Homemade Castile Soap - Pure and Natural

Ingredients

• 10 ounces distilled water with no fluoride
• 5 ounces pure lye (sodium hydroxide)
• 40 ounces olive oil
• 1 ounce essential oil of your choice

Instructions

Put the water in a pyrex one-quart measuring cup. Add the lye, stirring carefully. HOLD YOUR BREATH while adding the lye - then leave until the fumes are gone.

In your crock pot place 40 ounces olive oil and add the essential oil. Then add the water/lye mixture, stirring constantly with a wire whisk or your wooden or plastic spoon. Stir thoroughly but do not splash. Careful! You must try to get the water/lye to meld with the oils. They will turn into a murky, opaque and creamy mixture and then will begin to thicken.

Use a stick blender (sold above) to stir. You can use a wooden spoon, but it will take a long time to get to trace. Alternate with a wire whisk.

This can take anywhere from five minutes to several hours. Using the stick blender will make it a lot faster.

Keep this mixture at 100-120 degrees.

Trace! Yes, you need to get this to trace meaning you raise your spoon up and see the soap mixture make traces as it cascades back into the pot. You might want to watch the video below to see what tracing looks like.

When it traces, you can stir in any additives you might want to try (oatmeal, lavendar buds, etc.) and then pour this into your box or mold.

The boxes should be placed on warm blankets, then covered with a board, styrofoam or cardboard, then more warm blankets. Wool is ideal. Experiment with this process as results will depend on your climate. Less insulation may be needed in warmer climates.

Let your soap sit for about 24 hours, then unmold and slice if need be.

Store your soap in a cool dry place SIX weeks (minimum) to mature before using.