Made some Aleppo style soap

SimpleSoaper · Dec 27, 2015

My wife gave me a bottle of laurel berry oil for Christmas, so yesterday I couldn't wait to make my first batch of Aleppo style soap. I've been making soap for a couple of months, using the crock pot hot process method, so I did the same for this.

The recipes I've found on the internet seem to vary quite a bit, so I kind of combined a couple into my own. I used 75% olive and 25% laurel berry oil and ran that through soap calc. Then when it got to a very thick trace I mixed in 5% more laurel berry oil and cooked it through the gel phase. It was a very thick soap in the pot, but upon unmolding it was very soft. Some have described the scent as "earthy" or juniper-like, but it definitely has it's own aroma. I can smell the earth and the juniper, but it also has the odor of stale, wet cigarettes mixed in. :sick: It's quite pungent at 25%+ so hopefully it will mellow with time. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Now begin the months of long wait...

I'd gladly welcome any recipe suggestions or modifications. I'm going to make another small CP batch to see how that turns out.

Obsidian · Dec 27, 2015

Looks good. I really want to try laurel berry oil, you'll have to let us know how it turns out.

CaraBou · Dec 27, 2015

That's a great looking soap! Love the aleppo color but never have smelled it. I'd try it in a heartbeat though if I had the laurel berry. Where did she get it?

SimpleSoaper · Dec 27, 2015

I got my oil here:
https://bescented.com/shop/clays-powders-additives/butters-carrier-oils/laurel-berry-oil/

A couple of caveats about ordering from that website... The minimum order is $30, and 1 lb of LBO is $26 so you have to make up the difference with other items. Also, the westore's postage calculator does not work correctly. It charged $19.06 for shipping, but the website owner promptly refunded $12.81 to the credit card which made shipping reasonable. The web store owner mentioned this happening in at least one other item description, so just don't freak out at the initial shipping charge. Otherwise I don't think there is another US supplier for LBO. This is my first experience with LBO, but I am very happy with what I got.

The Efficacious Gentleman · Dec 28, 2015

Adding oils at trace doesn't make a difference from adding them at the start, even with HP. With hp, you can add things after you have cooked the soap, as the lye is fully reacted by this time.

But for an Aleppo-type soap, it looks the part. Let us know how it feels after the cure. With such high soft oils, I would think longer is better

KristaY · Dec 28, 2015

Nice looking soap! Aleppo style is on my soapy bucket list.

MySoapyHeart · Dec 28, 2015

Ooo, nice! I too have wanted to try this, but shipping to Norway is terribly expensive.

dibbles · Dec 28, 2015

Great looking soap!

The Efficacious Gentleman · Dec 28, 2015

MySoapyHeart said:
Ooo, nice! I too have wanted to try this, but shipping to Norway is terribly expensive.

Have you checked out manske in Germany? They might be better for you for that

Seawolfe · Dec 28, 2015

wow those are pretty - that's such a dreamy green.

topofmurrayhill · Dec 29, 2015

What you made might or might not be Aleppo style soap. Here is the issue:

"Lauric acid" is presumably named after the laurel plant. It is the fatty acid that accounts for the bubbles and cleansing qualities we get from coconut, palm kernel and babassu oils. Laurel oil is one of the few besides those that contains lauric acid in significant proportions.

The tradition of adding laurel oil to olive oil for Aleppo soap makes perfect sense for the qualities it would contribute. The problem is that the "lauric" laurel oil comes from the seeds of the plant. Oil pressed from the flesh of the fruit is not so different from olive oil. Using it would create an expensive soap with no better qualities than plain castile soap.

Sinfully Wholesome has been promoting a laurel berry oil to soapers for making Aleppo style soap, but we have no good information on what exactly it is. It might not be what we actually want. From the looks of it, I'll go so far as to say that I doubt it's the right stuff.

The fatty acid percentages on that particular site are simply taken from SoapCalc, who got them from yet another source. They may not be remotely correct for that oil.

SimpleSoaper · Jun 20, 2016

I was inspired by some other Aleppo style soap threads to give a (almost) 6 month picture update. All are hot process.

From front to back:
100% EVO castile
5% Laurel oil Aleppo style + citric acid, no SF
7% Laurel oil Aleppo style, no SF
25% Laurel oil Aleppo style, 5% SF

The 5% looks different because I added some citric acid to the lye mix. I didn't compensate with any extra lye and I had to stick blend it forever even though it was HP. It never really gelled, but when it got thick I just poured it into the mold and prayed. It set up and seems to be soap. It has more laurel oil scent in it than the 7%, so maybe the citric acid neutralized some of the lye resulting in SF?

Catastrophe · Dec 4, 2016

Bumping this up in hopes that Dave has some left and will post his Aleppo's first birthday pics this month

Krystalbee · Dec 4, 2016

Oh very nice. Aleppo soap is something I have yet to cross off my bucket list... one day hopefully.

bbr · Dec 7, 2016

SimpleSoaper said:
I got my oil here:
https://bescented.com/shop/clays-powders-additives/butters-carrier-oils/laurel-berry-oil/

I was unaware of this company! Thank you for broadening my shopping horizons.

zolveria · Dec 9, 2016

Love them

LOVE THE SOAP

Ocean water .. ahhh Allepo soap

now with all the problem in syria.. It will have to rain soap flakes before i can get some ALLEPO SOAP. uggh.

it is nice you made some. but the water is the key.

Made some Aleppo style soap

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