interesting!

I suppose it makes sense for "forte" to be the pomace oil! Anyway, good luck with your soap making. Do you have some good safety glasses or goggles and gloves to wear when mixing the lye?

Nosey bugger aint I

Nev

Thanks for the tips. I've got a very big (long) wooden spoon, but may well borrow Contadino's safety goggles too. I'm a little less nervous about using caustic soda after being shown how to use it to take the bitterness out of table olives, but will treat it will the respect that it deserves.

contadina wrote:Thanks for the tips. I've got a very big (long) wooden spoon, but may well borrow Contadino's safety goggles too. I'm a little less nervous about using caustic soda after being shown how to use it to take the bitterness out of table olives, but will treat it will the respect that it deserves.

Good stuff!

As an ex-chemist and now OHS manager I am keen for agressive corrosives like caustic soda to be treated with respect. Over the years I saw a few unpleasant things happen.........

Nev