A little lost

[RatherLather]

So here I am with a bottle of olive oil, a bottle of castor oil and some lye crystals, and I have no idea how to continue. Can anyone help me?

 

[judymoody]

www.millersoap.com has lots of basic information and simple recipes to try although you should scale her recipes down to maybe a two pound batch.

A book like Alicia Grosso's Everything Soap Book might also be helpful to get started.

You might want to add coconut oil and/or palm oil (or lard if you're OK with animal fat to your lineup). If you're brand new and make a mostly OO soap (say 90% OO and 10% castor), it will take forever to cure. Some people find OO soap slimy. A mix of three or four oils with different properties will yield a nicer end product.

Run any recipe through a lye calculator like www.soapcalc.net

 

[kharmon320]

Ditto on judymoody's advice. check out Kathy Miller's site. I found her site about 13 years ago and never looked back. I also agree it would be helpful to at least add coconut oil if you can find it. If you have a Walmart nearby, they sell 31oz containers (LouAnn brand) coconut oil.

Good Luck & Happy Soaping!

 

[Fragola]

You can find many informative videos on youtube. The videos don't replace important written information, but can be very helpful. Those people aren't professional instructors, so each of the videos will have some information missing. But if you watch 4-5 or more, you'll eventually fill in the blanks.

However, first thing you need to choose between cold processing versus hot processing. More differences exist between the two methods.

I am pretty new myself and I have chosen to start with HP, because the soap was ready to use more quickly and I felt like I have more control over the whole process. If you start with HP, you'll also need a double boiler/crockpot.

On the other hand, CP requires less work and pouring into the mold may come easier. Hehe, first time I had to punch my soap into molds.

And make sure you take proper safety measures (glasses/gloves/mask/ventilated room).

Yes, and welcome to the soapverse

 

[Hazel]

Why not do a castile batch with just the olive, lye and water. I know it would take forever (or seem like forever) to cure. But if you did one as your first batch, it would get you started and it's easy enough so you can concentrate on the process of soap making.

http://www.millersoap.com/castile.html

Then you could do a second batch with the other oils mentioned. I agree with the other people that adding coconut and palm for making a batch which will cure in 4 weeks.

 

[RatherLather]

Im so sorry to ask more questions but I hear virgin olive oil is bad to heat, shoud I do a cold process (not sure what these methods are) to make this castille soap?

 

[Hazel]

Don't worry about asking questions.

I did mine CP but I put it in the frig after I poured it because I used buttermilk. I've used virgin olive oil in several batches and I've never had a problem with it.

Perhaps the reason it was said it was bad to heat was because heat destroys the beneficial properties if you're planning on using it in food? But I don't know for sure.

Have you used the search function to look for previous discussions on castile?

 

[judymoody]

Im so sorry to ask more questions but I hear virgin olive oil is bad to heat, shoud I do a cold process (not sure what these methods are) to make this castille soap?

If you don't know what cold process is, get a book or two on basic soap making and do some searching around the forum. Another good resource is Soap Queen which offers reputable on-line tutorials including necessary safety information.

 

[Fragola]

I hear virgin olive oil is bad to heat

Did you hear that info related to soap making ? If we are talking cooking, many oils especially "virgin" ones are bad to heat.

On the other hand, for hot process soap you don't need to exceed 100 degrees Celsius, which would be a safe temperature even for cooking oilve oil.

 

[RatherLather]

Thank you so much for being helpfull,. I am still pouring over all the details everything isnt exactly in order, it's going to take abit of researching to find out how to do everything in order. Now I am learning how to make molds to pour into

 

[mostho]

IMO you have a killer combination in hand.
Just go for plain soap with that ingredients and if well done you have a giftofgod.

If you want to add some more oils, just read which kind of features you want more. With Extravirgin olive oil o olive oil IMO you have all the great features of a great soap, except a big bubbly soap.

Cheers from Italy

 

[RatherLather]

I was thinking of maybe making it
33% canola
33% olive
33% castor

Some people say that makes the bar slimy but Im ok with that.
I was also thinking of using perrier instead of regular water is that a bad thing to do?

 

[carebear]

Hmmm. Mineral water? What minerals are in it? Do they tell you on the label?

 

[RatherLather]

It's carbonated actually, naturally fizzy or something.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perrier
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonated_water

 

[Soaplady22]

Do not use that much castor - 5% is high enough.
And use distilled or good tap water. Nothing fancy is needed.
Good luck!

 

[carebear]

It's carbonated actually, naturally fizzy or something.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perrier
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonated_water

the wikipedia site shows it is mineral water - if you look to the right side of the page it shows the minerals, even. i'm reading this on my blackberry and cannot really see it well, but I don't think any of those "minerals" are problematic in terms of promoting oxidation (DOS). so other than probably being a waste of money, I see no reason not to use it.

someone with a better view of the screen may be able to speak differently about it.

 

[carebear]

many of us also think using extra virgin oo is overkill - that regular oo is fine. but some use it.

 

[RatherLather]

I wasnt really saying that 33% of the whole solution would be castor, I was referring to the ratio in oils, so in saying more like 3 parts as equal as I can get them. A blend of castor, olive and canola simply because they are easily accessible and just so happen to make for very good soap because of thier properties.

I was really hoping for some more thorough input on the perrier, its naturally carbonated (as far as I know) and was wondering if anyone had used it before and what it may or may not have done to soaps

 

[BakingNana]

Is there some reason you're interested in trying Perrier rather than distilled water? I can't see any benefit from using Perrier, and distilled is a lot cheaper. How's your tap water? Oh, and boy are you going to have fun!!! Welcome to the world's most serious and incurable addiction!!

 

[RatherLather]

Im just curious about the interraction, if it affects the soap at all.
Also does anyone know where to purchase distilled water generally. I seem to remember from a high school chem class that labs sell it.