POMACE OLIVE OIL
Someone suggested that pomace olive oil in soap may leave long term health issues. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that. People say all sorts of things nowadays so we need to sieve through the lot and determine for ourselves, the credibility of their argument. The pomace would have reacted with the lye to get us our soap, right? Assuming that some is left behind in a superfat situation, our "exposure" would have been minimal ... I mean, come on, how long do you intend to sit in your lather?
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Then again, what exactly is pomace olive oil? A little research was in order and this is what I learnt. The first press of olive oil produced extra virgin olive oil. These are usually green and apparently difficult to trace. The olives are subjected to a second press to produce the Grade A or Pure Olive Oil. This is followed by a third press to produce pomace olive oil using as solvent, a 6-carbon alkane called hexane. If hexane is the concern, then we should worry about sunflower oil, corn oil and other vegetable oil for most, if not all, used hexane in their extraction. Did I just opened up Pandora's Box?
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NATURAL COLORANT
So I have explored the various natural colorant and concluded that not all were appropriate for COLD PROCESS soap due to the long curing period. I had considered the natural red and indigo plant dyes used by the indigenous people of Borneo but those were pretty complicated, closely-guarded secret processes involving lime. There were just a few more natural colorant I'll be wanting to experiment with before finally moving on to natural pigments and oxides. However, I am reluctant to make this move for reasons best disclosed at the end of this post.
ALKALINITY
It appears that for any soap to be safe for use it had to have a pH range of between 7 to 10. Aneres (not her real name) acquired some litmus paper to test the batches of soap we've made. The pH value was 8.5. (For the record, lye had a pH value of 14.) So ... yes! Looking good there.
MOULDS
I have tried silicone moulds, milk cartons and plastic tofu boxes. Silicone moulds were comparatively easier to use. With milk cartons, the wastage is pretty significant. As for tofu boxes, you'd probably want to first lay them with some baking sheets. I did not have the presence of mind to use baking sheets when I used my first tofu box so let's just say, it was disastrous.
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INSULATION
Once the soap is poured, it is important to tap the mould on the counter-top to release any trapped air bubbles. What you do next is the sixty-four dollar question. To insulate or not to insulate.
Here is where Soapers differed:
- Some sealed their moulds with masking tape and put it away.
- Some place a cardboard over the mould, cover them with towels and spread a blanket over the towels.
- Some placed a baking sheet over the mould, followed by a cardboard which was then sealed with masking tapes
- In online stores, wooden boxes with an inner silicone mould complete with a wooden lid suggested that the masking tape isn't entirely necessary.
- Some put their moulds into shoe boxes, with or without the towels.
Clearly, this was something to think about, and thinking got me acquainted with the ...
GEL STAGE
To understand the gel stage, you need to occasionally peek into your soap. After the first two hours or thereabout (I did not actually watch the clock) you should notice a darker patch emerging from the center of your mould. (And by the way, you can't do this if your mould is sealed with masking tape, can you?) This darker patch marked the beginning of the gel stage. Once the darker patch reached the sides of the mould, the lid should be removed to prevent over-insulation.
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In the picture on the right, the two soaps on the right were covered with a thin plastic sheet. The two left soaps were not. Insulation is important to get us to the gel stage but we do want to get it right. To avoid getting the white film on the two left soaps, covering them with a thin plastic sheet should work.
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LEFTOVERS
A great way not to waste leftovers from your cut soap is to cut or shape them into cubes and add those cubes into subsequent batches. Here's several Aneres (not her real name) and me have done.
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ESSENTIAL OIL (EO)
Essential oil is extracted from flowers/plants through a distillation process. However, the scent is not always stronger than the plant and its benefit in cold process soap is questionable since the percentage used is minimal. Cold process soap required a long curing period by which time, the fragrance in the EO is long gone. Furthermore, some EO are not stable enough to tolerate the heat and high pH,
Then, there is the cost factor. EO are expensive. They probably serve their purpose best in lotions and creams which stayed on your skin rather than soaps which are briefly scrubbed into the skin then rinsed away.
FRAGRANCE OIL (FO)
Fragrance oil on the other hand is synthetically produced and hence, cheaper. Their scent are predictable, stronger and lasted longer. As such, only small quantities are required. (2-3%) FO are also made to tolerate heat and high pH. Unlike EO, most FO does not accelerate trace so you have lots of time to design your soap.
LYE
Sourcing for caustic soda is a huge problem and I mean huge. The online store which supplied my lye had a minimum purchase condition which they strictly adhere to. Looking for an alternative source is very much like looking for a needle in a haystack. Most chemical companies and hardware stores do not deal with lye. Finally I found a supplier at the fringe of the city.
"I'm sorry. We need to see your permit before we sell you any lye," came the sweet reply from the other end of the line.
"A permit? Bu-but ... I'm using it to make soap. It's just a hobby and I only needed about one to two kilos."
"Lye is a controlled item so you must have a permit to buy it. I'm sorry. Anyway, our minimum order is 25 kgs."
"25 kgs! I could drown in 25 kgs!" (which was probably not the best thing to say... under the circumstances, if you catch my drift.)
She chuckled.
I googled "HOW TO APPLY FOR LYE PERMIT" ( ... that was brilliant, wasn't that?) In less time than it took to click on a link, I found myself on the website of the Pharmaceutical Division of the Health Ministry. (Yo! Like I'm doing this every other day?) The lady at the other end repeated everything I already knew, then referred me to the officer in charge of permits at state level who, not to be outdone repeated more of the same.
"But I only needed 1 to 2 kgs and its for my soap-making hobby. The soaps are not for sale." I lamented.
She chuckled. "I'm sorry. According to the procedure, you must first register your company, apply for a permit, then start making your soap."
"I need to register a company to proceed with this hobby?" I was flabbergasted.
She was amused, stayed amused and will have no part in alleviating my consternation.
MARSEILLE SOAP
Genuine Marseille soaps are made with 72% olive oil with no added fragrance or color. It was traditionally shaped as a cube whose weight goes from between 300 grams to a kilo. But times have changed. Seeing that fragrance oil and colors raised questions about the genuineness of my Marseille soap, I'm not sure where to move on from here. |
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