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I understand that by the time castile-type olive oil soap caught on it was a boiled and salted-out soap. Arguably the process is as important to authenticity as anything else. I wouldn't try to replicate Aleppo soap as CP for instance. ETA: To explain the issue of "process" to those who don't...

That sounds worth a try. Olive oil soap as a general rule doesn't excite me, but what's exciting about this is the possibility of reproducing something traditional. You look at a real Aleppo soap and you know you're looking at something that has been made for a long, long time. Unlike castile...

Get the claimed number if possible. There's low and there's low. The number might not sound high but 2% FFA in olive oil classes it as unfit for human consumption. Just a fraction of a percent is normal for fresh refined liquid oil. Just EV or virgin OO are liable to be higher. It's a strange...

CA hogs the hydroxide forever, more or less. It reacts with KOH to make potassium citrate, leaving less to react with the oils and thus increasing the SF. Maybe that would slow down the TTP (time-to- paste) also.

It's normal to heat canning jars. They are used for container candles too.

I used a very green laurel oil but it didn't do the trick. You can see in the Aleppo soap making pics their batter is very green the whole time, long before the laurel oil is added. Would love to acquire some crude pomace. The olive pomace oil we usually get is as far as I know a refined...

Reminds me of this thread and particularly the comments by earlene. http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=60449

I'm not a chemist; I just play one on TV. :) Sodium acetate isn't volatile, so you can concentrate it if you make it from vinegar. You can also buy it for easier control of how much you use. It's a very effective hardener, as I assume you noticed.

Palm should be a good thing to try for a change -- interesting for being the veggie option -- but I agree that ideally you would use some tropical butter like shea with it. You won't have any trouble with lather unless you go overboard. Actually with all that castor oil, or a little less castor...

This too shall pass.

Haha. :) Forgetting to turn on the crock pot is the alternative way of making CP soap.

I think you probably had an issue, but if it's an issue you don't mind then it's fine. Not everyone focuses on the same things. But here is the issue. Many people say they used old NaOH and it worked fine. With the situation as you describe it, and in many such cases, I think we can say that...

I think you mean that you use a 40% lye concentration, which is indeed a discount from the let's say 28% "full water" lye concentration for bar soap. I think the most common is a 33% solution. Some people go higher like you do, and sometimes vary it according to their needs. My most common is...

I didn't see the new colors right away either. I get them now.

Maybe not, but I don't know for sure because I never tried. What kind of bottled water is it? What does it say on the label? You would want to use a type of water that doesn't contain minerals. For some drinking waters they actually add minerals for flavor. Some minerals are extremely...

You are using distilled water, yes?

MMS sells the Bourbon Geranium EO.

Sorry, I didn't mean for that to be directed to you. The OP is the one who wants to sell it.

I wouldn't get involved in selling something like that without some serious thought and research. I'm sure there are laws that pertain to formulating and making claims about products with pesticidal properties. Even if you are on the right side of the law, you are a very small business. Ticks...

I think this could speed up some of the short-term things that happen after soap is made. Water evaporates at a rapid rate at first and this would contribute. If soap was a little cool during the initial saponification, this might help finish it off. However, it wouldn't speed up any of the...