Lavender Castille Soap

Made some lavender castille soap last week. This is one of my favorites, wonderfully fragrant and very mild. It's also a nice hard bar that lasts for ages. My two boys, who have sensitive skin, can both use this in the tub. My friend's girls call it their princess soap, because it has lavender blossoms all over the top!

There are really two trains of thought about castille soap. Traditionally, castille is made entirely of olive oil from the Castile region of Spain. More modern soap makers, have added other oils and butters, to make soaps that still contain a lot of olive oil, but that make more suds, or contain more moisture, or [insert desired effect here]...

I, myself, am a castille traditionalist, I suppose - not in the sense that the olive oil must be from Castile, but in the sense that the oils used for the soapmaking process, but be exclusively olive. Feel free to disagree. I am not suggesting that soaps that contain olive oil blends aren't great - I make several myself. I'm simply saying that it really is a different type of soap. Soap that is simply olive oil is SO mild and wonderful, that it just seems like it should be in a category by itself. Does it lack suds? Yes, but the "slip" that replaces them, makes it a great shaving soap. My suggestion? Try out some different types of "castille", blends and not, and decide for yourself. Whichever you choose, there is sure to be a soapmaker nearby, willing to supply it for you!