What is Castile Soap?

I often get asked what Castile Soap is, and there seems to be much confusion surrounding it. There are conflicting descriptions, but essentially, Castile Soap originated in the area known as Castile in Spain, and was made with olive oil from the area. Purists regard “Authentic Castile Soap” as being made soley from Olive Oil from the Castile region. There are those who also use the word Castile to describe any soap made with only vegetable oils, as opposed to animal tallow (fat). I am almost a purist, in that Feel at Home Castile soap is made completely of olive oil and nothing else, although I have for one bar added a very small amount of New Zealand grown German Chamomile. My “Castile” Soap is made from New Zealand olive oil, not olive oil from the Castile region of Spain.

It is important to understand what description is understood when you embark on using Castile soap. There are recipes that call for liquid castile soap, for example, to make cleaning products, do the recipes mean castile (vegetable soap) or Castile (olive oil soap)? There will be a marked difference in the experience of using either of these soaps.

Pure Olive Oil soap has virtually no lather. It is very high in natural glycerine, and can be quite a hard bar of soap. Having no lather does put some people off, as we are conditioned to believe that the more it lathers, the cleaner we will be – Not so! Olive Oil soap is incredibly gentle and is often used on babies to help protect their new skin, while still being an effective cleanser. It is odourless on its own and should be a pale yellow colour as opposed to pure white. Other soaps that are made with a combination of vegetable oil will almost definitely have a greater lather, and can be gentle as well – so it really depends on what you want or need for your purposes.

So – in my definition, Castile Soap is made completely of Olive Oil – I am a traditionalist at heart.

I hope you found this helpful!

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