Deanna, I have a question...

[DeeAnna]

Great lab report, Newbie! Thanks for sharing! I am utterly surprised by how fast this soap loses its zap. Not sayin' it's super mild just yet, but it's way less "hot" than I would have guessed before we all made this recipe.

 

[AnnaMarie]

OMG! Are there Cliff Notes available for this thread?

What happened with the lye heavy castile? How does it feel? Is it worth trying?

No kidding! I need cliff notes too! I'm trying to keep up.... I think this will prove to be a unique experience for everyone, and you'll just have to decide for yourself if you're up for it. I won't tell you to do it, and I won't tell you not to do it- how's that for an answer :-D? Truthfully, I'm very surprised that this many people have engaged in this experiment. I never expected anyone to make it when I first posted it . I may whip out a two month cured bar to try here and report back.
Cheers!
Anna Marie

Just to let everyone know, I did try to contact the original author of the blog post from which I got this recipe. I asked for some clarification on whether or not it's for skin and the issue of its being lye heavy, etc. I'll let everyone know if I get an answer. I'm not hopeful because it's such an old blog post, but it is still a functioning blog so who knows?
Cheers!
Anna Marie

MzMolly ... you are SO funny ... make me giggle with your comments

To ALL the other hero's and heroines .... I joined your excellent thread last night and spend the whole of Saturday night reading it! Well done to you all ... you were all amazing, and scientific and persistent and all in the name of soap !!!

I even popped back tonight to see how you were all getting on

sending ya much love

k
x

Thank you for the moral support! We are a crazy bunch!
Cheers!
Anna Marie

Wow! That was quick! Here is Teresa's response to my inquiry about this recipe (Teresa is the original author of the blog post)

Dear Annamarie,

Seeing your question about the olive oil + lye soap and whether it works as body soap or is too harsh, here are some thoughts and research that I hope will make you feel good about this soap.

- The recipe comes from an 85 year old andalusian friend (mother of a friend, but I know her well) who has great skin… and YES she uses this soap on her body
- She points out that the oil is very high quality, pressed from her own olives and superb for eating… it is not “recycled” in any industrial sense, but rather quite clean, not from frying proteins or anything greasy or aromatic. Just from a round of roscos, and well strained thereafter, so, if anything, slightly sugar and lemon scented. Most oils that commercial soaps are made from are likely inedible, in terms of quality.
- She says that lye is what saponifies fat… y punto… although people do make soaps with glycerine… which itself contains lye… just that you don’t have to handle the lye yourself.
- The key is in using good quality oil and lots of it… with just enough lye to saponify it.

Here’s an article on the subject which points out that seemingly mild substitutes or even fancy commercial brands that say “organic” likely contain sodium lauryl sulphates and other undesirable ingredients:

http://www.humblebeeandme.com/why-there-is-no-such-thing-as-making-soap-without-lye/

Comment by Teresa — March 9, 2014 @ 1:26 pm

 

[Lin]

I'd be curious to reply to her and point out her last point doesn't apply to this soap. It has much more lye than 'just enough' to saponify it. It sounds as if she doesn't make soap herself?

 

[newbie]

I had the same thought, Lin. It makes me wonder what old process they used back in the day to determine how much lye it takes to "just" saponify the oils. Whatever it is, that process is way different from today's!

 

[DeeAnna]

I would say Teresa has never made this (or any) soap, but I really appreciate her kind reply. Her friend's mother is clearly well versed in making soap, even if it is quite different than the way most of us make soap. I'm enthused about what I'm learning and I really enjoy the sharing that's going on about this project. AnnaMarie is right -- this thread has taken on a life of its own, and I'm glad about that!

 

[AnnaMarie]

To be fair to Teresa, this quote was not presented within its full context and perhaps should be read fully on the blog post first before conclusions are drawn by the masses on this thread If you read the page she does detail some sources for good advice on soap making, and I got the impression that while she's clearly not an expert, she has at least made soap. I also could see that she was learning old school Soapmaking and not the modern soap making we are used to. How much lye to saponify oil with? That could be relative depending on the culture or time period we are dealing with and what they felt was enough. What I felt was cleared up a bit was that this soap has been used on skin with good results. It would very interesting to find out more about this recipe within the country of its birthplace, but my research hasn't turned up anything yet. I'll keep looking....
Cheers!
Anna Marie

 

[MzMolly65]

Fwiw .. I looked at my soap again today. The 1/2 with embeds is the drying, leathery bars that don't look very appealing. However, the unscented, unadulterated round cavity bars are still clean, bone coloured and drying nicely without getting leathery.

That does make me think that blaming the embeds might not have been too far off the mark. Perhaps something in the embeds is reacting badly to the excess lye in this recipe??? No scientific proof to back up my thoughts, just thinking out loud.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...To be fair to Teresa..."

Point taken, AnnaMarie. Thanks for the clarification!

 

[AnnaMarie]

"...To be fair to Teresa..."

Point taken, AnnaMarie. Thanks for the clarification!

I wasn't trying to single you out DeeAnna . I noticed the string of comments following my post all made the same conclusion, and having read the whole blog post I had a pretty good idea that the author had made soap before . In other news, I think I will pull out a bar of the "original" today and try it out I will report back....
Cheers!
Anna Marie

 

[DeeAnna]

Please don't worry, AnnaMarie, I didn't take it that way. I just wanted to let you know I understand and appreciate your point of view.

 

[seven]

i believe that 85 yr old woman use this soap on her skin for many years w/o a problem. that's all i needed to know

both of my soaps are okay now, as in they don't zap and no funky feeling on my skin. just waiting for the lather now (and of course, to be more milder). i reckon it could take at least 2 months.

i wonder if the -40 SF is a must. can we reduce slightly and still not get gooey?

 

[FlybyStardancer]

I think Anna Marie posted earlier in the thread that she had tried a -20 SF once and it got gooey.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...i wonder if the -40 SF is a must. can we reduce slightly and still not get gooey? ..."

See AM's posts 99, 174, 179 and my posts 103 and 168. StarDancer is right -- looks like -20% lye excess is not enough.

I don't recall if anyone in this thread has tried something like -30% -- chime up if you have!

 

[AnnaMarie]

I may try this at -30 or -35 to see what kind of results I get. I honestly think there is a little wiggle room- just not a lot.

 

[seven]

dang! if only we're closer i can do -30 and you can do -35 and swap results..

 

[FlybyStardancer]

Okay, last night I tipped the olive/soy loaf on its side and peeled the bottom away so that it could air dry some, and then I sliced it today. Forgot to take pics before I sliced off the first bar, so the first three pictures are after I sliced it off. Last one are of the first six slices, which was half of the loaf. You can see the amber area on the bottom, that's the area with the amber liquid, though it's firmed up some.

Stat refresher--it's a 57/43 mix olive oil/soybean oil, 1kg oils, and I added 2/3 cup milk powder (enough for 2 cups milk), and blue and green micas for colors. The micas are known color-morphers, but they're supposed to stay within their respective blue and green ranges (blue is supposed to become light blue and the green is supposed to become lime green).

My poor brand-new slicing board ended up stained from whatever that amber stuff is. Sadness.

 

[Alaska beauty]

Looks like super gel from powder milk. I have same problems long time ago from yogurt powder. It was looking well mixt, but at ended in one corner and create a gel pound. I re-cook mine. How is PH on top and bottom?

 

[AnnaMarie]

Okay, last night I tipped the olive/soy loaf on its side and peeled the bottom away so that it could air dry some, and then I sliced it today. Forgot to take pics before I sliced off the first bar, so the first three pictures are after I sliced it off. Last one are of the first six slices, which was half of the loaf. You can see the amber area on the bottom, that's the area with the amber liquid, though it's firmed up some.

Stat refresher--it's a 57/43 mix olive oil/soybean oil, 1kg oils, and I added 2/3 cup milk powder (enough for 2 cups milk), and blue and green micas for colors. The micas are known color-morphers, but they're supposed to stay within their respective blue and green ranges (blue is supposed to become light blue and the green is supposed to become lime green).

My poor brand-new slicing board ended up stained from whatever that amber stuff is. Sadness.

So sorry :-( Maybe you can trim the brown stuff off and make mini soaps/guest bars?

dang! if only we're closer i can do -30 and you can do -35 and swap results..

I don't know what part of the globe you're located, but if you change your mind and want to do a swap go ahead and pm me. I know international rates are so expensive, sigh!

 

[Jencat]

Picked up two jugs of OO at Costco yesterday. I want to play too! Probably will have to wait a couple of weeks though. Pesky work getting in the way ;-)

 

[AnnaMarie]

Picked up two jugs of OO at Costco yesterday. I want to play too! Probably will have to wait a couple of weeks though. Pesky work getting in the way ;-)

Woo hoo! (On wanting to play that is )