# Making a soap with high percent of olive oil that doesn't get slimy?



## aab1 (Aug 25, 2013)

I've made 100% olive oil soaps about 2 years ago, I've been told that with enough curing they would no longer get slimy when used but they seem to get just as slimy after 2 years than after a month.

What natural changes like adding hard oils could I make to make a soap with as high a percentage of olive oil as possible that doesn't get slimy?

I've recently made a 35% olive 65% coconut oil batch that seems good but it still isn't cured and I'm hoping there's a way to add much more olive oil and have the soap not get slimy.

Would palm kernel oil help and if so what percentage and should I add other hard oils like coconut?

Thanks


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## savonierre (Aug 25, 2013)

PKO is a sub for CO. PO might help. I use a bath pouff with castile and get no slime. 
Shea butter is a nice addition as is mango butter or cocoa butter. The balance of the ingredients in the recipe is key to a great batch of soap..


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## aab1 (Aug 25, 2013)

What percentage of olive oil can I use with these hard oil without it getting slimy?

Thanks


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## ahutchins9 (Aug 25, 2013)

I use 50% OO in my soap and its not slimy at all. I also soap palm free so I have coconut, cocoa, and shea in them as well along with some rice bran, avocado, and apricot kernel oil


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## aab1 (Aug 25, 2013)

Thanks, I'll try a 50% olive batch with some hard oils/butters.


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## sistrum (Aug 25, 2013)

In my formulas I usually keep olive oil at 40% or under depending on the other ingredients.  Not so much to reduce slime but I find that to high a percent of olive oil gives me "Mannequin hands" after extended use.  Not just me but others also.

Mannequin hands=shiny hands ( and skin)


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## sistrum (Aug 25, 2013)

Forgot to add, I've found that olive oil soap likes very warm to hot water when used.  They don't slime up like they do when using cool or cold water.


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## sugarnik (Aug 25, 2013)

I've made cp soaps with 60% olive oils and they are not slimy at all but I usually stay around 40%


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## judymoody (Aug 26, 2013)

I use around 45% as a general rule.  But I've gone up to 70% with the remainder as hard butters or oils and it was very nice.

I don't like 100% OO, icky sticky.  But I do like OO in combination very much.


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## sososo (Aug 26, 2013)

I never use the OO at more than 60%. Here is one of my soaps with pretty much OO but no slimy:

55% olive oil pomace
20% palm oil
15% coconut oil
10% castor oil
superfat 5%
no additives

I use this as a shampoo bar.


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## Lion Of Judah (Aug 26, 2013)

aab1 , have you ever used Aleepo or Savon de Marseilles soap? if not, try get a hold of a bar and try it out. its high olive oil and aged . it would be a nice try to see if you get that "slime" feel . 
highest that i ever went in using OO is 60% , CO (76 deg) at 30% , castor oil at 10%. its one of my first soaps made , since then i drop down to about 35% - 45%. i never experience the slime feel i hear others talk about.


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## Saswede (Aug 26, 2013)

I don't know whether the slimy feel is strictly about the percentage of OO in your recipe, because I have some soaps which have 70% or more and aren't slimy, and others which have less OO and do feel slimy.  Perhaps it's related to the brand or grade of oil used, or the other oils used with the OO which determine whether or not it'll be slimy .....?


Sent from my iPad using Soap Making


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## aab1 (Aug 27, 2013)

Lion Of Judah said:


> aab1 , have you ever used Aleepo or Savon de Marseilles soap? if not, try get a hold of a bar and try it out. its high olive oil and aged . it would be a nice try to see if you get that "slime" feel .
> highest that i ever went in using OO is 60% , CO (76 deg) at 30% , castor oil at 10%. its one of my first soaps made , since then i drop down to about 35% - 45%. i never experience the slime feel i hear others talk about.



I did get a huge 600 gram Savon de Marseille a few years ago and it never got the least bit slimy, I think it may be related to the batter being cooked for days or maybe the other alkali they use in addition to lye.

Thanks


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## Scooter (Oct 4, 2016)

sistrum said:


> too high a percent of olive oil gives me "Mannequin hands" after extended use.  Not just me but others also.
> 
> Mannequin hands=shiny hands ( and skin)



I love this phrase "mannequin hands." Every time I see it I want to show "jazz hands!"

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O8KJO2ArL0[/ame]

Scooter


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## Reesedog914 (Oct 6, 2016)

I regularly make 80% with no slimy issues. Not really sure what you even mean by slimy. What temperature are you combining your solutions?


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## Obsidian (Oct 8, 2016)

This recipe is 50% OO and so far, its the best high OO soap I've made. I'm not  fan of the slime either and normally use only 30% or less OO in my soap but I had to come up with a all veggie recipe once and this is it. 
Turned out nice even though the coconut seems a bit high, it quite gentle and lathers fairly well. It also gets a neat translucent affect if gelled.

http://www.evernote.com/l/ANjoJN_KydBFo4Yme_5bfh5wqR-lIaRRku8/


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## penelopejane (Oct 8, 2016)

I think there is a difference between EVOO, OO and Pomace in soap when considering "slime" or maybe it's the different olive oil manufacturers.


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## TheStat (Oct 8, 2016)

penelopejane said:


> I think there is a difference between EVOO, OO and Pomace in soap when considering "slime" or maybe it's the different olive oil manufacturers.



It seems like crude pomace olive oil creates the best lather for an olive oil soap. Of course the long cooking time also helps.


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## penelopejane (Oct 8, 2016)

TheStat said:


> It seems like crude pomace olive oil creates the best lather for an olive oil soap. Of course the long cooking time also helps.



I don't HP  and Pomace is not readily available here and I wouldn't use it anyway. Ecuador of chemicals used to extract the oil. I am one of those people who believe that what you put on your skin is ingested even in wash off products like soap especially in a bit shower where skin pores are open so take what I say with that in mind. 

Going on what people on this forum say I thought Pomace may make Castile soap slimy, but this is up for hot debate. There must be something different because some experience slime in Castile Soap and some do not. It might be the water, the fact some use a washer, some use hot water or the ingredients. I don't think anyone really knows. 

I do not think original Castile soap would have been made from Pomace as that requires chemical extraction techniques which would not have been available. 

Where did you get the idea that crude Pomace oil creates lather?


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## TheStat (Oct 8, 2016)

penelopejane said:


> I don't HP  and Pomace is not readily available here and I wouldn't use it anyway. Ecuador of chemicals used to extract the oil. I am one of those people who believe that what you put on your skin is ingested even in wash off products like soap especially in a bit shower where skin pores are open so take what I say with that in mind.
> 
> Going on what people on this forum say I thought Pomace may make Castile soap slimy, but this is up for hot debate. There must be something different because some experience slime in Castile Soap and some do not. It might be the water, the fact some use a washer, some use hot water or the ingredients. I don't think anyone really knows.
> 
> ...



Well these soapmakers use the boiled method in which they salt out their soap multiple times, thus getting rid of all the impurities. Castile soap was made with bad olive oil which was impure and cheap so that is somewhat similar to crude pomace. As for why the I think crude pomace olive oil creates more lather is because it seems like almost every big manufacturer of 100% olive oil soap uses crude pomace olive oil and their lather seems to be better, also crude pomace olive oil has a lot of unsaponifiables, which makes the soap better.


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## penelopejane (Oct 8, 2016)

TheStat said:


> Well these soapmakers use the boiled method in which they salt out their soap multiple times, thus getting rid of all the impurities. Castile soap was made with bad olive oil which was impure and cheap so that is somewhat similar to crude pomace. As for why the I think crude pomace olive oil creates more lather is because *it seems like almost every big manufacturer of 100% olive oil soap uses crude pomace olive oil *and their lather seems to be better, also crude pomace olive oil has a lot of unsaponifiables, which makes the soap better.



Not sure where you get your figures but that is not the case in Australia or from the sites I have seen overseas.  In Australia you are not even allowed to call pomace "olive oil" because it is not olive oil. 
It is not organic so none of the sites using organic OO are using pomace.

It doesn't matter though.  You can use anything to make soap.  It's all just personal preference and the preference of your customers if you sell.


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## TheStat (Oct 9, 2016)

penelopejane said:


> Not sure where you get your figures but that is not the case in Australia or from the sites I have seen overseas.  In Australia you are not even allowed to call pomace "olive oil" because it is not olive oil.
> It is not organic so none of the sites using organic OO are using pomace.
> 
> It doesn't matter though.  You can use anything to make soap.  It's all just personal preference and the preference of your customers if you sell.



Crude pomace olive oil is used because it is cheaper than using any other olive oil, and it doesn't matter what olive oil oil you use whether it is pure or crude. Crude pomace also gives the soap a green color which some manufacturers want.


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## topofmurrayhill (Oct 9, 2016)

penelopejane said:


> In Australia you are not even allowed to call pomace "olive oil" because it is not olive oil.



Let's not go overboard conflating what a product is with what it is called. It's not that olive pomace oil isn't olive oil, it's that it can't be called olive oil in commerce. It's a regulatory matter that has been adopted in Europe, the USA and elsewhere, not a vehicle for expressing disdain.

Things you put on your skin can be absorbed easily, or can't be absorbed at all, or somewhere in between. We know this as a matter of fact about many substances, not as a matter of opinion or philosophy.

Maybe hexane could be absorbed, but as far as I know there isn't any in vegetable oil. It's used in the extraction of soybean, corn and other seed oils that are consumed in large quantities all over the world with no credible concern about solvent exposure.

What puts it to rest is that everyone DOES get a significant exposure to hexane, in comparison to which vegetable oil could not rank higher than a zero as a contributor. All you have to do is hang around cars or pass petrol stations, or live in areas where they exist, or stand downwind of petrol stations or (heaven forbid) fill the tank of your car.

However, I think it's true that olive pomace oil wasn't used traditionally because there are no alternatives to solvent extraction. At one point I suspected it was responsible for the color of some traditional HP olive oil soaps, but either it's not that or they didn't always have that color.


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