Comments on: How to make cold processed (castile) soap in 13 steps; a tutorial

By: Roland

Roland — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:36:36 +0000

The fact that the soap is not harsh to the skin is not at all counter intuitive when you think in terms of the chemistry going on. NaOH (lye) is a very strong base (hence its caustic nature) and attacks triglycerides (fats) in the oil, turning them into glycerol and soap. You can think of it in terms of the OH part of NaOH going to the glycerol, and the Na going into the soap. Although Na+ ions are unreactive, they give soap the ability to wash away grease from your skin. And since the harmful OH- part of lye is bonded tightly in glycerol it wont be able to harm your skin. Hope that explains it in simple terms.

By: Lye-Ability | Making Castile Soap — Frugal Kiwi

Lye-Ability | Making Castile Soap — Frugal Kiwi — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:46:34 +0000

[...] you want pictures of the process have a look at SoapChix’s 13 Steps to Cold-Processed Castile Soap. They use a slightly different recipe that makes a bit less soap at a go but step No. 2 in their [...]

By: LabelBlue » Tout pour le savon : les liens

LabelBlue » Tout pour le savon : les liens — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:58:53 +0000

[...] Serendipity Soap Dish : Un savon de Castille en 13 étapes…et avec humour ! (Que les non-anglophones ne cherchent pas quoi faire avec le chocolat et le beurre d'arachide, c'est pour manger en attendant que la soude refroidisse… ) [...]

By: tu

tu — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:31:30 +0000

nd the oil/fat cancelled the lye to cause a caustic effect to our skin. Its a fundemental chemistry.

By: reza

reza — Fri, 29 May 2009 02:14:20 +0000

for the question about why doesnt the lye effect the skni. Well once lye and oil/fat are mixed together, they both ‘died’ and cured (meaning: all the harmful reaction is taken out form each other). Some thing like: it cancel each other. The lye cancel the oil/fat to form residue to our skin, and the oil/fat cancelled the lye to cause a caustic effect to our skin. Its a fundemental chemistry.

By: Mike Hedge

Mike Hedge — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:43:04 +0000

love this howto =)

By: mia

mia — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:43:24 +0000

I think this is a great recipe, really easy (I’m a first-time soapmaker), and my darling little soaps have been cut and I can’t wait till I can finally use them!

I’m going to try to answer some of the questions above, based on what I’ve read:

1. Lye in the soap. Once it’s a soap, there is no longer any lye, just soap. The lye is used to start a chemical reaction in the oil to make it soap. So at the end of the process, the lye is used up.

2. Stinky lye. It’s not too bad. I have a dog and 18mo old daughter, and I just did the mixing outside the house and it was fine. Just had to turn back/away occasionally.

3. This recipe made me about 13 bars of 100gram soaps. So 1.3kg is about 2.86lbs.

4. I have no idea re coconut fat as this is my first time to make soap at all. I do know there’s some debate about coconut oil in soaps…it can be very drying. Some people don’t notice it, but I do when I use soaps that use coconut oils as base, but that maybe because I have dry skin. :(

Hope this helps.

By: Handmade, Phthalate-Free, All Natural Soap Review at Healthy Tot

Handmade, Phthalate-Free, All Natural Soap Review at Healthy Tot — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:20:16 +0000

[...] baby What’s the difference between Phthalates and Parabens? Feeling ambitious? Make your own! Soapchix Soap Making Tutorial (wish my best friend Holly lived closer to tackle this [...]

By: zoran vignjevic

zoran vignjevic — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:16:05 +0000

Please help me
Can I usecoconut fat as a replacement for coconut oil for soap making. How much fat should put.

Example: 1oz coconut oil =?oz coconut fat

By: jennifer

jennifer — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:38:03 +0000

What is the estimated poundage for the recipe you listed? I’m investing in some wooden soap molds and would like to get molds that can hold both full and halved recipes.

Thanks for a great tutorial!