Zany's no slime castile

[Deborah Long]

@Zany_in_CO - Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! As a new soaper, Castile is the reason that I started. So many member of my family have sensitive sking or psoriasis that they need something pure and gentle. (not me, so far my skin is like steel and I love my scrubby coffee soap! lol)

I've never used salt or sodium bicarb in soap before and I'm wondering if I did everything right - only because instead of my lye water turning clear again, it stayed rather cloudy. Everything else went as anticipated and described by you, but I'm wondering if that reaction is due to the addition of salt?

Again, thanks so much for posting/sharing! I appreciate your generosity! I can't wait until tomorrow to see my new soap!

 

[dibbles]

I tried this out today. I made 2 small batches - one 100% OO unscented and uncolored, one with 15% CO, 5% castor and 80% OO scented and colored. Thank you @Zany_in_CO for sharing your recipe.

@Deborah Long my lye water was cloudy. I'm sure yours is fine. I did pour it through a strainer when adding to my oils.

 

[Deborah Long]

@dibbles - Thanks for that! I did NOT, however, think of pouring through a strainer! Maybe next time I'll think of it! lol

 

[Obsidian]

My lye was also cloudy. I've seen it before when using salt. I never strain mine.

Here is mine. Its starting to lighten some, the fo had made it fairly orange to begin with. Scented with orange blossom from sweetcakes.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Looks very creamy @Obsidian, just like mine.
My lye water was very cloudy and i was concerned to start with, but it turned out OK with no straining - and I didn't think of that either @Deborah Long.
Today the blue I added has become more apparent ( after curing for two nights) but, alas, so has the soda ash. The blue colourant I use ALWAYS turns purple, which is why I used it. But this time it went blue just to annoy me when making a 'lavender' soap. Ha! Tricky stuff.
I am not disappointed with either the blue nor the ash however as it makes the soap look kinda 'vintage'. Your thoughts?:

 

[Zany_in_CO]

...instead of my lye water turning clear again, it stayed rather cloudy. ... I'm wondering if that reaction is due to the addition of salt? Again, thanks so much for posting/sharing! I appreciate your generosity!

Thank you for sharing your recipe. ...my lye water was cloudy. I'm sure yours is fine. I did pour it through a strainer when adding to my oils.

My lye was also cloudy. ... Its starting to lighten some, the fo had made it fairly orange to begin with. .

My lye water was very cloudy... Today the blue I added has become more apparent ( after curing for two nights) but, alas, so has the soda ash. I am not disappointed with either the blue nor the ash however as it makes the soap look kinda 'vintage'. Your thoughts?

You're all so very welcome! I'm happy to see so many of you giving it a go. Thanks!

It seems the consensus is that the seawater does make the lye cloudy, but, to tell the truth, I never even noticed.

About Obsidian's orange color and Kiwi's blue color, the salt water does seem to "bleach" out any colorant... the Aleppo soap I made with seawater went from a pretty green (from the laurel oil) to pale tan soap.

Kiwi -- I love the look of your soaps... interesting how the color has morphed from pink to blue. To prevent ash, have you tried spritzing lightly with alcohol and covering it with Saran wrap?

 

[Deborah Long]

@Obsidian @Zany_in_CO @KiwiMoose - Oh - now I am so excited I feel like a kid on Christmas morning! YAY! I hope mine looks HALF as creamy! Kiwi - your's is just precious! I love it, no matter what you call the color! lol
Thanks again, everyone!

I did notice that the 'original' Allepo soap turned from green to tan, also, so I think that Zany has it down pat!

 

[nframe]

Well, this soap is proving to be very popular! I, too, had to try it. As the others mentioned, the lye was very cloudy and seemed to have bits in it. I used it without straining. I unmoulded the soaps this morning - after less than 24 hours and they were already so hard that I had trouble stamping them. I attach a picture.
Also, I just tried washing my hands with them and there is definitely no slime, just a lot of lovely bubbles. Thank you again Zany!

 

[KiwiMoose]

Well, this soap is proving to be very popular! I, too, had to try it. As the others mentioned, the lye was very cloudy and seemed to have bits in it. I used it without straining. I unmoulded the soaps this morning - after less than 24 hours and they were already so hard that I had trouble stamping them. I attach a picture.
Also, I just tried washing my hands with them and there is definitely no slime, just a lot of lovely bubbles. Thank you again Zany!

Gosh! Simple and beautiful! I wish I hadn't coloured mine now - they look so pretty left natural.

 

[Deborah Long]

I didn't color or fragrance as I just wanted to see how it turned out. So far so good! I cut at a little less than 24 hours (like 22.5 lol) and it was hard! I think next time I'll cut earlier. It looks so creamy I am going to have a hard time waiting to try it! Thanks again, Zany!
(I may see how expensive laurel oil is to see if I can do a true Aleppo soap!)

 

[Gemmali]

Could you use the faux salt water with other recipes as well, or is it best left to bars with a high olive oil content?

 

[dxw]

This is a tried and true recipe that I've made several times.

I have just popped 500ml of OO and 116ml of 1.7:1 seawater lye solution under cover to sit overnight. Real seawater is easy enough to gather here and I hope that whatever-temperature-it-is-tomorrow will be adequate for the process … at least I will know their temperatures are the same.

Here's hoping that it turns out better than my yesterday/today effort: The Soap That Shall Not Be Named.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I have just popped 500ml of OO and 116ml of 1.7:1 seawater lye solution under cover to sit overnight. Real seawater is easy enough to gather here and I hope that whatever-temperature-it-is-tomorrow will be adequate for the process … at least I will know their temperatures are the same.

Here's hoping that it turns out better than my yesterday/today effort: The Soap That Shall Not Be Named.

Hi DXW - crazy huh? I was just at Raglan beach the day before I made my faux seawater. It didn't even cross my mind to grab a jar or bottle and collect the 'real stuff' from the ocean!

 

[SaltedFig]

Susie (from this forum) suggested a while ago to finely filter natural sea water

(it contains all sorts of critters at this time of year for us southern hemisphere folk, so maybe onsite filtration and rinse the cloth might be the go )

I have a beach appointment tomorrow ... thanks for the reminder

 

[dxw]

Hi DXW - crazy huh? I was just at Raglan beach the day before I made my faux seawater. It didn't even cross my mind to grab a jar or bottle and collect the 'real stuff' from the ocean!

Don't worry. I had my Do'oh! moment as I was looking for bicarb.
I have commandeered one of our large earthquake water bottles for my main water supply (Awakairangi spring water, sounds good too) but just grabbed a large square cake container for the seawater, and waded in at Lowry Bay to rinse and fill it.
That all makes me think that I am not too badly located for this: Springwater bubbling to the surface a few hundred metres away in two directions; several crystal clear mountain streams nearby; and clean seawater a couple km away in several directions.

Susie (from this forum) suggested a while ago to finely filter natural sea water

Hmmm, yes, good idea. Those critters will be reduced to caustic residue by now but even crystal clear seawater will contain lots of extra goodies.

 

[dibbles]

Testing my little batches from New Year's Day. The first picture is 100% OO. This took a bit longer to lather but pretty decent for a 3 day old baby. The second picture is 80% OO, 15% CO, 5% castor. This lathered easily. No other additives in either batch. They are nicely hard already and pass the zap test. I'm impressed

 

[loriag]

@Zany_in_CO do you use ROE or T EDTA in your batches? I’m wondering if I should skip the EDTA in a batch for babies/sensitive skin. I normally use both in my recipes. What do you think? My plan is to make some tomorrow. I am so pleased to give this recipe a try as my goal for the new year was to find/figure tweak a sensitive soap recipe as I don’t currently have one.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

@Zany_in_CO do you use ROE or T EDTA in your batches? I’m wondering if I should skip the EDTA in a batch for babies/sensitive skin.

Good question, Lori. I normally use ROE & vitamin E (tocopherol) in all my batches and never EDTA. I'd skip it for babies/sensitive skin.

 

[loriag]

Good question, Lori. I normally use ROE & vitamin E (tocopherol) in all my batches and never EDTA. I'd skip it for babies/sensitive skin. It was considered mildly toxic when I first started soaping in 2004. As a matter of fact, this forum is the only one I've ever encountered soapers using EDTA.

That’s kinda what I was thinking . I really like EDTA in my regular formula. So ROE it will be and I will have to look up Vitamin E, can I ask what percentage you normally use?

 

[Zany_in_CO]

That’s kinda what I was thinking . I really like EDTA in my regular formula. So ROE it will be and I will have to look up Vitamin E, can I ask what percentage you normally use?

I take this Vitamin E 1000 IU daily to offset Colorado's Alpine Desert Climate. For soaping, I prick and squirt the contents of 1-2 softgel capsules PPO into warmed oils before adding the lye solution. (Highly technical, I know ) For ROE, use the manufacturer's recommended amount. It doesn't take much.