Monday, July 12, 2010

Oatmeal Milk Honey

Yesterday I made 2 lbs of bastile soap.  I used light flavor olive oil.  I used this type of olive oil initially with my very first castile/bastile soap which I found hardened right away. I was able to cut them up at less than 24 hours old.  Since that initial batch I purchased some pomace olive oil.  When I made bastile soap with pomace I had problems with very soft soap.   The non-gelled soap that was sweating lye water was made from this pomace oil.  Other soap recipes that included this pomace oil seemed to be OK, but when the pomace oil was at higher percentages then the soap was really soft.  I hear that's pretty common with castile/bastile soaps.  Anyway I was curious so I went back to that light olive oil that I used way back when.  Maybe light olive oil  makes for a harder bar much quicker than pomace. 

No fragrance or colorant was added.  I used frozen half and half instead of water and I added honey and colloidal oatmeal to the mix.  I did CPOP and forced gel because I like the toasted smell (not burnt smell) and I don't mind the darker colored soap.  I used some bubble wrap to simulate honey comb.  I unmolded and cut in less than 24 hours.  No problems with soft squishy soap like when I used pomace.  The color is a dark caramel color with flecks which I'm assuming is from the colloidal oatmeal.  The fragrance is wonderful.  A natural sweetness and creamy buttery smell from the honey and half and half.  I hope some of the smell stays around after the long cure that is desireable for high olive oil content soap.  The oatmeal is colloidal so it's been super fine ground and should not be scratchy.  This soap should be super mild to the skin. 

I think I need to make more Oatmeal Milk Honey soap using another recipe that doesn't require such a long cure time.   I may stick to using this light olive oil rather than going back to the pomace, at least with any recipe that requires higher percentages of olive oil. 

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