One of the first mass produced soaps in the world, Castile is traditionally made into a bar soap, and is made entirely from Olive Oil, water, and lye. Although most Castile soaps today still include a hefty portion of Olive Oil, many Castile recipes include other Vegetable Oils such as Hemp Seed Oil, Coconut Oil, or Sunflower Oil. These simple, vegetable based soaps produce gentle, all natural bars of soap that are often cornerstones in handmade soapmakers’ recipe books.
Our Liquid Castile Soap is made from similar ingredients, but has been liquefied to create an all natural liquid soap base that can be used as is, or included in a wide range of natural formulations. Unlike most liquid soaps, our Liquid Castile Soap Base contains no chemical preservatives, sulfates, or other synthetic additives, making it one of the gentlest liquid soaps available.
FromNatureWithLove.com is proud to carry three varieties of all natural, Liquid Castile Soap Base. Each base is made from a combination of Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Aloe Vera Gel, Water, and Rosemary Oil Extract.
- Our conventional Liquid Castile Soap is made from conventional ingredients, and has a thin, watery texture, and characteristic aroma of classic castile soap.
- Organic Liquid Castile Soap Base is made with the same recipe as our conventional base. However, the ingredients and process used to create this base are Certified USDA Organic.
- Our Aloe Castile Shower Gel Base is a unique variation of classic Liquid Castile Soap. Vegetable Gum/Glycerin Extract, and Jojoba have been added to the recipe to produce a thicker, more gel-like Castile Soap. This base also carries a slightly lighter natural aroma than classic Liquid Castile Soap, making it easier to scent. Aloe Castile Shower Gel Base makes an excellent addition to thick scrubs and other formulations where classic Castile would be too thin.
Liquid Castile Soap Bases can be scented with either natural Essential Oils or synthetic Fragrance Oils. In our experience, Liquid Castile Soaps tend to blend more easily with Essential Oils. While most skin safe Essential Oils can be used to scent Liquid Castile Soap, we have found Lavender, Peppermint, and Lime Essential Oils to be our favorites. Essential Oils can also be added to Liquid Castile Soap with the soap’s purpose in mind.
Tea Tree, Niaouli, and Citrus Essential Oils can be combined with Liquid Castile Soap to make an excellent dish washing soap.- Niaouli, Peppermint, and Lemongrass can be used to scent a Castile based foot scrub.
- Lavender, Rosemary, and a few drops of Peppermint Essential Oil can be used to create an invigorating, all natural, Castile shampoo. (Make sure to accompany any Castile Shampoo with a vinegar rinse to remove any excess residue that Castile could leave behind.)
As always, be sure to take care with the dilution of the Essential Oils being used in your Liquid Castile Soap creations. An overdose of Essential Oil in your shampoo, for example, could be very unpleasant, or even dangerous. A good starting point for these kind of formulas is a usage rate of about 2 – 4 %. However, some Essential Oils may require extra dilution.
Hi,
can you add honey to your castile soap base and if so, how much you would recommend? I would like to create a honey hair and body wash with the castile soap and maybe some bitter almond (60/40) essential oils.
love to hear your thoughts
Since Honey is water soluble it can be added easily to Liquid Castile Soap. This is often done for use in fresh formulas such as facials, cleansers, and more. Honey does contain natural antibiotic or antibacterial properties, but can still be prone to the growth of particular bacteria. Therefor, Honey must be treated as a fragile ingredient in terms of long time shelf life. An additional preservative may be required to account for the presence of honey if the product requires a stable shelf life.
Essential Oils can easily be added to Liquid Castile Soap. The Essential Oils can be added directly to the sopa and stirred in. Most Essential Oils can be added at between 2-4%, but refer to an Essential Oil guide to see the best percentage to use for a particular Essential Oil or application.
I am looking to buy a liquid soap base or paste that will be crystal clear. Is this possible? I have seen one made with coconut oil as the main oil, and it was tinted a light clear pink with a seaweed extract. I want to make it for my skin care line. Do you sell something like this? or can you make it?
Thank you,
Joanne
FromNatureWithLove.com carries several liquid soap bases. The closest to what you are looking for would be our Shea Butter Shower Gel or Shea Butter Bubble Bath Base. These soaps are transparent, but aren’t what I would call “crystal clear”. Alos, they do not contain any Seaweed Extract. They are, however, great bases. Both yield a high lather, and accept color and scent easily. You can learn more about these two bases here:
Shea Butter Bubble Bath:
http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/soap/product.asp?product_id=basesheabubbth
Shea Butter Shower Gel:
http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/soap/product.asp?product_id=basesheashwgl
You may also want to look into formulating a liquid soap from scratch to suit your needs. We have a great book on creating liquid soaps. You can find it here:
http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/bookstore/product.asp?product_id=bookliquid
What is the most effective a bar soap or a liquid soap?
vee
Hi Vee. Both bar and liquid soaps cleanse well, and when it comes to Castile soap, I would say that either would have good conditioning quality. It really depends on your personal preference. If you love lots of bubble and lather, try using liquid soap along with a sponge or pouf. If you prefer the low suds of bar soap, than solid castile is the way to go.
I want to make a creamy milk body cleanser with organic ingredients in the soap base with a little-moderate lather. What would you recommend would be a good base for milks such as oat, goat, rice or almond? Is there any special tips to making it blend well?
Thanks for your question regarding making body wash, Jamie. If you are going
to make this with a Pre-Made Base, you should use powdered Milk
ingredients to help avoid spoilage. However, by adding such fragile
ingredients you will be changing the composition of the body wash, so
it may not be properly preserved after these ingreidents are added.
If you want to create a liquid body wash using Milk ingredients, the
best thing is to make it from scratch. Making Liquid Soaps is
challenging, but very rewarding! Check out the following book from our
Book Store to learn more about how to make liquid soaps: http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/bookstore/product.asp?product_id=BOOKLIQUID
I find it difficult scenting liquid castile soap. I just found your site so I have been trying to scent a soap made by a different company – I don’t know if that makes a difference. I tried adding my essential oils to room temperature soap and ended up with a large mass at the top of my bottle. (Upon inspection of the “mass”, it seems to be greatly thickened/concentrated soap with high concentration of the essential oil.) I then tried heating the soap in a double boiler and then slowly adding the essential oils. It seemed to incorporate well, but after pouring the warm mixture into the bottle and letting it cool, it seems very thick to the point of being semi-solid (kind of gel-like). Another batch I did using the heating method is the right consistency but still separating a bit (smaller mass at the top). Any troubleshooting suggestions? FYI: I used grapefruit, and lemon essential oils.
Thank you!
Jen
Hi Jennifer. We actually havent run into this problem with Essential Oils and our Castile Soap before. Warming the soap came to mind because Castile can develop hardened portions when it gets cold due the presence of natural esters inside the soap. Our Liquid Castile has a slightly simpler ingredient list. (Saponified organic oils of coconut, olive and jojoba, organic aloe vera, rosemary extract (preservative) I dont see an ingredient that would be especially troublesome in the Castile you are using, but maybe it has something to do with its formulation?
Like I said, weve never had an issue with incorporating Essential Oils into our Liquid Castile, but we have had issues adding certain Fragrance Oils. Some synthetic ingredients contained in certain Fragrance Oils can react badly with Castile, either giving the soap an icky scent, or sometimes just not mixing properly. Is it possible the Grapefruit Essential Oil you are using is actually a Fragrance Oil?
The only other suggestion our Tech Help Department could come up with is to try adding the EO to a Carrier Oil before adding it to your soap. Another thing I noticed was that during your last blog comment you mentioned the soap becoming gel-like after you heated it. That sounds to me like you are overheating the soap, and that liquid is escaping from it as it is heated. You shouldnt have to get the soap hot in order to combine it with EO. Instead, just warm it gently. I would suggest putting the closed bottle into a bath of hot water for ten minutes or so. That should be plenty of heat to dissolve any esters that may have formed.
Thanks again for contacting us with your questions, Jennifer. If you are still having issues, I would suggest contacting the supplier of your soap. Perhaps other customers have had the same problem. They may have a solution on-hand.
At what point do you put the aloe vera in the liquid soap? Do you put the aloe vera in at trace before the cook or at dilution with the water?
Hello JJ! Thanks for reaching out. Our Liquid Castile Soap is a ready-made base with the aloe vera already included in the formulation. If you are making liquid castile soap from scratch, you can add the aloe into your water phase before the cook or at trace.
how can I thicken your castile soap?
The method most commonly used to thicken our Castile Soap uses Vegetable Gum, such as Guar Gum as a thickening agent. Guar Gum can be added to a small amount of water, or borax and water to create a gel that can be then added to Liquid Castile. It should be used at a rate of around .5 – 1% of the total recipe. We also carry a version of Liquid Castile that has a thicker texture. We call it Aloe Castile Shower Gel Base. It is made with a similar recipe to classic Castile, but has been thickened with Vegetable Gum. You can check out the products complete description, and its ingredient list at the following link: http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/product.asp?product_id=BASECASTSHOWsearchflag=1
I want to make my own shampoos. When using your castile soap would I have to rinse with a vinegar rinse after shampooing. Or is it a way for me to eliminate having to do a vinegar rinse all together? And what can I add to the castile soap to form a lather? Or does it have a natural lather? Thanks for your help.
Hi Melanie. Castile can make a great base for natural shampoo, but it is almost always necessary to follow it up with a vinegar rinse in order to wash away any residue from the natural soap. The soap will lather on its own, but not as much as a commercial shampoo does. Instead, Castile will produce a much lighter lather. We have some great recipes for both Castile based shampoos and Vinegar rinses in our Hair Care Recipes section. Feel free to check them out!
https://naturalbeautyworkshop.com/my_weblog/hair_care_recipes/
Can Liquid Castile Soap be used as a face cleanser for dry, sensitive skin? I have tried it but it leaves my skin feeling dry and tight. Is there a way to make it more gentle and moisturizing? I do love the lather and how it removes my makeup so easily. Thanks!
hi i bought a whole bottle of liquid castile soap thinking that i would be able to make soap bar with it. Is it possible to make soap bar using liquid castile soap? if yes do you have any recipe?
Dear Railey,
Thanks for visiting The Natural Beauty Workshop. Liquid Castile has already been saponified and made into soap, therefor it’s not a suitable ingredient for making bar soap. However, you can add essential oils, fragrance oils, and extracts to liquid castile soap to make it your own unique liquid soap.
If you’d like to create bar soap, there are two methods to choose from. Melt & Pour method is the easiest way to make soap at home. It involves melting down specially formulated glycerin soap in a double boiler, then adding colors and scents while it is melted. It is then repoured into molds and cooled until it hardens. Another method, called cold process soap making, creates bar soaps entirely from scratch. This process uses natural fats and lye in a process called saponification. This method is a bit more advanced, but can still be done at home. These soaps take about 6 weeks to cure, but you have a lot more control over the final product. I’ll give you some links to more information on each of these methods.
Melt & Pour Soap Making: https://naturalbeautyworkshop.com/my_weblog/2008/11/holiday-project.html
Cold Process Soap Making: http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/coldprocesssoapmaking/ss/sscpsoap.htm
Hello,
I’ve seen recipes online where people mix liquid castile soap with a tea herbal infusions, but they do not mention preservatives. Do these types of recipes have a certain shelf life and/or require preservatives? Also, I have seen recipes where people take a commercial bar of soap ( black soap/castile) and they melt it down in distilled water to make liquid soap, Do these types of recipes have a certain shelf life and/or require preservatives?
Sorry one more question, do your bases require extra preservatives if diluted with an infusion/aloe vera juice/distilled water or add a carrier oil?
I like creating recipes at home for fun, but I want to make sure I am being safe.
Thank you!
Do you know if it’s possible to use castile soap in a bath bomb to make it bubble?
Hi Dana. You could definitely use liquid castile to help bind bath bombs, but unfortunately, the soap wouldnt produce a very notable lather. Castile doesnt contain any detergents or sulfates, which are usually responsible for the big frothy bubbles you find in most bubble baths and liquid soaps. You could try the same method with a commercial soap. That would produce a better lather, but Im not sure how much, as youd only be adding a very small amount of soap to each bath bomb. It would be worth experimenting with to find out!
Hi there, I’m interested in adding Shea Butter, Essential Oils (Lavender, Chamomile, Rose) and CO2 Extracts (Calendula) to the Organic Liquid Castile Soap Base. Would that be possible and how would you suggest I go about doing that?
I’m interested in adding a honey or honey extract to liquid organic Castile soap to impart a sweet honey scent and the humectant benefit of honey.
I’m interested in adding a honey or honey extract to liquid organic Castile soap to impart a sweet honey scent and the humectant benefit of honey.
Hi Jacinda. That sounds wonderful! Honey Absolute and other Honey Ingredients can add great benefits to skincare recipes but they don’t impart a very strong aroma. You could try adding a little Honey Fragrance Oil if you really wanted the honey scent to be prominent.
can you make a facial scrub adding sugar, shea butter, lavendar oil and dried lavendar and eucalyptus oil added to the castile soap?
Hi, I find that castile soap comes in different scent such lavender, peppermint, orange, etc.. If I dilute the lavender scented castile oil with water and add an essential oil different that different from lavender such tea tree oil. would it affect the aroma?
Hi Lindsy. Adding Essential Oil to an already scented soap could result in a soap that is over-scented. That has the possibility of irritating your skin or even exposing you to an unsafe dosage of Essential Oil. I would recommend starting off with an unscented Castile Soap instead. If you can’t find one locally, check out our selection at http://www.FromNatureWithLove.com. Here’s a direct link to the page that offers Castile Soap Base: http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/soap/product.asp?product_id=ORGLIQCASTILEUS108
I would like to know if it is possible to add shea butter or jojoba to your liquid castile soap which I purchased recently. I love it! I would like to add more skin conditioning ingredients in addtion to the glycerin 6% that I am adding. If so, how would I do that, when and how much is advised?
Also, if I was to add aloe vera powder for more skin conditioning, how much would you recommend I add to my formula? It looks like I add that to the distilled water prortion of my formula.
I read that adding aloe to a product increases the need for a preservative. My formulate liquid soap maintains a ph of 10.65 so I am not going to use a preservative. I want to make sure that is I incorporate the powdered aloe I can still formulate without a preservative. Thank you!
I’m so glad to hear that you are enjoying it. You can certainly add oils or butters to our Liquid Castile Base. We recommend melting the butters or solid oils and then mixing them directly into the soap base. It may also be helpful to warm the base gently using a hot water bath. The exact amount of oil/butter to be added is up to you, but 5% is a good point to begin experimenting. As far as the Aloe goes, it really depends mostly on what kind of Aloe product you are adding. If you were to add a liquid Aloe Gel it may require an additional preservative as the ratio of water will be increased. The addition of Spray Dried Aloe Powder shouldn’t affect the formula’s stability very much – unless the pH changes drastically. Again, I would suggest beginning your experiments at 5% and then adjusting accordingly. Aloe Vera Leaf Powder can also be added but keep in mind that the whole leaf powder will not dissolve in the soap. It would remain as solid particles which would affect the texture of the soap. If you plan on selling the soaps I would strongly recommend having your final formulations challenge tested to determine shelf life and stability.
Hi! I am using your liquid castile soap base and I just love it! The smell is very mild and easy to scent with eos. I have learned the hard way though that some essential oils can serve to thicken a liquid “castile” soap, and others will thin it down. I was able to thicken the soap base nicely with the borax solution, and also with salt, but as soon as I then add my citrus essential oils it turns back to a thin liquid. This is not an issue for me for my dish soap as I use it in a foaming pump dispenser mostly and it works super great! But I am going to try making a variety of shampoos (for people and pets!) and was hoping I could track down a list of the different EOs and their affects on liquid castile soap?
Thank you!
I don’t know of any published list of essential oils that thicken or thin liquid soap, but it would be great if there was one! I’ll keep an eye out during my searches online. If I see one out there I will certainly let you know.
Hi! I have successfully thickend my liquid soap using 1-1.5% HEC! It is lovely!
Now my challenge is scenting! I am having the hardest time overcoming the natural aroma of the liquid soap I got from you. Even though it is mild I can’t seem to find anything other than citrus EO to work, meaning it covers up the scent. I have been doing research and posted my question to the liquid soap making group on FB. It was suggested to try mixing aceytl alcohol with EO 1;1 to mitigate the problems and will try that today with Everclear and EO and I will post my results. do you have any experience with this technique or other things to try? Other than the EOs you list above, are there any others I could try? Thanks! I didn’t realize this would be so challenging!
I found one! It is posted in the file over at Liquid Soapmakers facebook group under pin files.
Hi Valerie. Liquid Castile does have a natural aroma characteristic of most olive-based natural soaps. While you may not be able to mask the scent you could try complimenting it instead. Citrus is a great choice. You can also try any other skin-safe essential oil. Pretty much anything that would be suitable for bar soap can also be used in liquid soap. A few that I would suggest checking out at Bergamot, Neroli, Geranium, Spearmint, and Lemongrass.
Hi, I have a recipe that calls for liquid suspension soap, it also contains coconut oil 76 Degree and yogurt powder. Can I substitute castile soap as my soap base? I plan to use Germaben II as my preservative, will this preservative work with Castile soap? Is it ok to use yogurt powder or other milk powder with castile soap?
Here is the recipe if that helps:
• 50 oz. Liquid Suspension Soap Base
• 14 oz. Coconut Oil – 76º Melt
• 2 oz. Yogurt Powder
• 2 oz. Sparkling Limoncello* Fragrance Oil 853
• 2 Teaspoon(s) Lemon Powder
• 10 ml(s) Preservative – Benzoic Acid +2 PF
Hello Donna. Our Liquid Castile Soap is not a suspension base, so any additives will collect on the bottom. If that’s not an issue, then our Liquid Castile could be a suitable replacement. We encourage you to test in small batches to be sure you are obtaining the desired results. As for the preservatives, while Germaben II may be used in this type of formulation, only laboratory testing can confirm if your finished product is properly preserved.