Castile Soap
- Thread starter Lee242
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Yes, sure it does! Use whatever you normally use for your regular bar soaps. My usual is 2% to 3% superfat, but I'm on the low side compared to most folks.
I did my last batch at 5% but Im going to move to 3% next time. Its such a gentle and mild soap any ways, and for a soap that needs to cure as long as castile does, I think 5% superfat puts you at increased risk for DOS.
Castile isn't the greatest for laundry. You would be better with a 100% coconut oil soap with 0% SF.
I second what Obsidian said. Castile is better for skin. Coconut oil is better for clothes.
Lingerie or other delicate treasures maybe. But clothes with even a normal amount of skin oil and perspiration odor, not to mention anything really dirty or greasy -- I want something with more cleaning power. That's especially true for washing in cold/cool water.
And you should go with as small a superfat as you feel that you can accurately achieve without being lye heavy. If you have a bad measuring technique and an inaccurate scale, don't shoot for a 0% superfat.
I have a good scale and a fairly steady hand but still made my last batch of CO soap for laundry at 0.5% sf
Edited to ask - what was it that led you to using Castile for laundry?
I have a good scale and a fairly steady hand but still made my last batch of CO soap for laundry at 0.5% sf
Edited to ask - what was it that led you to using Castile for laundry?
coconut soap works fine in HE machines.
I have. Friend who uses "Castile" mixed with borax and some other stuff for her home made laundry soap. The Castile she is referring to is Dr.B's which is not pure Castile.
I make a pretty darn good laundry soap and mine is 100% coconut with 0 superfat. It cleans well and does not suds at all in my HE front loader. I put washing soda in mine which pretty much cuts the suds.
A coconut oil soap works fine in my HE machine too. In fact my HE machine stays much cleaner and fresher smelling a LOT longer when I use my laundry mix than before when I used Tide. I rarely have to clean it anymore with that super high powered nasty cleaner stuff they sell for cleaning washing machines.
I mix the CO soap 50:50 by weight with washing soda and I think the washing soda cuts a lot of the suds.
I mix the CO soap 50:50 by weight with washing soda and I think the washing soda cuts a lot of the suds.
From what I've found the word castile doesn't mean a whole lot in some brands and areas of marketing. It originally was a 100% olive oil soap but it seems some have taken the leeway to make it mean that the soap is 100% vegetable oil soap.
So, if someone recommends castile, it could be 100% Fractionated CO which would be super cleansing or maybe it's PKO and CO which would be a nice mix as well.
So, if someone recommends castile, it could be 100% Fractionated CO which would be super cleansing or maybe it's PKO and CO which would be a nice mix as well.
That's true -- in the regular consumer world, castile is basically an all-veg oil soap and that's the way Kirks and Bronners use the word to sell their soaps. In fact there was a 1932 legal battle in the US that gave credence to this meaning of the word out in the real world.
But in the soaping world, at least what I've seen of it, castile usually carries its original more-specific meaning of a 100% olive oil soap. I can accept both meanings of castile, but each in its own respective context.
Maybe Lee, who is perhaps a newish soaper, is using the word more generically to mean an all veg oil soap, but when I say castile in the context of talking about handcrafted soap, I mean very specifically a 100% olive oil soap and I think most other soapers I can think of will tend to do likewise.
It's kind of like "assault and battery" -- the term means something very specific to a lawyer and means something related but much less precise to everyone else.
But in the soaping world, at least what I've seen of it, castile usually carries its original more-specific meaning of a 100% olive oil soap. I can accept both meanings of castile, but each in its own respective context.
Maybe Lee, who is perhaps a newish soaper, is using the word more generically to mean an all veg oil soap, but when I say castile in the context of talking about handcrafted soap, I mean very specifically a 100% olive oil soap and I think most other soapers I can think of will tend to do likewise.
It's kind of like "assault and battery" -- the term means something very specific to a lawyer and means something related but much less precise to everyone else.
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Everyone is telling you they use mostly or all coconut oil for laundry soap and we're giving you the reasons why -- we're not just blowing hot air atcha. You've come back with this recipe at 50% coconut oil. All I can say is ... try it, Lee. I'm sure it can be used in a washing machine, but whether it will get your clothes as clean as you like is your call. You can only know if it works for you if you try.
No hand made soap will ever have the amount of bubbling that synthetic detergents create. Go ahead and use the 100% CO with 0-0.5% SF.
^^^ very much so - I cleaned another old laundry detergent bottle today (to use as a sodium citrate holder) and the amount of bubbles from the left overs in there was crazy when compared to the bubbles that would have come from the same amount of 100% co soap
