My first homemade soap

[LizzyEU]

Just olive oil, a soap calculator, NaOH and water, (and a LOT of stress). I'm told it'll not really foam but it should be nice and soft for the hands. But we'll see once it's had a few months to ripen out (cold method). I still have muscle ache in my hand from stirring that stuff, it refused to trace until I put it back up on the furnace.  

[shout4joy]

it looks beautiful!

and 100% olive takes FOREVER to trace, I can't imagine doing a batch of Castille by hand - kudos to you! (I'll use my handy-dandy stick blender!).

[MareMare]

Looks great!

[LizzyEU]

it looks beautiful!

and 100% olive takes FOREVER to trace, I can't imagine doing a batch of Castille by hand - kudos to you! (I'll use my handy-dandy stick blender!).

Nah I used a stick blender but then the blender got SO hot... Continued to blend till the blender was cooled down enough to use again...  

[Puffadder]

My first attempt at soap took forevvvvvvvvvvvvvvv er and I stirred it by hand.  Then I checked the internet and saw that everyone recommended the stick blender - very happy boy after buying myself one.  You are amazing for persevering.  Well done!

I've not tried to make the castille soap yet but I have made a nice new lemony soap.  I had tried using lemon essential oil but it tends to lose its scent very quickly.  I found that using essential oil of lemongrass gives you the lovely lemon scent, costs a fraction of the price and lasts longer.

Not tried selling the soap as you need to be certified somehow (something to do with using the lye) but I've given it out to friends and no-one's died yet and they haven't been bleached either!

[TechnicolorAquahearts]

I keep wanting to try soap, I still haven't yet. Yours looks great!

[SewEnthusiastic]

That looks awesome! I made a batch today using only olive oil...my blender continuously overheated lol!

[LizzyEU]

So I just got food dyes and I've also got coconut oil now. I'm gonna try a new batch again. By the way - this one took forever to lose the lye smell (I actually burned my tongue licking it, well how was I supposed to know what it was and wasn't supposed to taste like before it was ripe?) but now it's actually great for... dishwashing (and any other purpose that requires soapy water). For some reason, all the water around here makes chunks of soap float at the top of the water surface in the sink, but this one doesn't. Not sure why... Anyway I'm happy about how it turned out.

But next time I'm not licking it until it stops smelling bad. 

[Ladybug Soapworks]

Did you use virgin olive oil or pomace olive oil?  Pomace can trace quite quickly.  Mine usually takes a minute or 2 to trace, but I also soap at RT which helps to speed up the process.  My 100% olive oil soaps have a nice lather, so you may be surprised when you go to use it.

[LizzyEU]

Did you use virgin olive oil or pomace olive oil?  Pomace can trace quite quickly.  Mine usually takes a minute or 2 to trace, but I also soap at RT which helps to speed up the process.  My 100% olive oil soaps have a nice lather, so you may be surprised when you go to use it.

I used the cheapest olive oil from Aldi. This is the foam from this soap (on a pack of wet tissues for contrast).