Making Laundry Soap from Recycled Olive Oil (Castile Soap)

Bins for used oil are placed throughout town in order to stop people from pouring used oil down the drain or in the trash.  However, when the used oil is olive oil, it´s only more incentive for me to recycle it myself into laundry soap.  Olive oil is not just more expensive but the soap made from it would have a longer shelf life as compared to sunflower oil.  I decided to show a few friends how simple it can be done and hopefully get them to recycle oil in their home and save money on laundry soap as an extra benefit.  I hope this blog post reaches others interested in recycling their used oil into something as useful as laundry soap.

In order to make the soap appropriate for laundry, I didn´t want any leftover oil to hinder it´s cleansing potential in clothes.  So, I calculated (soapcalc link on the sidebar) the recipe for 0% superfat and reduced the water percentage to 20% because I plan on using liquid fabric softener as the fragrance.  At first I calculated the recipe for 1 liter (1000 gr.) of oil and then I readjust the quantity accordingly.  The final recipe is as follows:

4000 gr. olive oil
  800 gr. tap water
  544 gr. lye granules (NaOH)
  380 gr. rose-scented fabric softener

Note: I had rounded up the lye amount per liter of oil to 136 gr.  That´s how I arrived at 544 gr. lye in the recipe (136 x 4).  I don´t think this would affect the final laundry soap result.  When pouring the lye water into the oil, there is always some lye water that stays behind with the container and doesn´t get to the oil, the couple of extra grams of lye is actually a good thing when making laundry soap.

The oil, which has been previously strained to remove solid bits of food particles, is at room temperature and in the black bucket while the lye is being mixed in with the tap water in the blue bucket.  Once the lye is dissolved, carefully add it to the oil.  The lye water is hot, so handle with care and wear gloves to protect against any splashing.

The stick blender is very helpful in speeding up trace.  It turns into a beautiful yellow cream.  This is when the fabric softener is added to give it a nice scent.

Once it reaches a thicker consistency much like vanilla pudding, pour the batter into the molds.  We used empty milk cartons which have been reinforced with some masking tape to give them more stability from bulging. The plastic ice-cream containers are another great option and they have lids for easier storage once the soap is cured.

After 3 days, I unmolded one of the milk cartons. It is soft like semi-cured cheese and stuck to the carton; I was scraping and sticking the soap pieces back as I peeled off the carton.  It won´t be easy to remove the soap without deforming them, so the others will sit in their containers to cure.

I am very happy at how they came out!  It lathers nicely, pH 7-8 and smells good and clean. The way a good soap ought to be.

Making Creamy Goat´s Milk Lotion

Wow! I was super excited seeing how this lotion came to be that I wanted to share my experience in making it.  It turned out better than I imagined; creamy and feels divine on the skin. 

I remember watching a video many months ago on the making of goat´s milk lotion but I wasn´t in my lotion phase at the time and left it at that since I was more into soaping.  Now that I have too much soap and am taking a breather, I started looking into lotions.  Today I came across the same video by Susie at
http://www.oursimplefarm.com

I watched the video twice to make sure I had it clear of what to do.  I had just about everything I needed so I used the lotion calculator  http://www.sbwave.com/lotion/  to come up with a comparable recipe to make 500 ml worth of lotion.

25 grams e-wax
20 grams stearic acid
35 grams sweet almond oil
25 grams shea butter
20 grams avocado oil
184 grams goat´s milk
184 grams bottled water (I didn´t have distilled water)
4 grams Sharomix preservative
5 grams rose fragrance oil
1 gram Vitamin E

I weighed out the oils, the stearic acid and e-wax into a heat-proof glass container;  the goat´s milk and water goes into another container.  My scale only has whole numbers for the grams so they are not as accurate as I would like.

Each glass container gets heated through in a hot water bath before combining their contents together.   I made sure all of the stearic acid and shea butter has melted.

Once it´s warm to the touch, I added the scent, preservative and Vitamin E oil.  

At first I hand mixed it and then used the stick blender to make sure everything stays emulsified and to also "fluff" the batter into the creamiest of creams.

A very straight forward recipe and the result is a sublime cream for face or body!

Update:
The lotion thickened up even further the following day, so the pump didn´t work as well.  It would be better in a cream jar or tub.  I like a thinner lotion; will make the next batch with more water or reduce the e-wax since I am partial to the pump bottles so I won´t risk contaminating the lotion.

Making HP Goat´s Milk Honey Oatmeal Soap ( Hot Process )

The look is more rustic than with cold process soaps but there´s a satisfaction in using something homemade within days of making it.  This is a great project for a cool week-end because being around the crock pot in the Summer isn´t too appealing.  Much like baking, it leaves a wonderful smell and warmth in the home.

I realized (or is it realised?) that I misspelled "celsius" in the video and I´m blaming myself for using ºC too many times.

Beeswax in Sweet Almond Oil Lotion

I located a lotion recipe via Pinterest that uses beeswax instead of an emulsifying wax (I had used cetearyl alcohol before) and I wanted to try this version out.  I haven´t had too much luck with beeswax in lotions; the lotions tend to separate over time.  I have also tried soy lecithin as an emulsifyer without much luck either, but that will be for another post.

So here´s the recipe from Wisebread.com:
1 oz. beeswax (I used yellow pellets)
   1/4 cup coconut oil (the yummy smelling kind)
1 1/4 cups sweet almond oil
1 Tbs. grape seed oil
1 Tbs. vitamin E oil
   1/2 cup hot distilled water
1 ml Germall plus (I try to use a preservative if there´s water involved just to be safe)

I placed the beeswax and the oils in a double boiler to melt the wax and get everything to the same temperature.  Vitamin E went in towards the end to minimize any deterioration.

Once all the wax was melted, I took it off the heat and while whisking the oil, I carefully drizzled in the hot water.  I then stirred and stirred; I also placed a cold water bath under the bowl to help it cool.  It turned gelatinous and off white once it started to cool.  I added the Germall once the temperature was below 50ºC.  When the bowl felt lukewarm, the texture was like sweetened condensed milk.

It was too runny for a jar or a pump dispenser.  I was just going to store it in an empty plastic bottle until I looked over to the stick blender.  "Why not?" I thought to myself.  So I poured the batter into a wide mouth beaker and stick blended the cream.  It turned whiter and somewhat thicker from the air that had been incorporated into solution and it held up quite well as you can see on the spoon below.  It´s still too runny for my liking but at least now, a pump dispenser is an option.  I think less oil would work out better because as it is, it leaves the skin shinier than I would like.

Before and after mixing with the stick blender.

I can see this as the perfect after-shower-lotion, definitely; the oil barrier will help hold the moisture in the skin even better.  If you can get a delicious smelling coconut oil, there´s no need for any other fragrance or essential oil.  The original recipe included an optional 15-20 drops of essential oil.

Update: Since the making of this lotion which I calculate to have about 80% oil,  I´ve located a lotion calculator (link is at the sidebar) which suggests only using up to 25%.  Hence, the shininess on the skin;
it wasn´t necessarily greasy since I used mainly almond oil.

Marseille Inspired Soap

In Spain, all of the Marseille soaps that I have encountered have a unique smell to them and I thought that´s what they´re supposed to smell like.  The scent is added to laundry detergents, softeners, dish washing soaps and even shower gels.

So when I got into soaping, I read up on the coveted Marseille soap.  It turns out, the true Marseille soap is unscented.  There are a couple of requirements though.  The oils used need to be only vegetable based and at least 72% of it needs to be olive oil.  I have also read that Mediterranean sea water was sometimes used and some artisans would add essential oils from local flowers and leaves found in the Southern region of France like lavender and azhar.  I´m convinced that´s how the characteristic aroma came to be in Spain.  When the Marseille soap was introduced into the Spanish market (I couldn´t find a more accurate time frame, but I am estimating it to be after WWII), it was already perfumed.  The soap industry continued to produce soaps with this perfume and slowly the aroma became ingrained into the population´s recognition for the Marseille soap.
Here I am, with some knowledge of soaping and some on the history of this soap, working out a recipe that could replicate the "Savon de Marseille" right here in the Canary Islands, Spain.

72% olive oil, infused with orange and lemon zests
10% coconut oil
13% palm oil
 5% sweet almond oil
NaOH
distilled water and sea salt (to imitate mild sea water)
rose essential oil
lavender essential oil
lime essential oil (to further accentuate the citrus zest)
pine essential oil (I figured there must be some pine in Southern France also; I used equal parts for each essential oil, fearing too much pine will make it smell like floor cleaners.)
olive leaf powder (to help it attain the green color I´ve seen in photos of this soap)

It started out greener but turned slightly light brown as it cured.  I am guessing the orange specks are from the zests not completely ground with the stick blender; I didn´t remove the zests from the olive oil.  The top photo was taken with sunlight and the bottom photo was taken in the kitchen with fluorescent lighting.

It has a wonderful citrus floral aroma and I am very happy to how close I got to the target scent.  It is a firm hard bar with creamy lather and the pH tested to be about 8.5

The olive leaves were ground superfine using an electric coffee grinder so it is not scratchy at all.  As a side note, the olive leaves are blessed and were used in Easter mass 2013 in Jaen, the capital city of Andalucia Province, the largest olive oil producing region in the world. No kidding. It´s really incredible to stand there and turn 360º to only see olive trees or their specks in the distance.

Yummy Almond Joy Lotion

I wanted to blog on my soaping trials but I have recently deviated to lotions.  Since I have so many soap bars curing, I am taking a break and decided to use the oils on hand for lotions and creams.  I have this jar coconut oil that just smells so delicious that I am always tempted to eat it up; it´s that good.  I wanted a lotion with this aroma so I can enjoy it daily.

 In a double boiler, melt
30 grams emulsifying wax
     (I used cetearyl alcohol / PEG-20 stearate; it is considered safe in food and cosmetics.)
      http://www.naturalwellbeing.com/learning-center/Cetearyl_Alcohol
40 grams of coconut oil
10 grams of sweet almond oil

In a separate pot, heat 1 1/4 cups of distilled water

While these two are heating, measure out in a small mearuring cup the following additives:
5 grams of Vitamin E
3 grams of Germall Plus liquid preservative
     (It´s paraben free but I´ve read both good and not so good things about this
      preservative.  If in doubt, don´t use it.
      If not using it, store your lotion in the fridge and use it up within a few weeks.)
1/2 ml almond flavor oil
     (this was a last minute decision because the coconut smell reminded me of Almond Joy;
      it smells like the almond extract but without the alcohol; found it in the baking section)
10 grams of glycerine

Once the oils/wax are melted and the water slightly boiling, remove both from the heat.  While whisking the oil solution, slowly drizzle in the hot water until all is incorporated.  The mix will turn milky white.

Keep stirring until the mix is below 50ºC.  I set the stirring bowl over another bowl with cold water to help cool it faster.  Add in the additives and continue to stir.

Put it in a clean jar and let it cool before placing the lid on.  It´s fluid enough to put it in a bottle with a pump dispenser.  I have a bottle of this near the kitchen sink.  Don´t throw away those alcohol gel dispenser bottles; there´s no need to clean it because it´s already sanitized.

Next time I´ll consider adding some chocolate aroma to it to complete the candy bar experience.