Traditional Castile soap is made with one plant-based oil. Olive oil.
Today, any soap with plant-based oils (olive oil or not) can be called Castile. However, many soap makers will refer to this as Bastille as it is technically a derivative of the true form of pure castile soap.
You will often see big brands using the name Castile soap when it is not technically Castile soap at all. Other manufacturers will slip in other ingredients that continue to degrade from the true form and take away the power of the ingredients.
Hint: We are 100% transparent with our ingredients and love our true-to-tradition Castile soap!
Our pure castile soap ingredients are Certified Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Distilled Water, and Sodium Hydroxide.
What Are the Benefits of Castile Soap?
- Gentle: Oleuropein is one of the major phenolic compounds found in Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), which helps naturally cleanse and protect the skin without harmful or toxic substances found in many soaps.
- Safe for sensitive skin: Pure Castile bar soap, made with a single plant oil, is often recommended as one of the safest soaps for all skin types (including babies using a pure and unscented Castile soap and properly diluted)
- Soothing and Hydrating: EVOO is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, Vitamin A, and Vitamin E, which help hydrate skin, allow it to retain clean pores, and protect it.
What Can You Use Castile Soap For?
Castile soap makes a great body wash. However, Castile soap uses are endless. Castile soap is also often used for:
- Dish Soap
- Hand Soap
- Laundry detergent
- Floor and Window Cleaner
- Tub and Toilet cleaner
- Pet shampoo
- Produce Rinse
- Plant Spray
- and more!
Where Did Castile Soap Come From?
We often forget that people came before us, and sometimes, we don't need to reinvent the wheel; we can simply carry on the traditions from the past. Castile soap is one of the oldest soaps, dating back to the Levant, where Aleppo soap makers made hard soap from olive and laurel oil.
The Greeks learned soap making in the first century CE, with records dating to 300 CE. However, after the Crusades, the popularity of Castile soap expanded to the entire Mediterranean area, where the laurel oil was dropped and only olive oil was used. Hence, our traditional Castile soap, named after the territories of the Crown of Castile in the Iberian Peninsula, was born.
What Is Castile Soap Made Of?
A traditional castile soap bar is made with olive oil and a sodium hydroxide and water mixture, also known as lye. This combination saponifies the oils into a solid bar over a few days.
Liquid castile soap will use potassium hydroxide to make the natural oil into lye.
Why Do People Prefer Castile Soap?
Castile soap is all-natural and, in our case, is made with certified organic extra virgin olive oil. While the ingredients are slim, this ensures that the soap is free of all synthetic ingredients and potentially harmful ingredients that mainstream soap carries, including:
- Parabens
- Phthalates
- BPAs
- Triclosan
- Sulfates
Some of these substances have suggested links to significant health, physical, and psychological disruptions, not to mention that they are often in single-use packaging and not readily biodegradable nor kind to the watershed.
What Is It like Switching to Castile Soap?
Before using Castile (my favorite soap), I used classic store-brand liquid soap dyed the most unnatural colors I'd seen. It was odd transitioning back to using a bar soap. I'd been terrified and scarred by bar soap, which I saw as uncleanly because we had a joint family bar. It was always bright green or blue and was often littered with random hairs that I'd prefer not to think about where they came from.
I'm very sensitive to soap; synthetic fragrances and chemicals always make me sneeze and wheeze while using them. This led me to hate soap because it was never a fun, clean, or positive experience.
I had a negative relationship with all soap, but all I wanted was to feel clean and not feel like my lungs were going to collapse upon me in the shower.
However, having my own soap bar in a natural sisal bag was a nice change to have a gentle scrub over my body as soap is dispersed. Honestly, I felt like I was treating myself to something special.
My skin noticed the change, too. At first, I felt strange not feeling the synthetic detergent-like quality of low-quality store soap on my skin. However, after three washes, my skin felt softer. I noticed, and so did my husband, who quickly jumped on the bandwagon after realizing he'd been missing out.
Together, we've had more hydrated skin that actually feels like it is getting clean. It's almost like the feeling after using a new toothbrush head: your teeth feel smooth, and you realize that your old toothbrush was leaving little bits of grit and grime and was past its expiration date.
I've never had happier skin or felt like I've washed away the day's grime. And while I may be biased, I think we have the best Castile soap.
Are You Ready to Try Castile Soap?
If you are looking for the most traditional Castile soap, try ours! We also love making herbal variants of the single-oil soap that can add a bit of extra skin-loving benefits and plant allies to your soap while staying true to the traditional nature.
But if you'd prefer a Bastille version, we've got you covered, too.