# Salt bars are too hard



## JadeyUK (Oct 31, 2020)

Hi soap makers!
I am new to soap & have been playing about with making salt bars!
They seem to come out too hard!

I would love to only use Coconut Oil,
shea Butter & Pink Salt.

I’ve tried a few recipes one was soap101 recipe on youtube.

There is the link.

I also have course salt which I blend in the food processor and it comes out like dust. (does that matter?)

Thank you in advance
Im trying to make a high salt, coconut & shea, hand soap bar CP

Also what is a good process to rebatch all these hard bars? 

Thank you


----------



## shunt2011 (Oct 31, 2020)

Hello and welcome,   I love and make a lot of salt soap.  If you searched a lot of information will come up.  
My salt soap is 80% Coconut, 15% liquid oil (avocado, olive etc), 5% Castor.   50% salt. 18% SF  Don’t use self ground pink salt.  Only use fine salt (sea, regular salt, pickling salt).  Others are too scratchy and could cut the skin.    

I don’t use butters in my salt soap as I found they cut the lather.    
You can make them with 100% CO as well.  They do require a long cure.


----------



## Obsidian (Oct 31, 2020)

Salt bars are hard, its just how they are and there is no way to change it.
Are you having trouble cutting them?

I agree about the shea, butters cut the lather and isn't great in salt bars. I coconut and olive, makes a really nice bar.


----------



## Rsapienza (Oct 31, 2020)

Salt bars, with the high CO content, will need to be cut while still warm. Like in a few hours. That is, if your using o loaf mold. Many people use single cavity molds as not to deal with the time constraint.
I believe I have read on here that it is not advised to grind any salt because the shards will still be sharp, just smaller. I have used pink Himalayan salt in salt bars and will never do it again. They can literally cut you.
As far as rebatching goes, I have never heard of anyone rebatching salt bars, but hopefully someone else will chime in and be able to assist with that.


----------



## SoapMedic (Nov 1, 2020)

I only tried once to re-batch some ugly salt bars, I was miserable so never tried again. Faint memories as it was around 10 years ago!  Perhaps it can be done.  I ended up using them to clean my bathtub.  Get them nice and wet and they do a pretty decent cleaning job.


----------



## JadeyUK (Nov 8, 2020)

shunt2011 said:


> Hello and welcome,   I love and make a lot of salt soap.  If you searched a lot of information will come up.
> My salt soap is 80% Coconut, 15% liquid oil (avocado, olive etc), 5% Castor.   50% salt. 18% SF  Don’t use self ground pink salt.  Only use fine salt (sea, regular salt, pickling salt).  Others are too scratchy and could cut the skin.
> 
> I don’t use butters in my salt soap as I found they cut the lather.
> You can make them with 100% CO as well.  They do require a long cure.



Great thank you for the tips I’m definitely going to use salt next time & hope they improve. I’ve been curing then for 4 weeks is that long enough? 
thanks Jade



Obsidian said:


> Salt bars are hard, its just how they are and there is no way to change it.
> Are you having trouble cutting them?
> 
> I agree about the shea, butters cut the lather and isn't great in salt bars. I coconut and olive, makes a really nice bar.



Yes I think I Mean that too, they  don’t lather will definitely try without the butter.


----------



## Obsidian (Nov 8, 2020)

Keep on mind that salt bars also need a good long cure. I like minimum of 6 months.

Salt bars also seem to get a coating or something, it can take a couple uses before the lather starts to appear. 

The amount of salt matters too, at least for me it does. 100% salt just doesn't lather in my hard water regardless of recipe. 35% is the best amount for my recipe and conditions.


----------



## linne1gi (Nov 8, 2020)

shunt2011 said:


> Hello and welcome,   I love and make a lot of salt soap.  If you searched a lot of information will come up.
> My salt soap is 80% Coconut, 15% liquid oil (avocado, olive etc), 5% Castor.   50% salt. 18% SF  Don’t use self ground pink salt.  Only use fine salt (sea, regular salt, pickling salt).  Others are too scratchy and could cut the skin.
> 
> I don’t use butters in my salt soap as I found they cut the lather.
> You can make them with 100% CO as well.  They do require a long cure.


I make a lovely salt bar with 80% Coconut Oil, 20% Shea Butter, 30% SF and 75% very fine salt.  It's a wonderful bar with lots of lather, but it is best after at least 3 months cure and 6 months is even better.


----------



## shunt2011 (Nov 8, 2020)

linne1gi said:


> I make a lovely salt bar with 80% Coconut Oil, 20% Shea Butter, 30% SF and 75% very fine salt.  It's a wonderful bar with lots of lather, but it is best after at least 3 months cure and 6 months is even better.


Just personal preference.  I didn’t like it much even at a year.  Glad it works for you.


----------



## linne1gi (Nov 8, 2020)

shunt2011 said:


> Just personal preference.  I didn’t like it much even at a year.  Glad it works for you.


And by "that much", do you mean salt?  I sometimes use only 50% salt.  But never less than 50%.


----------



## cmzaha (Nov 8, 2020)

I have been making salt bars for 10+ years and find butters do nothing for salt bars but cut lather. Granted I use 100% salt in my bars using either fine Pacific Sea Salt, Plain table salt, or a mix of the two. do not waste money on Hawaiian Black Salt it is just a mix of charcoal and Pacific Sea salt. As others have mentioned absolutely do not use Pink Himalayan and do not grind your own salt. I think I was one of the first to point out both of those facts years ago. You might get away with using butters in salt bars at low percentages with lower than 100% salt, we just like lots of salt. Full water which is around a 27% Lye Concentration works best in salt bars with 17-20% SF. Like Shunt I prefer 18%. I use 80-85% CO 10% Castor 5-10% Avo, Canola or Sunflower, regular or HO. I cure mine 6-12 months.

Pour in individual molds or cut when they are still quite warm to the touch. I have to cut mine within 45 minutes, so they are actually very warm. Salt bars may be very hard but they do not necessarily last a long time due to the solubility of the CO.


----------



## linne1gi (Nov 8, 2020)

As someone here said, it's a matter of preference.  I have been making salt bars 8+ years and I love Shea Butter in my salt bars.  I don't sell them.  They are just for me.  I don't use Shea Butter in the salt bars I sell, too expensive.  I would never use 10% Castor Oil in any recipe.  Castor doesn't make bubbles, it sustains them and the coconut is enough for a large fluffy lather.  I use Castor Oil at 5% when using it.   I also prefer using a loaf mold and cutting while still warm, about 3 hours later.


----------



## shunt2011 (Nov 8, 2020)

linne1gi said:


> And by "that much", do you mean salt?  I sometimes use only 50% salt.  But never less than 50%.


No, using butter in it.  I use 50% salt myself. I’ve been making them for 9-10 years now.  My personal favorite.


----------



## JadeyUK (Nov 20, 2020)

linne1gi said:


> I make a lovely salt bar with 80% Coconut Oil, 20% Shea Butter, 30% SF and 75% very fine salt.  It's a wonderful bar with lots of lather, but it is best after at least 3 months cure and 6 months is even better.



cool I'll definitely try that one!



shunt2011 said:


> No, using butter in it.  I use 50% salt myself. I’ve been making them for 9-10 years now.  My personal favorite.


I bought a hand salt bar that was  Coconut Oil, Shea butter & Pink Himalayan salt - I really like it but can't seem to make one similar - maybe I have to cure for longer.


----------



## violets2217 (Nov 20, 2020)

Rsapienza said:


> I have used pink Himalayan salt in salt bars and will never do it again. They can literally cut you.


LOL...wish I would have read this a couple days ago...I made a salt bar with 1/2 table salt and 1/2 pink Himalayan salt. Oh well! I wont know how dangerous the bars are until next year!


----------



## AliOop (Nov 20, 2020)

violets2217 said:


> LOL...wish I would have read this a couple days ago...I made a salt bar with 1/2 table salt and 1/2 pink Himalayan salt. Oh well! I wont know how dangerous the bars are until next year!


I use the finely ground Pink Himalayan salt from Costco, and have had no problems with it in my salt bars. So I think it depends on whether you used a fine or coarse blend.


----------



## violets2217 (Nov 20, 2020)

AliOop said:


> I use the finely ground Pink Himalayan salt from Costco, and have had no problems with it in my salt bars. So I think it depends on whether you used a fine or coarse blend.


It was pretty finely ground. I just wanted to use it up. I think I got it a while back for a homemade toothpaste recipe, but I can't remember! The soap didn't hurt me when I washed with the scrapes after cleaning the bars up, so fingers crossed!


----------



## Rsapienza (Nov 21, 2020)

I personally think it has more to do with the salt itself.  The one I used was fine. It seems that some people experience the scratchiness and others say theirs are fine. I had one girl tell me they were supposed to be that scratchy and you had to use a loofah with them like I was the one that was an idiot for not knowing that. I have also read the even if you grind Himalayan down into a fine powder, it is still sharp. Who knows? I know what I experienced and because of that I will use regular sea salt.


----------



## cmzaha (Nov 21, 2020)

AliOop said:


> I use the finely ground Pink Himalayan salt from Costco, and have had no problems with it in my salt bars. So I think it depends on whether you used a fine or coarse blend.


Nope, not really. The problem with Himalayan is it usually contains clay which is hard and does not dissolve. I always use fine Pacific Sea Salt and once I bought some from Winco which I have purchased before, it was so prickly I could not sell the bars and I made two batches. We had 28 bars of prickly salt bars to use up. It was the last time I use Winco Pacific Sea Salt fine or not. I went back to my San Francisco Sea Salt.


----------



## AliOop (Nov 21, 2020)

Makes me wonder if the fine-ground Himalayan Salt from Costco is the real deal, or something else that is labeled as Himalayan. Because It definitely isn't scratchy at all. Costco usually pretty good about avoiding fraudulent products, but it could happen.  It's this one.


----------



## violets2217 (Nov 22, 2020)

AliOop said:


> Costco usually pretty good about avoiding fraudulent products, but it could happen. It's this one.


Kirkland is also a brand I recognize. I buy almond from them in bulk for making almond milk and flour. I think they a pretty reputable brand!


----------



## cerelife (Nov 22, 2020)

linne1gi said:


> I would never use 10% Castor Oil in any recipe.  Castor doesn't make bubbles, it sustains them and the coconut is enough for a large fluffy lather.  I use Castor Oil at 5% when using it.


Again, this is personal preference. 
I'm not sure why you would never use 10% Castor oil in any recipe?
My favorite salt bar recipe is 90% Coconut oil, 10% Castor oil, 80% table salt with a 15% SF. After playing around with percentages, I found that the bubble factor was significantly higher with that percentage of Castor oil in a salt bar.
In fact, I always use Castor at 10% in my vegan soap recipe to create a beautiful bubbly lather, and my customers love it.
But to each their own.


----------



## LynetteO (Jul 29, 2021)

linne1gi said:


> I make a lovely salt bar with 80% Coconut Oil, 20% Shea Butter, 30% SF and 75% very fine salt.  It's a wonderful bar with lots of lather, but it is best after at least 3 months cure and 6 months is even better.


Went to supply my store today. Shea butter on hand & wanting to make a salt bar. Been scrolling SMF & LIKE your recipe. And bonus, sounds like if I get a move on, the bars could be ready for Christmas?


----------



## linne1gi (Jul 29, 2021)

LynetteO said:


> Went to supply my store today. Shea butter on hand & wanting to make a salt bar. Been scrolling SMF & LIKE your recipe. And bonus, sounds like if I get a move on, the bars could be ready for Christmas?


Yes!


----------

