Teach Soap

What make's it castile soap? What's the difference between CP soap? And why is one liquid and one solid? Very newb questions I know but I can't figure it out. Thanks

My understanding is that Castile Soap is made of 100% Olive Oil and originated in Italy. It is a trademark of Italian merchants of distant history. This soap is made using the cold process method and takes 1 year or more to cure into a fabulous bar of soap.

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

CP or cold process soap is made with sodium hydroxide. Making soap with potassium hydroxide will make for a liquid soap. Ideally, castile soap should be just olive oil, water and lye. However the term castile is used loosely in commercial products. One well known soap by the name of Dr. Br.... is made with coconut and other oils and they call it castile. It's misleading.

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

From the historical trivia department -

The reason this type of soap is called Castille is because many years ago, the olives considered the best in the world were grown in the Castille region of Spain.

Another bit of trivia, if you see references to "Bastille" in soapmaking, no one is talking about the French prison!

Soaps with a very high percentage of olive oil (I'm thinking at least 70%) plus a small percentage of other oils (usually stuff like coconut or castor oil, to impart better lathering) are called Bastille, which is kind of a verbal shorthand for "Bastardized Castille".

Either "Bastille" or "Bastardized Castille" certainly takes less time and effort to say than "soap with a pretty high percentage of olive oil, but not pure olive oil".

Anita

Haha, i can imagine that being much shorter to say. Thanks for trivia.