Ingredients Of Castile Soap

This wonderful soap originated in Castile, Spain is olive oil. Contrary to the popular belief, castile soap is one of the many different types of soaps and is not the name of a brand. Its main ingredients are olive oil and vegetable fat. Animal fat is not used while making castile soap. This simple soap with its roots in Castile, Spain was once popularly known as 'Queen of Soaps' and was exported in a large amount throughout Europe. This amazing soap was famous because it was made from 100 percent olive oil which made it mild and gentle. It acted as a skin moisturizer. The following paragraphs give details of its ingredients.
Before we start off with the castile soap ingredients, let us take a peek at how this soap was made in the earlier days. Traditionally, castile soap was made from 100 percent olive oil. The other ingredients were barilla and brine. Barilla is a form of sodium bicarbonate which was obtained from the ashes of the burnt plants. Brine is seawater or water with high saline content. Barilla and olive oil were brought to a boil and brine was added to it later. This mixture was allowed to settle down and the soap would then float on the top. This soap was skimmed off the mixture and allowed to cool and harden. Voila! Perfect white odorless soap was now ready which would go on hardening as much as it aged. The other unique thing was that the soap would never lose its white color. Thus, we can see that in the olden days only three ingredients were combined into an awe-inspiring soap. Let us look into the ingredients in detail.
Lye Crystals
Lye crystals are nothing but caustic soda. It is an important ingredient as it leads to saponification, the process which converts the fats, used in soap making, into the soap. Hence, it is an integral ingredient for making castile soap.
Olive Oil
Olive oil was used since Cleopatra days by women in Rome, Egypt and Greece. Olive oil is known for promoting smooth complexion. Skin radiates with a perfect glow with daily use of olive oil. Also, olive oil provides elasticity to the skin and keeps the skin moisturized for a long period of time. These must be the reasons why olive oil was used by the Spaniards when they first made castile soap. These olive oil benefits are known and appreciated today also, hence olive oil has become the best of the ingredients.
Water
There is not much to say when it comes to water as one of the ingredients. Water is needed to dissolve the lye crystals before mixing them in the olive oil for further processes.
Thus, these are the different food ingredients in castile soap. However, coconut oil, jojoba oil and palm oil are the alternative ingredients used by various castile soap manufacturers. Also, castile soap now comes in various fragrances.
The good new is that it is fairly easy to make castile soap at home. The ingredients are easily available in any grocery store. It will be a fun activity to make your own soap at home. The following is a simple handmade soap recipe to make castile soap at home.
Ingredients
Two cups of 100 percent olive oil, Two cups of cold water, 1 cup lye crystals, 10 drops of essential oil of your choice (optional), Procedure.
Dissolve the lye in the water completely. While handing the lye, you will need to be extremely careful because lye can burn your skin if there is a direct contact. Heat the olive oil in a pan till it reaches 75oF. Remove the pan from the heat. Slowly pour the lye and water mixture into the olive oil stirring it continuously till the mixture becomes thick in consistency. If you want to give your soap some fragrance, add 10 drops of the chosen scent. You can use essential oils like lavender oil, orange oil or any other oil that pleases you. Thoroughly mix the essential oil into the above mixture. The next thing to do is to pour this mixture into molds of desired shapes. It is better to pour it in a huge rectangular mold and then cut the soap in desired shape after it hardens. These molds need to be kept warm; hence cover them up with a few blankets or a thick cloth. Remember these molds have to be left undisturbed for at least 48 hours for effective chemical reaction. The soap will now be firm. You can proceed to cut it in desired shapes and sizes. Allow them to age for about two more weeks by covering them in the same blankets. Do not use the soap before letting it age. Uncover them after patient two weeks and use them or wrap them up and distribute them as gifts! Homemade soap-making was never so much fun, right?
Castile soap has many uses. It can be used as a hand soap, a bathing soap and also as a shampoo. It has been observed that the skin and hair becomes very soft with constant use of natural castile soap. Apart from this, liquid castile soap can also be used as a dish-washing detergent and, in a diluted form, can be used for general cleaning.
Regular users swear by the castile soap. They have immense faith in this soap because it is purely natural. This also makes it environment friendly. There is no harm in switching to this wonderful castile soap as the castile soap chinafooding ingredients are used in natural form. Even better, make it at home with the help of homemade soap ingredients! Experience the changes that your skin goes through by using this terrific castile soap.