Teach Soap

So, it turns out that almost all the oils I use for soaping are available kosher, BUT they only come in much smaller batches -- a few ounces, maybe a pound at most -- and they charge the earth for them. $15 for 4 ounces of castor oil, $10 for 16 ounces of coconut oil on a good day, and so on. Soybean oil is inexpensive, even kosher, but the things I would want to add to it to make a reasonably hard, reasonably bubbly, no-DOS bar of soap will far outweigh the cost savings of the soybean oil.

I have only one concern with soap made purely of olive oil: how to get it to be bubbly without adding coconut, which is expensive, and to which an alarming number of my friends are allergic? I hear that both milk and various sugars (honey, table sugar, and so on) would do this, but is that accurate? If I could do an olive oil soap with goat milk and honey, I think I'd be just about the happiest little saponiere in the world.

I make my 100% olive oil soap using goat milk and it has a nice lather once it's had a good long cure. It's not bubbly, but very creamy. That being said, it's still no where near as much lather as with other soaps.

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

Why do you want kosher vegetable oils?

I sell at the synagogue gift shop, so I had a chat with the (Conservative) rabbi about kosher versus non-kosher soap. Essentially, it's not an issue for soap (except for dish soap, but that's another matter) or balms. As far as he's concerned, you're not eating it, so it doesn't matter. I don't use animal fats in my soap, except for goat milk, but even that isn't a problem for soap. Of course, your milage may vary--a different rabbi can have a different opinion.

That said, you can make really nice 100% olive oil soap, with or without goat's milk. A little castor oil can also increase the bubbly/creamy of it, if you like.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
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Interesting! When I looked it up, I saw that there were different opinions on whether soaps needed to be kosher, but I didn't know where there lines were drawn, so to speak. Are you in the US?

So--slightly off topic: that means that soap you buy in the store is certified? When I was researching this, I noticed how many popular brands, like Dove, contain tallow, and wondered how someone would deal with the issue.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

I would try emailing some companies to see if their castor oil is kosher. For some reason this certification isn't commonly reported for soaping goods, though they may have the seal on the bottles. Not sure why it is seen as less important than the "organic" seal Hope you can find some for a decent price, it REALLY adds a lot of nice bubbles!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist