Our soaps are made using a traditional Castile soap formula from the 19th century. When first starting our company we researched for the best possible soap recipe. We were looking for soap that would always be of a consistent high quality, be of an exceptional mildness, and gentleness. We also wanted a soap that would not be drying, that would be long lasting, and most importantly be an effective cleaning bar. Castile soap, long known for its purity and mildness had all the qualities we desired.
Castile soaps first produced in Spain during the 13th century became known as the Queen of soap. Even today Castile soaps still retains that reputation.
Castile traditionally is made from a combination of olive oil and animal fat. Olive oil gives the soap its mildness and gentleness. The animal fat gives Castile soap its superior cleaning and lasting qualities. Either tallow or lard can be used as the source of animal fat. We chose lard. Tallow produces a very hard bar that needs hot rather than warm water to lather properly making it not best for personal skin care. Lard makes a soap that lathers well in warm water. The fatty acids in lard are very similar to those in human skin making soap produced from it very well matched for human usage.
Many soap makers call their vegetable oil based soaps Castile. True Castile soaps must be produced from a mixture that is 40 to 60 % olive oil. Many of these modern Castile soaps contain little or no olive oil. In addition these modern soaps are made using coconut oil. Soaps made from coconut oil are very drying and can cause skin irritation.
These are the reasons we feel our Castile soap made in the traditional way from olive oil and an animal fat (lard) are the best hand-crafted soaps offered on the market today.
We produce, for those persons who are opposed to using animal material in any way, a Castile soap made using olive oil in combination with other vegetable oils.