total noob questions

[TeresaT]

As others said, castile does like a looong cure time. It is totally worth it, I have read. I still have not used mine.

I was reading last night about a goat's milk castile; GM instead of water in the lye solution. I am tempted to make that one soon.


I do not and cannot use commercial conditioners because every single one of them I have ever used causes red blotches on my face & neck. I have used ACV as rinse, but don't really like doing so. I'm very much a 'minimal personal care products' kind of gal. The less there is to clutter up the shower, the better.

My "Castile" bars are only 9 months old. I've been showering with one for a few days, and although it's nice, I'm not impressed with it. That could be because I had to rebatch it (which I did 2 weeks after I made it) or because it's still fairly young. I'll try again in a few weeks.


Have you tried to use one of your oils as a conditioner for your hair? Just a few drops of oil rubbed into your palms then smoothed into your hair (starting from the bottom) may help. When my hair was long, the ends were dry and split even though I got regular trims. I started putting EVOO on them after I shampooed and before I dried. It made a noticeable difference in how my hair looked. But, like Carolyn said, the hair is dead, so you can't really repair it. If I was doing it now, I'd probably use something other than EVOO, maybe coconut since I have so much of it.

 

[penelopejane]

In Oz we have EVOO that is cheaper than the mixes so I generally use that because they don't use chemicals to process it. It is first cold pressed. This has label appeal for some. At first soap tends to be creamy yellow. After a year or two it will be white.

Light olive oil (which makes a whiter soap at unmolding) usually has a mix of EVOO and some refined OO. ( can have some chemicals and or heat used to extract the oil. )

Pomace can use the leaves and twigs and any left over olive from all the other processes. Chemicals and heat are used to extract the last of the oil.

If you don't like pure Castile at 9 months put it away for 6 months and try it again, and then try it in another 6 months. It gets better and better.

 

[earlene]

Have you tried to use one of your oils as a conditioner for your hair? Just a few drops of oil rubbed into your palms then smoothed into your hair (starting from the bottom) may help. When my hair was long, the ends were dry and split even though I got regular trims. I started putting EVOO on them after I shampooed and before I dried. It made a noticeable difference in how my hair looked. But, like Carolyn said, the hair is dead, so you can't really repair it. If I was doing it now, I'd probably use something other than EVOO, maybe coconut since I have so much of it.

Once or twice I have done that, yes. Only on the ends, though. My scalp doesn't need any help producing oils. I cook with EVOO and whenever I refill the two fancy glass bottles that I keep them in near the stove, I try to 'spill' enough be able to massage it into my hands and arms. But my hair is never down when I cook (too dangerous) so it's not a convenient time to smooth it onto my hair.

Besides, normally my hair is in pretty good condition. I can't remember the last time I had split ends.

 

[IrishLass]

Re: olive oil. For what it's worth, I've been soaping with the Kirkland Pure Olive Oil from Costco for the past 10 years and it has never given me any problems or weird issues.

As for Extra-Virgin OO- I've only ever soaped with it once and I did not like the results in comparison to the results I get from the regular Pure OO from Costco.....which is perfectly fine with me, because EVOO it's so expensive. I keep it around only for eating or cooking, where I use it sparingly.

Re: shampoo bars. My hair does not like them one bit, even with a vinegar rinse or a citric acid rinse, but the rest of me actually loves them as a gentle body bar (it makes a great facial bar, too). The recipe I use is Genny's shampoo bar recipe that she posted a few years ago, but I swap out the soy oil for HO sunflower oil. I love the recipe so much that it has since usurped/replaced my 100% OO Castile formula as my gentle body bar formula. So, when everyone else around here makes their annual Castiles come next January, I will be making my tweak of Genny's shampoo bar instead. lol What I love so much about the formula is that I find it to be every bit as gentle as my 100% Castiles, but the lather is far, far superior with lots of bubbles that form quite easily with hardly any friction (in spite of there not being any CO or PKO in the formula), and it does not produce copious amounts of the goopy, colloidal gel that typically forms in my in 100% OO bars.

Re: adjusting pH..... as others have said, there's not much you can do to adjust the pH of lye-based soap. By definition, lye-based soaps are an "alkali salt of fatty acids", so they will always be on alkaline side of the pH scale. If you try to add enough acid to it to bring the pH down to neutral, you won't have soap anymore- but just an interesting substance that has absolutely no cleaning abilities instead. The typical pH of a safe, properly-made, well-cured soap can vary anywhere from 8 to 12.35. Just in case anyone's eyes grew big as saucers at the mention of 12.35 pH and the word 'safe' used in the same sentence, according to a reference made in Dr. Kevin Dunn's book , 'Scientific Soapmaking', Johnson's has a baby soap with oatmeal that has a pH of 12.35, and it was actually rated 'least irritating' to the skin in comparison to other soaps that were tested along side it in a dermatalogical irritability index test. In the same study, a Camay soap with a pH of 10.36 tested out as being the most irritating of the soaps tested......which just proves (to me, at least) that striving for 'proper pH' is not anywhere near as important as striving for a zap-free soap.

IrishLass