Curing Soap

If you happen to be looking for a certain soap at the market and I just happen to not have it, you may have heard me say, "it's on the shelf curing". I also wrote that statement in the post below about the Mechanics Scrub.

Homemade soap needs to slowly "cure" over time. But what is curing anyway?

Casco Bay Soap Co. soaps naturally air cure for four to six weeks. This is the ageing or drying process soap must got through. During the first two weeks of curing, the saponification process is completed (turning all those great slippery oils into something that can now clean your skin). Once the soap is cut into bars, it is stacked on the shelves, Stonehenge style. This will allow air to circulate around the bars. We turn over the bars of soap every few days. Curing is when most of the water used in the recipe evaporates. The curing process helps create a milder, hard, long lasting bar or soap with a rich lather.