One of the earliest soaps believed to be made is the Castile Soap. We have evidence from around the year 300 AD that the Greeks made this type of soap. More history of the Castile Soap can be found on Wikipedia.

Castile soap is made by 100% Olive Oil, but it is not the easiest soap to make. It will become very slimy and it has to cure for a year to become hard and durable.

The original Castile soap is made with the hot process, and you will find instructions in this guide: HOT PROCESS.
But many soapers today make it with cold process. Anyhow the bars have to cure for a LONG time.
The original soap is believed to be made by extracting lye from ash, and we have instructions on that in this recipe for FREE SOAP OUT OF WASTE (Substitute the fat in this recipe for Olive Oil).

What is so special about Castile soap?

Castile soap is a multipurpose product that can be used for both household tasks and beauty.

The history of this soap, and that it is made with only one oil is very unique.

Link to our description of benefits from Olive Oil.

Ingredients for Castile Soap

The ingredients for Castile soap is Olive Oil, Water and NaOH and that’s it!

• 4.56 oz Water
• 12 oz Olive Oil
• 1.54 oz NaOH (lye)

Superfat is 5% and as you can see the soap quality is not the best. This is due to the lack of certain fatty acids in Olive Oil

Olive Oil has many useful effects in skincare, but it has zero Lauric, Myristic, and Ricinoleic acids, and your soap will therefore be without cleansing and bubbly abilities.

Soap Quality

Soap Quality	Range	This Recipe
Hardness	29 – 54	17
Cleansing	12 – 22	0
Conditioning	44 – 69	82
Bubbly	14 – 46	0
Creamy	16 – 48	17
Iodine	41 – 70	85
INS	136 – 165	105

Soap characteristics

Lauric	0
Myristic	0
Palmitic	14
Stearic	3
Ricinoleic	0
Oleic	69
Linoleic	12
Linolenic	1

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