How to Make Beeswax Castile Soap

Castile soap is a mild soap made with olive oil and named for a region in Spain. It is a low-lathering soap chosen by many mothers as the first soap for babies. If you'd like to try your hand at soap-making, castile soap is a good place to start. The author of this recipe says that making this recipe can be challenging, so if you are a beginner at cold process soap I would recommend starting out with an easier recipe before trying this one.  For those would would like to try this recipe out, then check out the article on How to Make Beeswax Castile Soap on Ehow.

Can anyone tell me why they would add beeswax to a cold process soap recipe?  Is it to make the bar harder?  If someone is a vegan, can you leave the beeswax out?  Would it harm the consitency of the recipe if you did? And one last burning question, if you do not use olive oil from Spain does this mean you cannot call it Castile Soap?  Just wondering.

Learn how to make Castille Soap in 13 steps

Do you love Castille soap? How would you like to create your own by the cold process method? I happened to find this tutorial on How to make your own castille soap in 13 steps on the blog Serendipity Soap Dish. There are plenty of photographs to go with the step by step instructions. Just fair warning that in the post, the author has mentioned that they sell soaps and to check their site. If you wanted to purchase the soap instead of making it, I am sorry to say that you are out of luck. But if you know someone who makes soap by the cold process method, you may want to ask them to whip up this batch for you.

Castile Soap Recipes

If you are interested in making your own castile soap, here are some recipes from About.com (Candle and Soap Making):

http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soaprecipes/a/castrecipe_2.htm
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soaprecipes/a/castrecipe_3.htm
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soaprecipes/a/castrecipe_4.htm
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soaprecipes/a/castrecipe_5.htm

Here is a recipe for liquid Castile Soap:

http://www.countryrosesoap.com/liquidcastilesoap.htm