Question about Soap I purchased

[BlackCrow]

I bought a bar of handmade soap recently. When I wet it the bar gets this slimy coating all over it. Is that normal?? why would it do that? The slimy feeling goes away when it dries but each time I get it again the slime comes back. It is really thick and pulls away with your fingers when you lift your fingers off the bar.

[jbren]

Is it Castile? Is there an ingredient list on the label?

[BlackCrow]

no it doesnt say anything about there being castile in it. Its got your basic simple soap ingredients in it....its actually a rather short ingredient list.

[eugenia]

Castile soap means all olive or mostly olive and can feel slimey.

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[ilovescents]

I bought a bar of handmade soap recently. When I wet it the bar gets this slimy coating all over it. Is that normal?? why would it do that? The slimy feeling goes away when it dries but each time I get it again the slime comes back. It is really thick and pulls away with your fingers when you lift your fingers off the bar.

I know what you mean by slimy soap. I always like to compare my soap to other soap makers so I wouldn't hesitate to buy a bar (or several if I'm intrigued by the scents). There is one soap maker whom I bought from -- her soaps look lovely, fragrance exquisite but very slimy and so emollient that I didn't feel clean after taking a shower with it. She does say on her listing that she uses high amounts of Olive Oil.

I prefer to use Rice Bran Oil. Gives a silky lather, not slimy yet moisturizing. Even my RBO castille soap is not slimy.

Of course draining your soap on a soap rack after each use helps. Although I do agree that an emollient soap will feel slimy once it gets wet.

[BlackCrow]

hmmmmm.I need to double check the ingredients it says about olive oil.

I do keep it on a soap dish...but this gets slimy right away while you are using it. Just to even wash my hands when the soap starts off bone dry, soon as it gets wet its slimes up. feels icky. LOL!

[MarieJeanette]

That definitely sounds like a soap made with mostly, if not all, olive oil as the fatty acid content. Olive oil has a lot of oleic acid in it which is famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it:wink2: ) for readily forming a colloidal suspension (or slime, as some describe it) on the surface of soap when wet. It solidifies back up when dry, though. A lot of people with sensitive skin love olive oil soaps (or Castile's) and the sliminess does not bother them at all, while others despise it. I personally don't mind it the least bit now that I know what it is -simply a colloidal suspension of oleic acid that my skin seems to love.

MarieJeanette :smiley2: