The resurgence of real Castile soap
In recent years the steady demand for more natural skin care products has lead to the resurgence of real, castile soap (detergent-free, sulfate-free). People are realizing that detergents and other unpronounceable ingredients really don’t need to be in the most basic item of skin care.
Soap, real olive oil Castile soap to be exact, is what I use on my skin. It is the most gentle soap that you can use. Olive oil Castile soap neither drying or overly rich, even for baby’s delicate skin. The lather it produces is wonderfully fine and soft.
Olive oil Castile soap produces a lather which cleanses but does not strip your skin of its natural moisture. The magic of this centuries-old soap comes from the primary ingredient – olive oil. The high level of lauric acid in olive oil is an effective moisturizer and the key ingredient in real Castile soap.
Olive oil castile soap and natural glycerin
The soap is full of natural glycerin that forms during the soap-making process. This same glycerin is removed from commercially produced bar ‘soap’ and then sold to cosmetic companies for use in cosmetics and to produce glycerin soaps. Surfactants and detergents replace the beautiful, natural glycerin.
Why is Lye used in soap?
Soap making requires combining an oil and a base. This is where lye comes in. Lye, when combined with water becomes the base.
Until the 19th century, soap was produced using animal fats and the liquid from boiling wood ashes and water. This method produced a type of home-made lye. Folks floated an egg in the lye water to judge the strength of the lye . Different levels of submersion were a used as a gauge: if the egg sank, the lye was too weak. If the egg floated, then the lye was acceptable to make soap. Not sure I’d want to trust that system but that’s all there was at the time.
The soap produced was used for all types of washing: laundry, dishes and bathing. It was often very strong soap as there was not yet a way to produce lye with consistency from batch to batch.
We still use lye (sodium hydroxide ) to make soap but now we use a much purer, food-grade lye. (FYI: sodium hydroxide is used in pretzel making as well as lots of other foods!) The potential combinations of oils available to use is nearly limitless. Chloelina olive oil Castile soaps are made from 100% olive oil. Our blended natural soaps we make from at least 70% olive oil and other natural oils like coconut, shea and cocoa butter.
Saponification
It is the magic of three simple ingredients- lye, oil and water that produces soap. The transformation of these ingredients into soap is known as saponification. Once saponification is complete there is no lye remaining, just natural and real Castile soap.
Fantastic for skin
Besides being fantastic for your skin, there is no need to shake a bottle or turn it upside down to coax the last drops out. I think the second best thing about castile bar soap is that you can use every last bit of the bar. This means less packaging to end up in the land fill.
Real soap without lye?
I must make an important distinction for folks who insist that real soap can be made without lye (sodium hydroxide)- sorry, but without lye there is no soap. You would have detergent.
If you’re a soaper who ‘makes’ soap using the melt and pour method, you are not creating soap. It certainly requires less preparation and you don’t need to purchase sodium hydroxide. It’s only necessary to purchase blocks of glycerin, melt it in the microwave and pour into cute molds. However, this is still the same glycerin taken from commercial lye soaps that you are using. Real soap can not be made without lye.
