SOAP HOMECOMING 5 - THE SUPER EXPENSIVE SOAP

Turns out that if you use absolutes, concretes and high quality natural essential oils to scent your soap and the fats consist of cold press extra virgin olive oil imported from Italy and organic cold pressed avocado oil—as well as suet made by nice ladies on their farm—your cost per bar is going to be astronomical, as soaps go.

Here is Magic Soap #2. It may not look rare and beautiful, but intrinsically it is. Assuming 18 bars, it cost me upwards of $3.90 a bar. Usual cost is a quarter to half of that, or less.

How will I ever wait the required 4 weeks for it to cure? What date is that? Okay, Wednesday, April 25 at 5 pm to be precise.

Here's the intriguing thing. The caustic (usually lye) and oils need to be at approximately 98 F for saponification to occur. Usually I have to stir as much as an hour or more for it to achieve the consistency of thick pea soup and for tracing to happen, i.e., the stirring spoon leaves a visible trail. This soap traced in seven unbelievable minutes so the temperatures must have been perfect. Seven. Almost instantly the texture was beautiful as if it knew costly scents were about to be stirred in and it couldn't wait. I barely had time to scent it and pour it in the mold before hardening began. IOW, this one was easy as pie.

I used a full oz of my ScentFan by Appointment (Thank you, Mia), so named because like its inspiration, Roja by Appointment (and Shalimar), only one sample exists or ever will. Still waiting for the supplies I ordered to create a perfume of the remainder. (Later. Ahem. Note to self: If you don’t press “place order” in your checkout cart, they won’t ship things to you.)

I decided to make a Castile-Avocado soap, thus the slightly green tinge. How well the scent survives I won't know until curing is complete. During its slow dry in the air, the caustic will steadily decrease as saponification continues.

These soaps don't last as long as commercial ones because what makes soap last is coconut, principally, and coconut oil is drying. These melt luxuriously into the skin, cleansing and leaving suppleness behind. Other than the ones currently in use, I have only 4 bars left of the first batch. I did succumb and gave several away to people who claim to be my relatives. I'm only sure my daughter and grandchildren are. I wasn't present at the births of the rest, so can't be certain. They could have been foundlings my mother took pity upon. She liked babies. But I honored their claim of being my blood brothers and sisters and therefore entitled to sample the wondrous soap.

Not THIS soap, though. No, sirree. Only the one who came directly out of my body has a chance of getting a bar. Even for her I'll have to consider (I do love you, sweetheart, but try to understand!). If this giant bar of unlovely-looking rumpled raw soap turns into the sheer darling I expect it will, I may not be able to part with even an ounce.

Ah, beloved. I await you.

(You too, of course, sweetheart ❤️)