Teach Soap

Hi - I know I have posted a few castile questions on other threads but had a few more...
In preparing to make my first batch of 100% olive oil castile, I have been reading up and I bought a bar from an etsy seller. I have been using it for almost a week and loving it. It has been great for my very senstive/acne prone skin and I am excited to make a batch of my own (of course I will have to order more since mine won't be ready for a looong time). Anyway, this seller listed salt as one of the ingredients in her castile (water, OO, lye, salt)...it was not listed as a salt soap, just castile. and I see no evidence of salt inthe bar so I am guessing it was a small amount dissolved in the oil?? What are the benefits of putting a small amount of salt in castile? anyone else do this? how much should you use?
Also wondering how much of a water discount I should use? Any other advice?

Sometimes salt is added to make a harder bar. Castile is pretty hard anyway so you probably don't need it in there. You can add 1 tsp. salt per # of oils directly to the lye water & stir until dissolved.

When I make castile I discount my water to 25% (2:1 water to lye ratio). I love to use goat's milk in place of water. It makes a great bar.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Salt is not oil soluble, only water. Try adding 1 teaspoon of salt to your lye water AFTER it has cooled off. I do a pretty high water discount and my Castile gets hard fast. It's hard as a brick within a week and I don't use any salt. I don't think it's needed in this case.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Great - thanks so much for the info!

ok couple more questions...should a castile bar feel slimy? The bar that I have been using (made by someone else) is pretty gelatonous and slimy (and I keep it out of running water and let it dry completely between uses).
Also when I received this bar it had a few faint DOS on it but the maker of this bar assured me that they were superficial and would not effect the quality of the soap. Well now that I have been using it for about a week, the DOS are not going away and seem to go through the whole soap. Is it harmful to the skin to use it like this? uggghhhh - i really can't wait to make my own.

Yes, pure castile will feel slimy. As far as DOS, I would not want to wash my skin with it, but that's me. Soap should not be sold that has DOS. That means it has rancid/oxidized oils.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

gosh... i've though i mess up my mesh when i've tried using my castile batch.
felt slimy....quite disappointed, till you guys mentioned that slimy is one of castile feature.

can someone enlighten me, for castile soap, what is the usual water : oil ratio?
i've used soapcal 7% superfat....38%, takes 4 days to unmold. after 1 month of curing, seems quite hard, but felt much lighter now compared to during unmolding.
using brambleberry, 7% superfat.. took 2 days to unmold. after 1 month of curing, centre portion of soap still feels "pressable"

Thanks.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

When it comes to Castile Soap I age mine 6 months before using it. At that point the slimey feel is minimal or gone completely.