# Salt bars



## Ugeauxgirl (Feb 1, 2021)

I'm going to attempt a salt bar.  I got a recipe from this forum that specifically says use fine sea salt, but not himalayan salt.  I have a book that says never use sea salt, use table salt or himalayan salt.  Has anyone had bad experience with one kind of salt or another?


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## dibbles (Feb 1, 2021)

I usually use fine sea salt without issue. Dead Sea salt will cause weeping (I've heard - never tried it) and is not recommended for that reason. I've used plain table salt and it works just fine  I've read here that Himalayan salt is too sharp and should not be used. Again - I've never tried it personally, but have read elsewhere that it isn't an issue.


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## Jibbian (Feb 1, 2021)

I've only made one salt bar, and I used fine Himalayan pink salt. I can confirm that it will scratch you up! I don't recommend it.


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## cmzaha (Feb 1, 2021)

Plain Table Salt works fine in salt bars. Himalayan is too scratchy and I have run across some Pacific Sea Salt that felt like little needles. Specifically, it was fine sea salt in bulk from Winco. I will also mention The Black Hawaiian Sea Salts are a waste of money, they are Pacific Sea Salt infused with charcoal. You can just use Pacific Sea salt with activated charcoal added.


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## Obsidian (Feb 1, 2021)

I'm cheap, I use canning salt.


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## cmzaha (Feb 1, 2021)

I have also used canning salt


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## KiwiMoose (Feb 1, 2021)

I use fine ground sea salt.


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## violets2217 (Feb 1, 2021)

I've made 2 batches and only 2 batches so far. One was finely ground sea salt and the other was part fine Himalayan pink/table salt. I've sadly not been able to try either yet. I made the Himalayan before reading all the warning of its' scratchiness! So I guess we will see in about 7 or 8 months!


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## amd (Feb 1, 2021)

I'll vouch for even 'extra fine' pink himalayan salt being too scratchy. Hubby will still use it though, although he prefers the bars that use the canning and pickling salt. I tried dendritic salt once and I had weepy nasty bars so I won't use that again for salt bars.


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## AliOop (Feb 1, 2021)

I am the outlier who loves extra fine Himalayan sea salt (Kirkland brand from Costco) in her salt bars. It doesn’t scratch me at all.


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## violets2217 (Feb 1, 2021)

AliOop said:


> I am the outlier who loves extra fine Himalayan sea salt (Kirkland brand from Costco) in her salt bars. It doesn’t scratch me at all.


I can't wait to try mine! But I can't remember if they are the ones that are 100% CO and need to cure for a year or the ones that need to cure for 6 months.... LOL
I'll need to check my binder when I get home! The Himalayan are the one's I'm most excited about, I hope they are not too rough for me either....


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## AliOop (Feb 1, 2021)

violets2217 said:


> I can't wait to try mine! But I can't remember if they are the ones that are 100% CO and need to cure for a year or the ones that need to cure for 6 months.... LOL
> I'll need to check my binder when I get home! The Himalayan are the one's I'm most excited about, I hope they are not too rough for me either....


I'd recommend trying one at six months just to see how they feel. Then once a month after that till you find the sweet spot for curing your recipe.


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## Ugeauxgirl (Feb 1, 2021)




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## Obsidian (Feb 1, 2021)

Pretty, I love that blue.


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## Ugeauxgirl (Feb 1, 2021)

Thanks!  It was your recipe!  I got the color at hobby lobby I think.


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## cmzaha (Feb 1, 2021)

That blue is gorgeous. 


AliOop said:


> I am the outlier who loves extra fine Himalayan sea salt (Kirkland brand from Costco) in her salt bars. It doesn’t scratch me at all.


It only takes once, to change your mind.


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## KiwiMoose (Feb 1, 2021)

Nice!  Which salt did you use in the end?


Ugeauxgirl said:


> View attachment 53729


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## Ugeauxgirl (Feb 1, 2021)

KiwiMoose said:


> Nice!  Which salt did you use in the end?


I used fine sea salt.  It feels like a million years till I can try it to see...  I'm not so patient.  That's why I do hot process


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## Obsidian (Feb 1, 2021)

Were these HP? I use my HP salt bars at 4 months.
I don't know why but salt bars done HP seem to cure quicker.


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## Ugeauxgirl (Feb 1, 2021)

Yes.  I read that hot process salt bars were hard but I didn't have much trouble.  They did start drying really fast, and for me, the loaf mold worked better than individual molds.  The batter was too thick for individual molds.  Glad to hear they cure faster with HP.


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## violets2217 (Feb 1, 2021)

Ugeauxgirl said:


> I'm not so patient. That's why I do hot process


I'm not either that's why I made more CP soap to hide my salt bars curing in the back of the closet... They are beautiful!!!


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## Arimara (Feb 2, 2021)

Ugeauxgirl said:


> Yes.  I read that hot process salt bars were hard but I didn't have much trouble.  They did start drying really fast, and for me, the loaf mold worked better than individual molds.  The batter was too thick for individual molds.  Glad to hear they cure faster with HP.


No, actually, they don't cure faster. HP saponifies soap faster but can actually require a longer cure than CP soaps due the extra amound of liquid needed for it,


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## Jibbian (Feb 2, 2021)

violets2217 said:


> I can't wait to try mine! But I can't remember if they are the ones that are 100% CO and need to cure for a year or the ones that need to cure for 6 months.... LOL
> I'll need to check my binder when I get home! The Himalayan are the one's I'm most excited about, I hope they are not too rough for me either....



I'm curious about why a 100% CO bar would need to cure for 6 months to a year. I've never heard of that before.


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## cmzaha (Feb 2, 2021)

Jibbian said:


> I'm curious about why a 100% CO bar would need to cure for 6 months to a year. I've never heard of that before.


These are salt bars they are talking about, and they take a long time to get to the point of their max lather, and mildness. You can certainly use them sooner. I still have a few that are at least 5 yrs old and are primo salt bars. Another factor is how much salt used in the bars, I use 100% salt and mine will take much longer to get to the point of nice lather than a bar with 50% salt. Some soapmakers do not make salt bars using 100% CO, so now another issues come into play along with the salt percentage, I use 85% CO/PKO split with my 100% salt, so I let my cure for at least 6 months, although they are perfectly fine to use after 4 weeks they will have no lather.


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## Jibbian (Feb 2, 2021)

cmzaha said:


> These are salt bars they are talking about, and they take a long time to get to the point of their max lather, and mildness. You can certainly use them sooner. I still have a few that are at least 5 yrs old and are primo salt bars. Another factor is how much salt used in the bars, I use 100% salt and mine will take much longer to get to the point of nice lather than a bar with 50% salt. Some soapmakers do not make salt bars using 100% CO, so now another issues come into play along with the salt percentage, I use 85% CO/PKO split with my 100% salt, so I let my cure for at least 6 months, although they are perfectly fine to use after 4 weeks they will have no lather.



Thanks for the thorough explaination! I had no idea salt bars required a longer cure for nice lather. This, in part anyway, explains why my one batch of salt bars was such a failure. Maybe I'll give them another go.


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## cmzaha (Feb 2, 2021)

Jibbian said:


> Thanks for the thorough explaination! I had no idea salt bars required a longer cure for nice lather. This, in part anyway, explains why my one batch of salt bars was such a failure. Maybe I'll give them another go.


I hope you put your salt bars away and did not throw them away. They could be wonderful by now.


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## [email protected] (Feb 5, 2021)

I'm a new Soap maker and am intrigued with using salt.    I seen posts with what type  of salt to use,   I"ve
seen that I want to dissolve it in the water before the lye.      My question is how much to use to 
get harder soap.


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## Obsidian (Feb 5, 2021)

[email protected] said:


> I'm a new Soap maker and am intrigued with using salt.    I seen posts with what type  of salt to use,   I"ve
> seen that I want to dissolve it in the water before the lye.      My question is how much to use to
> get harder soap.



You don't need much. 1 tsp per pound of oil in your recipe is enough to harden. You are right, always dissolve the salt before adding the lye.

Keep in mind this just affects the physical hardness, it won't help a soap last longer.


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## cmzaha (Feb 5, 2021)

Obsidian is correct, it does not take much to help harden your soap for de-molding. In fact, you do not want to add much since it can deter from your lather the 1 tsp ppo is sufficient.


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## monika_ae (Feb 8, 2021)

Hello! I'm also new to soap making and Im currently fascinated with salt bars. I've been reading some posts on this forum and from what I gather is that minimum amount of salt used in salt bars is 50%. I have, however found recipes calling for less salt -20%- and made some bars accordingly to them. Now I am wondering whether they'll have similar properties to those of 50% and whether the cure time should also be in months and not weeks. Are these even salt bars if they're based on only 20% of salt?
Also, when you all write about testing them every month or so to see how is the soap performing, do you mean you test the same bar of soap in monthly intervals?
Looking forward to your replies!
thank you
Monika


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## Obsidian (Feb 8, 2021)

monika_ae said:


> Hello! I'm also new to soap making and Im currently fascinated with salt bars. I've been reading some posts on this forum and from what I gather is that minimum amount of salt used in salt bars is 50%. I have, however found recipes calling for less salt -20%- and made some bars accordingly to them. Now I am wondering whether they'll have similar properties to those of 50% and whether the cure time should also be in months and not weeks. Are these even salt bars if they're based on only 20% of salt?
> Also, when you all write about testing them every month or so to see how is the soap performing, do you mean you test the same bar of soap in monthly intervals?
> Looking forward to your replies!
> thank you
> Monika



I use 35% salt and have use 25% before. I'd say your 20% is still a salt bar and will need a long cure. Try more salt next time, it does make a difference.

When testing monthly, you use the same bar. After using, dry it off and put it up someplace until you are ready to test again.


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## cmzaha (Feb 8, 2021)

I just started using a salt bar today that is 3 yrs old which is made with 100% or more salt. It lathers marvelous, but at less than a one year cure it will have very little lather.


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## monika_ae (Feb 9, 2021)

Obsidian said:


> I use 35% salt and have use 25% before. I'd say your 20% is still a salt bar and will need a long cure. Try more salt next time, it does make a difference.
> 
> When testing monthly, you use the same bar. After using, dry it off and put it up someplace until you are ready to test again.


Thank you, thats very helpful!


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## monika_ae (Feb 10, 2021)

Just another thought, did any of you have experience with adding only 10% salt ? Does that improve the longevity of the soap bars? I have tested a few recipes recently in the search of the most bubbly yet long lasting, conditioning soap and wondered whether adding salt to any of them would help to preserve the bars? I am struggling to hit the right spot between bubbly and long lasting.


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