Castile soap available

Size and cost of a bar? Due to my skin, I exclusively use Dr. Bronners unscented Castile soap. I am always looking for other Castile soap (always unscented) and may be interested.

As an aside, you could start a thread about soap making. I have the lye and plenty of deer tallow while olive oil is easily available and I've had plans to make soap for years....

Olepo is bay laurel and olive oil the straight castile is straight olive oil.
$10/bar.
Roughly 4oz bars.

Initially, I used Kirks too. There was an occasion that I couldn't find Dr Bronners and went back to Kirks. Within a couple days, I was red & scaly coupled with an uncomfortable burning sensation. Switched back to Dr Bronners and the issue vanished. Needless to say, I need to be wary of switching to anything different...

I couldn't stand scented soaps until I tried this.

www.indigowild.com/collections/zum-bar-goat-milk-soap

I've been lucky, never had any skin sensitivity issues. I guess it could be that being brought up on nothing but homemade lye soap toughened my skin in a good way. 

Spence

Brokennock, you might find this interesting.

Franklin’s Father Josiah: Life of a Colonial Boston Tallow Chandler, 1657-1745, by Nian-Sheng Huang

Compared with the ill-fated rush-candle enterprise, the Franklin’s secret recipe for making a fine crown soap fared much better and for many years remained a source of family pride. Unlike simple rushlights that were aimed at the lower end of market, fine soaps were a luxury designed for middle to upper-middle type of families, Ordinary colonials often took time in spring to make their own soaps, a very slow process of many days. Yet, what they were able to accomplish was to make soft soaps, a sort of product suitable only for rough use, Fine soaps, on the other hand, required quality material, good water, and all proper executions, On occasion, even some of the most experienced soap makers were bewildered, not knowing why their hard soap either failed to come or soon disintegrated. Substantial households could buy toilet soaps when cleanness and personal hygiene became a serious concern, Boston merchants helped to fulfill their need by importation. Castile soap, named for the place it was produced in Spain but later corrupted into “castle soap”, appeared in newspapers advertising as early as the 1720s. Made of olive oil with a soda base, obtained from the ashes of sea-weeds, Castile soap was best known for smoothness and plasticity, while its natural smell and marbled veins added to the product’s attractiveness and fame. A lack of these foreign advantages did not discourage the Franklins who utilized native resources to the best of their ability, According to the youngest child in the family, Jane Mecom’s description, two conditions must be met to make the soap. The first was quality material, including thirty pounds of “clean hard tallow” and fifteen pounds of “the purest bayberry wax of lively green color.” Another key was that in addition to the common steps for making hot soap, the Franklins invented a new procedure* called “separation” which meant to separate the soap from the lye used in the initial stages. The final product was excellent, most suitable for washing fine linens and other bright and delicate material. In fact, this special soap became such a desirable commodity that even his runaway son Benjamin was quite willing to sell it in Philadelphia.

"*Once a hot soap has come in consistence, continue to boil it hard in a copper and proceed to separation by sprinkling salt at the speed of one peck for every fifteen minutes. All the while, keep stirring from the bottom with a stick. Frequently check the stick and observe the drops from it. When the soap cools on the stick and its color comes as clear as Madeira wine, the separation has taken place. Add no more salt, or the soap will be brittle. Continue to boil the copper fast but carefully keep it from boiling over until all the froth boiled in. Now the soap is separated and will lie on top of the salt lye. clear away the fire with water, and put one pail of new lye into the copper to help the soap to rise. Leave the copper still until the next morning when the soap will be cold on top like a hard cake. Cut off the soap cake, wipe off any dirt or soil underneath, and throw away the salt lye left at the copper bottom. Wash and clean the copper, set it on fire again, and start the second round of separation by repeating the same steps as the day before. A slow fire shall suffice this time because of the weak lye found after the first boil. When all the froth is boiled in, add a pail of new lye and let the copper stand about half an hour. Now the soap can be poured into a mold. To ensure quality, final cutting may begin only when the soap has become lukewarm."

Ads in the Pennsylvania Gazette offer crown soap, in one instance referred to as “Boston Crown Soap” this is probably what Josiah developed. In the early ads it is said to be for sale at the “new printing office”. Since B. Franklin owned and printed the paper, this is apparently him selling his family’s soap.

"The Pennsylvania Gazette
November 22, 1733
Lately imported A Parcel of superfine CROWN SOAP. It cleanses fine Linens, Muslins, Laces, Chinces, Cambricks, &c. with Ease and Expedition, which often suffer more from the long and hard Rubbing of the Washer, through the ill Qualities of the Soap they use, than the Wearing. It is excellent for the Washing of Scarlets, or any other bright and curious Colours, that are apt to change by the Use of common Soaps. The Sweetness of the Flavor and the fine Lather it immediately produces, renders it pleasant for the Use of Barbers. It is cut in exact and equal Cakes, neatly put up, and sold at the New Printing Office at 1 s. per Cake."

Spence