# First salt bars



## Neve (Dec 29, 2013)

I've been reading on here about how good they are so I had to try them. Do I really have to wait two months to use them? I can't wait!


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## Obsidian (Dec 29, 2013)

Thye all look really nice, congrats. I've used them at 4 weeks but they are a little harsh still for my skin, a 8 week cure is much better. Try one at 4 weeks though, see how they feel for you.


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## CaraBou (Dec 29, 2013)

Ooooo, I like the blue!


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## Skatergirl46 (Dec 29, 2013)

The older mine get the more I like them. Obsidian, I also noticed that mine were harsher than I like at 4 weeks.


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## Neve (Dec 29, 2013)

Well I want to try them on my face, so I guess I will have to wait... in the meantime I'll work on another facial bar with a shorter cure time! My palm oil comes in the new year, so some more experimenting is ahead. I kept going through cocoa butter and shea butter too fast.


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## Skatergirl46 (Dec 29, 2013)

Neve said:


> Well I want to try them on my face, so I guess I will have to wait... in the meantime I'll work on another facial bar with a shorter cure time! My palm oil comes in the new year, so some more experimenting is ahead. I kept going through cocoa butter and shea butter too fast.



I tried mine on my face. I liked it. It made my skin feel very smooth.


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## Obsidian (Dec 29, 2013)

Save the shea and coco for body butter or special facial soap. The only time I use a butter in soap is shea for my shampoo bars which double as a awesome facial bar.


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## Neve (Dec 29, 2013)

And here lies the problem, nearly all the soaps I have made are shampoo bars! And yes I do use them on my face but I still think I can maybe do something about those **** nose pores and blackheads... I'm curious to see what the salt bars are like. Two of them are unscented, one has a little peppermint (the swirl one) and one has lavender and geranium eo. So we'll see what my touchy skin thinks. In two months 



Obsidian said:


> Save the shea and coco for body butter or special facial soap. The only time I use a butter in soap is shea for my shampoo bars which double as a awesome facial bar.


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## cmzaha (Dec 29, 2013)

I always use shea in my salt bars. In my opinion it makes a nicer salt bar at only 7%. But we have to remember I am a salt bar fanatic, and use them almost exclusively. Coco butter I would not waste in a salt bar, but then coco butter cost me a lot more than my shea.


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## Obsidian (Dec 29, 2013)

Hmm, I've never though to use shea with salt but with the high SF, I could see where it would be nice. Does the shea affect the lather at all? I'm very fond of salt bars myself and would be perfectly happy using nothing else but I have a ton of soap I need to test and use up.

@Neve I have overly sensitive, dry, mature adult acne skin and the salt bars have helped a great deal. Even the dry red flaky patches have went away. I've got my daughter to give up her harsh acne scrub and all she will use on her face now is the tea tree salt bars I make. Even my doctor uses the salt bars I gave her exclusively on her face, I'm slowly converting family and friends


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## Neve (Dec 29, 2013)

I thought about adding shea but I'm nearly out... so I did straight CO with 20% SF. I don't know if I will buy more CB but I will likely buy more shea I really like the stuff. I made a whipped shea butter to try as a face moisturiser today (yes I read that here somewhere  )

My CP bars have helped my skin a lot, but I'm still wanting to see if I can do better  The shampoo bars have really fixed up my scalp issues.

Next bar will be some kind of gentle face bar (non-salt) and I really have to do more shampoo bars because I'm nearly out after passing 45 bars out to the testers.



Obsidian said:


> Hmm, I've never though to use shea with salt but with the high SF, I could see where it would be nice. Does the shea affect the lather at all? I'm very fond of salt bars myself and would be perfectly happy using nothing else but I have a ton of soap I need to test and use up.
> 
> @Neve I have overly sensitive, dry, mature adult acne skin and the salt bars have helped a great deal. Even the dry red flaky patches have went away. I've got my daughter to give up her harsh acne scrub and all she will use on her face now is the tea tree salt bars I make. Even my doctor uses the salt bars I gave her exclusively on her face, I'm slowly converting family and friends


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## Obsidian (Dec 29, 2013)

I like whipped shea butter for my face too, actually mine is a mix of shea, a bit of coco butter and some avocado/sunflower.

If you make salt bars again, try doing a 50/50 water/canned coconut milk for the liquid. Coconut milk is amazing in salt bars. Have you ever tried egg yolk in your shampoo bars? I use ginny's recipe but add one yolk PPO and it really increases the thickness of the lather. It also seems to make my hair less frizzy and just plain feels nice on the skin.


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## Neve (Dec 29, 2013)

I've never done anything but plain old water... so far. What does the coconut milk do? I can try it, I have half a kilo of salt left and heck salt is cheap.

I actually came up with my own shampoo bar recipes, and my hair loves them. I am still trying slightly different recipes just to test, but so far the second batch was a real winner, I repeated that with fragrance oil and did a couple of others with minor changes. The major change will be when I see if I can sub in palm for one of the other oils... a little hesitant because the current formula works so well for me. We rarely have eggs in the house anyway.

This one is plain shea, just because others have done it, I already tried various blends of cocoa butter, avo oil, shea, avo butter etc. and this one is simple. It's been about 8 hours, so far so good. Avocado butter is super luxurious too. It's fun trying out the different oils. Haven't had time to do a lotion yet, but bought the preservative and emulsifier.


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## Obsidian (Dec 30, 2013)

coco milk makes the lather really rich and creamy. Not sure if it really helps your skin but it feels very nice. If you do use it, drop your SF down to 15%, the coco milk has a lot of fat in it and will add to the SF.

My next body butter will be just shea and avocado. I love avocado oil, I use it straight on my face and as the SF when I HP. I may have try try a 100% avocado bar one of these days.


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## Neve (Jan 4, 2014)

OK so I tried the small sliver I had cut off when I cut the bars, I know it's a very young soap but holy cow! It's amazing! Not only is it the whitest soap I have ever seen, but it is so bubbly and yet somehow really smooth on my face. And not at all drying. I am a huge fan and now I need to buy a whole lot more CO and salt... and consider how to best decorate the tops.


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## cmzaha (Jan 4, 2014)

Obsidian said:


> Hmm, I've never though to use shea with salt but with the high SF, I could see where it would be nice. Does the shea affect the lather at all? I'm very fond of salt bars myself and would be perfectly happy using nothing else but I have a ton of soap I need to test and use up.
> 
> @Neve I have overly sensitive, dry, mature adult acne skin and the salt bars have helped a great deal. Even the dry red flaky patches have went away. I've got my daughter to give up her harsh acne scrub and all she will use on her face now is the tea tree salt bars I make. Even my doctor uses the salt bars I gave her exclusively on her face, I'm slowly converting family and friends


 
Try some neem oil in your salt bar. Neem is great for troubled skin, of course there is no one fix for all, and it is a very mild oil. Along with salt anything salt I love neem oil


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## cmzaha (Jan 4, 2014)

Obsidian said:


> coco milk makes the lather really rich and creamy. Not sure if it really helps your skin but it feels very nice. If you do use it, drop your SF down to 15%, the coco milk has a lot of fat in it and will add to the SF.
> 
> My next body butter will be just shea and avocado. I love avocado oil, I use it straight on my face and as the SF when I HP. I may have try try a 100% avocado bar one of these days.


 
Don't waste your good avocado oil on a 100% bar. It, it is not very good as a single oil. Save it for lotions and a percentage of your soaping oils along with avocado puree. Even with coconut milk I would not lower the superfat of the salt bars. I assume you mean coconut milk


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## Obsidian (Jan 4, 2014)

If you like it now, just wait until its fully cured. I've been experimenting with different oils in mine, my base is 80% CO and then I add something different for the other 20% each time. So far I like the one with 15% lard and 5% castor the best but I haven't really tried the one with 20% sunflower yet.
Any soap I make for my personal use will be salt bars from now on, excluding my shampoo bars and maybe a facial bar. I do want to develop a lower salt content bar for my face, maybe with shea and avocado.

If you would like a bar that is a bit exfoliating, try real salt brand salt. Its from a ancient sea bed located in Nevada, it has small particles of minerals in it that don't dissolve in water. Its also very pretty in a plain white bar, pinkish brown grain in different shades.


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## paillo (Jan 4, 2014)

I use about 80% coconut oil, shea, castor, and a bunch of additives for mine, at 20% superfat and at at least 80% salt PPO. Targeted for different client bases: Clays, EOS, milks, varied salts, Dead Sea mud in one. Definitely the longer the cure the better. I consider my salt soaps among the best things I make, and my clientele supports that 

My shampoo bars contain a horrifying 11 different oils plus a bunch of additives. They are a PITA to make, but so well worth the trouble!


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## newbie (Jan 5, 2014)

I adore the bright white salt bars! They look so clean and pure!!!


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