How To Make Castile Soap

Castile soap has been rightly considered to be one of the most popular and well-known types of soaps for several centuries. Castile (a region of Spain) is the place where it was boiled for the first time. Then this soap became worldwide known. The soap gained popularity not by accident. The main reasons why castile soap is becoming more and more popular is because it cleans your skin carefully and gently and that people with allergies as well as small children can also use it.

1. Castile soap boiled according to a classical recipe includes a minimal number of components: water, alkali and olive oil. As a rule, there are no perfumes or colourants added. Thanks to this the soap can be used even for bathing the smallest children.

2. A characteristic feature of castile soap is that it becomes slippery once it is drenched. Such slipperiness is specific only for this kind of soap. In order to reduce the slipperiness and increase the quality of cleansing and goods features (make the soap more solid) we’ll also add palm kernel oil to the soap.

3. We melt the oils on a water bath.

4. We cool down water and put alkaline in it. We mix the mixture thoroughly and wait for the alkaline to dissolve in water completely.

5. Once the temperature of the melted oils and the alkaline mixture gets equal, we pour the alkaline mixture into the oils.

6. Now we carefully mix the mixture. At first, we do it manually.

7. Then we pour everything in a blender and mix the soapy mixture once again.

8. The mixture should get to the condition of a slight trace.

9. The olive oil itself makes the mixture a little bit green and yellow in colour. However, if you want to make the colour a bit more deep, you may add a small amount of green colourant. (We for example, took a glycerin colourant. Before adding it to the mixture, we diluted it in a small amount of water.)

10. We add the colourant to the soapy mixture.

11. You may add your favorite perfume.

12. Once more, we pour everything in a blender and mix.

13. The mixture should get to the condition of a medium trace.

14. We pour the mixture into gel-molding frames. You may use either one big frame or portion frames.

15. You need to thoroughly tap the frames on the table. This way you will get rid of all bubbles of air and empty spaces in a frame. We wrap the frames in a towel and put them aside in a warm place. The mixture should get to the condition of gel.

16. It takes a lot of time for a castile soap to solidify. You’ll be able to get it out of the frames only 5-7 days have passed.

17. Having cut the soap in portion pieces, we wrap it in a parchment paper and put it aside. The soap should ripen till the end. You start using it after 2-3 months. But you’d better leave it and give it more time – 1 year. The soap of such aging has a very gentle cream foam and you use it more efficient.