Olive oil (true castile) soap is rumored to be the most difficult to make. Numerous people report that it takes months to harden, even longer to cure, and then “slimes” apart in the shower. That last part is true, but the others are just rumors! I’ll show you how to deal with the “sliming” in the second part of this instructional.
This was the first soap recipe I tried to make, so I am definitely not a pro with special abilities! It hardened in one day, I took it out and sliced it after two, and it cured in a month. The final product is a non-drying, gentle, yet hard-cleaning, true-castile soap!
Simple Olive Oil Soap
12.6 oz lye (pure sodium hydroxide)
30oz water
100 oz of olive oil (any kind, virgin or non)
1. Put on long shirt, pants, and gloves (and shoes!) so that no skin is exposed. Wear eye protection as well, if super paranoid, or just wanting to freak out the neighbors.
2. Measure all ingredients on a food scale. When measuring the lye, measure it out into a plastic storage container with a lid that you can press on top of it after it’s been measured. Remember to tare the scale!
3. Take the lye and water outside. Pour the lye into the water and stir with a heat resistant plastic or wooden spoon.
4. Wait until the lye water is under 150 degrees Fahrenheit and then pour slowly while stirring into the container with your olive oil (a huge soup pan works well for this).
5. Stir with an electric hand blender until it starts to resemble pudding and holds a trace.
6. Pour into plastic (or plastic-lined) containers, seal, and cover with towels.
7. After 3 days, remove from the containers, cut into pieces, and set onto racks in your closet to cure for about a month.
8. When you can lick the soap without your tongue tingling, it is done! Test it out by washing your hands with it.
The recipe makes about thirty bars this big. I made mine of variable sizes (some much larger), so I ended up with 20 bars. The cost, using bulk olive oil and regular lye purchased in a small amount was a little bit less than $20, so that’s less than $1 a bar- a true savings compared to Dr. Bronner’s castile soap bars which go for $4. In addition, Dr. Bronner uses mainly coconut oil in his soaps, which is very sudsy, but also dries out your skin even more than regular dish detergent. This bar is obviously pure olive oil and is not even slightly drying.
Olive Oil (castile) Soap Cleaning Solution (and body wash!)
Because it does slime in the shower, some people may prefer to turn the soap into a cleaning solution, which you can also put into a hand-dispenser and use in the shower as a gentle, effective body wash. If you want to add scent, play around with essential oils. Keep in mind that certain ones will tingle in the shower and may contribute to dry skin (tea tree oil, peppermint, etc). I prefer unscented, due to its gentleness.
1. Grate 8oz of soap with a cheese grater. It will look a lot like cheese. Resist the urge to eat it.
2. Boil 2 liters of water and stir the grated soap into it.
3. Turn the heat off when it’s melted, stir, and pour into containers.
4. For a thicker solution, add two tablespoons of liquid glycerin and allow to set for 8 hours before pouring into containers.
You can use this as handsoap, dish soap, body wash, or a general cleaning solution.
Cleaning Power
I wanted to see how effective this gentle, olive oil soap could possibly be. Here, you can see the results of my boyfriend trying to cook three burgers in a pan followed by stir fry. Yeah.
I put the cleaning solution in an empty, rinsed out clorox spray bottle and sprayed a good layer of it onto the stove top.
After letting it sit for a little bit, I began to wipe. It cut through the grease as well as regular dish soap! I was surprised, given how non-drying this soap is.
As you can see, the olive old castile soap cleaning solution worked as well for cutting the grease as regular dish soap! It did not shine the surface as well, but that could probably be solved with a vinegar solution, which would also disinfect the surface.
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