Oh, Please stop with the saponified oil crap

I make soap, and have been doing so for some years. I know what the term saponified means in conjunction with olive oil and you could NOT be more wrong. The process of saponification requires an intense alkali mixed with oil and it also requires these ingredients to be at a certain temperature which happens to be 110 degrees F. Now as for the alkali, soap makers use lye which is not produced in the body nor is any alkali of this magnitude. Were you to produce an alkali this strong, you would die. Same as if you ingest the lye. It will strip the skin right off you if you touch it too long. Now even if you could possibly produce alkali that strong, I would assume you did not reach a body temperature of 110 degrees. The saponification process to create anything that would hold together enough to look like a stone is still a chancy thing. It requires a precise ratio of alkali to fats and if you miss by much at all using olive oil, you do not get anything which will hold together enough to be mistaken for a stone. How do I know this? I have had it happened. At best you would get a creamy, conditioner like substance. Olive oil does not contain enough saturated fat to harden without the presence of strong alkali.

So, whoever filled you full of the "saponified oil" idea is obviously mistaken as are you. Tweet