# Bubble bath bars



## shau (Feb 26, 2015)

Hi, I am new here and I have started making my own cp soap, bath bomb and bubble bars.
I am using the soap queen recipe for the bubble bars and they smell great, but they don't harden. I have them for a week trying to make them dry and they don't harden. Any recipes or tips?


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## lsg (Feb 26, 2015)

You might put them in a low temp. oven for an hour or so.  My oven has a bread proofing setting of 100*F.  If you have a dehydrator, you might try putting a couple in there to see how that works.


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## shau (Feb 27, 2015)

Will try that out and see how it works. Thank u for the tip I will let u know how it worked out.


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## shau (Feb 27, 2015)

I tried putting them in the oven but they made them softer...


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## Saponista (Feb 27, 2015)

I think cream of tartar or sodium lactate can be used to make them harder so you could play around with the recipe and add some to try and improve it?


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## snappyllama (Feb 27, 2015)

I use that recipe too and find my bars get hardish but never completely dry and crumbly. My niece enjoys squishing up the bars in the tub as much as the bubbles so I've decided to embrace it as a feature.  If you do find something that works, I'd be interested in it though.


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## Cactuslily (Feb 27, 2015)

I did the same recipe. They took awhile to harden. Never rock hard, but hard enough to package and crumble easily into tub. For whatever reason, mine didn't bubble well. Unless I put tub on aerate ( like a jacuzzi), then I got tons of bubbles, but they didn't last long in tub before deflating. I'm going to try the SLSA powder. The SLSA I used was rougher in texture. Just purchased the book, "Make It Fizz" by Holly Port. Excited to try her recipes.


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## Saponista (Feb 27, 2015)

You could try adding another surfactant to the recipe that stabilises foam cactuslily. Perhaps something like decyl glucoside. I had a similar problem with bubble bars, I didn't use SLSa, I used SCI. It bubbled fine and made loads of nice lather, but I was sat in the bath reading and it all disappeared around me to absolutely nothing. I have been looking at foam stabilising products for that reason. I will shortly be having a go with some decyl glucoside when it arrives.


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## Rowan (Feb 27, 2015)

Shau, I did the same recipe and my bars didn't harden fully either. As I couldn't get hold of SLSA I used DLSA. I did get bubbles but they didn't last very long at all. Saponista, hope you don't mind me asking, did you use SCI Prills from gracefruit?  I would love to find a good bubbling agent for my best friend. She adores bubbles. Decal glycoside looks like a good possibility too.


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## Saponista (Feb 28, 2015)

I bought SCI powder from of a simple nature.


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## shau (Feb 28, 2015)

I bought my slsa online by candoea soap and they even package for me in a beautiful box all protected!


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## Saponista (Feb 28, 2015)

I was gifted some really nice bubble bars that I am going to try and recreate, but perhaps using surfactants that I already have. 

The label says the bars contain : 

Bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar, DLS, Cocamide DEA, glycerol cocoate, fragrance, colour, glycerine.

I assume the Cocamide and glycerol cocoate help make the bar into a mouldable dough, but also help stabilise the foam of the DLS.


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## TBandCW (Feb 28, 2015)

Tried making bubble bath bars a few yrs ago.  My issue was that they would get moldy after a while. roblem:


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## Saponista (Mar 1, 2015)

Did you have water in your recipe


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## Saponista (Mar 8, 2015)

Thought I would update here on the decyl glucoside. I made some new bars containing the decyl glucoside as a foam stabiliser and was really pleased with the result.





Foam created when running bath. (I have very soft water which always lathers beautifully) 




Bubbles left after sitting in the bath for half an hour. Not perfect, so I need to work a bit more with the surfactant mix, but I definitely didn't get mass extinction of all the bubbles in one go after about 15 mins like I did without the decyl glucoside so I am pleased with the progress so far.


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## Cactuslily (Mar 8, 2015)

Saponista, thanks for the tip! Will you report back after using? I'd love to know how it went!


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## Cactuslily (Mar 8, 2015)

Just saw your update! Hadn't seen pg2...oops! Looking good though. Thanks for follow up!


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## Dorymae (Mar 8, 2015)

That is pretty darn good for having bathed for a half hour!  I've used commercial bubble bath that didn't last that well!


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## TBandCW (Mar 9, 2015)

Saponista said:


> Did you have water in your recipe



I've forgotten the recipe, and it is possible I had water.  It seemed no matter how long I would let it cure, they would still go moldy after some time.


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