What is the hardest soap you have ever made?

[Tara_H]

Zany's no slime castile. I've tried it twice and within hours it's too hard to cut even by hand. I gave up.

Wow, I find the opposite! The first time I made it I let it sit for much longer than usual, and it was still very soft at the ends, to the point where it barely held its shape. I wonder what made it so different for you?

 

[gardengeek]

50/50 (LBO/OO) Aleppo I made this past May and salt bars are probably the hardest. Aleppo too new to tell longevity, salt bars not very long.

The longest lasting is a recipe that I made up when I first started soaping. It has Kokum, CB and PKO flakes (and SIX other oils). It's my husband's favorite because it is long lasting even with him leaving it in one of those soap holders that collect water (and who designs showers with the dang soap holder so close to the shower head any way??). I don't make it much because of the price of Kokum and the number of oils/fats in the recipe.

 

[amd]

I wonder what made it so different for you?

No idea. I tried two different brands of OO. The first batch I tried cutting at 12 hours (about 6 hours earlier than my usual cut, and from experience with previous batches of castile made, about 24 hours earlier than usual) and broke two wires on my cutter, switched to hand cutting and warped my cutter. Finally took a screwdriver and hammer to chisel it into chunks. The second batch I switched OO brands, double checked the recipe (including remaking the salt water in case I had somehow screwed that up), and tried cutting at 4 hours, wound up chiseling that one too. I rebatched both batches and had to have my husband help me cut the rebatches when they were still warm. You can imagine how mad I was that after all that nonsense I couldn't hardly GIVE the dang soap away. Thank goodness my step-FIL is always willing to take any and all soaps off my hands. And it was still a slimey soap.

 

[KimW]

hardest and longest lasting...hmmmm...I don't know that I've ever made a bar that was long lasting and very hard at the same time. By hardest I'm assuming you mean something along the lines of what @ResolvableOwl described. I did make a soap the other day with egg that was rock hard within 1.5 hours, and the soap was still warm! I believe I described it to someone as weapon worthy.
ETA: It was determined that the high CO was likely the culprit, btw.

 

[KimW]

Oh! I got it! Salted out 100% Olive Oil soap, cut out with a biscuit cutter and then allowed to dry completely over a period of 6 months. Man - never had such a hard bit of soap. It lasted a really long time too...because it didn't lather very good.

 

[Cat&Oak]

My 11 year old castile bars still going strong and no dos