Does 100% olive oil soap take longer to cure

[misfities]

I've made two 100% olive oil recipes and they seem to take days before I even dare pop them out of the mold. I'm assuming thats normal for an all olive oil recipe? Do other, blended oils (example, coconut, palm, olive in one batch) typically harden quicker?

 

[maya]

Well, to become a good hard bar of soap, yes 100 percent olive oil does take a good long time to properly cure. Many people keep them curing for many months or a year, or more. And yes a basic veg. oil or lard soap does take less time to cure. But it is more complicated then that, actual saponification primarily takes place in the first 24-48 hours. After that very little continues to take place, it is mostly water evaporation.

Kevin Dunn has some good writing on it.

 

[tigersister]

Olive oil only soaps, as with any soap with only soft oils, can take a few days to harden, especially when using the full water amount. Most soapers recommend 6 months to 1 year cure. I've used a bar I have had curing for 3 months recently. It wasn't bad. A little slimy. It'll be interesting to observe any changes as it cures.

Adding hard oils, such as CO, palm, lard, tallow, will help with hardening the soap faster and add other qualities to the finished product. There's a lot of good basic recipes on the forum to try out.

 

[lsg]

Yes, a pure olive oil bar takes several months to reach the best quality.

 

[Trix]

Definetly misfires, as it is a soft oil(that is liquid at room temperature)

As has been mention the hard oils ( coconut,Palm, tallow etc) when added help it harden faster. Try replacing ten or twenty percent of the olive with coconut or Palm, and see if you like it better.
On the other hand olive oil is full of wonderful moisturising g qualities, your bars using only olive oil, may be worth the wait.