# My first sea salt CP recipe



## cpacamper (Aug 5, 2014)

I love my almost finished round of Swedish Dream Sea Salt Soap and want to make my own. After some reading here and elsewhere, I came up with the following recipe from oils I have on hand:

80% coconut Oil
15% Olive Oil
5% Sunflower Oil

I'd use fine sea salt at 75% by weight of oils, and I bought Salty Mariner FO from Brambleberry. I'll mix the two together before adding to oil/lye at trace. I'll mold in silicone muffin pan. What do you think? Here's the screenshot from Soapcalc:


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## Obsidian (Aug 5, 2014)

Looks good but I suggest SF at 20%, thats standard for salt bars.


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## Seawolfe (Aug 5, 2014)

Personally I would swap the 5% sunflower for castor oil, but that's only because I loves me some bubbles. Yeah +1 put the SF to 20% like Obsidian recommends.
If its in a loaf, be ready to cut in a few hours, mine are always still hot when I cut them.
Edit to add - I see you're using individual molds - never mind about cutting!


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## cmzaha (Aug 5, 2014)

Seawolfe said:


> Personally I would swap the 5% sunflower for castor oil, but that's only because I loves me some bubbles. Yeah +1 put the SF to 20% like Obsidian recommends.
> If its in a loaf, be ready to cut in a few hours, mine are always still hot when I cut them.
> Edit to add - I see you're using individual molds - never mind about cutting!


 
I agree with all this plus I would up the fo to 1 oz ppo. I usually 1.2 in my salt bars. I find the fo gets lost and just smells like salt after time.


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## Crombie (Aug 6, 2014)

*Salt Bars*

Like the others, I recommend castor oil over the sunflower oil as it will help with lather. I always use FO @ maximum recommendation in my salt bars.

My salt bars have amazing lather - I use SL at 2% and dry malt extract at 1 tsp ppo.

------------------------------------
www.sadiesmissionsoaps.com


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## shunt2011 (Aug 6, 2014)

I agree with the others on upping your superfat to 20% and adding castor oil.  I too at SL and use the max amount of fragrance


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## Stacy (Aug 6, 2014)

Pure curiosity from a total newbie here, but I remember reading you should aim to use 15-30% coconut oil in a bar or it tends to get drying.

Is that different for salt bars?


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## summerflyy (Aug 6, 2014)

@stacy 
From what I know, the salt in salt bars inhibits lathers so salt bars usually call for a high percentage of coconut oil like 70% or more. Many uses 80% and a 20% superfat. The much higher superfat helps to counter the drying effect of the coconut oil.


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## cpacamper (Aug 6, 2014)

cmzaha said:


> I agree with all this plus I would up the fo to 1 oz ppo. I usually 1.2 in my salt bars. I find the fo gets lost and just smells like salt after time.



Please check my math:

1.2 oz fo per pound of oils

1.2oz /16oz=.08 or 8% of total weight of oil

In grams:

8% x 500 grams = 40 grams f.o.

Ok, so assuming my above math is correct, using 20% superfat, and swapping castor for sunflower oil, soapcalc tells me the bubbly number goes from 54 to 58, a 7% increase with no change in conditioning or cleansing properties. Is that enough to notice a significant difference?

edit: here's the soapcal update:


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## kmarvel (Aug 6, 2014)

cpacamper said:


> I love my almost finished round of Swedish Dream Sea Salt Soap and want to make my own. After some reading here and elsewhere, I came up with the following recipe from oils I have on hand:
> 
> 80% coconut Oil
> 15% Olive Oil
> ...



The FO you chose sounds really nice!!!  "Salty Mariner".


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## cpacamper (Aug 6, 2014)

kmarvel said:


> The FO you chose sounds really nice!!! "Salty Mariner".



Yeah, it sounded good and the reviews were positive. I wonder if the bottle uses "salty language." :-D:-D:-D


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## kmarvel (Aug 6, 2014)

cpacamper said:


> Yeah, it sounded good and the reviews were positive. I wonder if the bottle uses "salty language." :-D:-D:-D



lol.......bet it does!!!


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## Ellacho (Aug 6, 2014)

20% SF was a little oily for my acne prone skin and I like it to be at 18%.  I often use Himalayan salt(or sea salt) at 100% by weight of oils for my salt bar.

Good luck !


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## cmzaha (Aug 6, 2014)

cpacamper said:


> Please check my math:
> 
> 1.2 oz fo per pound of oils
> 
> ...


 
Yep. Your math is correct I use 7-8% fo in my salt bars.


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## cpacamper (Aug 8, 2014)

Just made my first batch with my daughter!  Ill try to post pics.


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## Susie (Aug 9, 2014)

cpacamper said:


> Please check my math:
> 
> 1.2 oz fo per pound of oils
> 
> ...



Yes, yes it is enough to notice a significant difference.  Do a tester batch with the first recipe, then do this recipe.  Then you know for yourself.


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## Bex1982 (Aug 9, 2014)

I did 8% sf, 20% and 15%. I like 15% the best but everyone is different.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Aug 9, 2014)

Let us know how it goes.  As you know, pictures are required here......................


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## Obsidian (Aug 10, 2014)

Salty mariner accelerates like crazy so be prepared for that. I would add the colorants/salt and thin trace then quickly mix the FO in by hand.


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## Nevada (Aug 11, 2014)

Sunflower adds much desirable Linoleic Acid. 
80% Coconut Oil will provide plenty of bubbles and creamy lather. 
Keep your salt around 50%


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## cpacamper (Aug 12, 2014)

Update: Made a batch Friday night.  I sub'ed castor for sunflower oil, melted my oils, mixed my lye water, combined all in a stainless Kitchen Aid mixer bowl and proceeded to mix on low speed. After about 20 minutes, I grabbed the stick blender ,and after a couple 15 second bursts reached heavy trace. I then dumped in the salt, mixed well with a silicone spatula, and poured into my silicone mold. Left them overnight (about 9 hours), then removed the soap rounds from the mold.

The 500mg recipe filled 5 out of the six rounds in the mold completely, so upon unmolding I though the pucks were too thick. I got the bright idea to cut each round puck in half through the radius to get two smaller rounds from the thicker one. That's when the crumbling happened. After a frantic SMF search, I read that cutting should be done a couple hours after molding to reduce crumble risk; live and learn!

I tested a round this morning and it lathered up very well (thanks to the two CO's) but I will wait impatiently for 4 weeks before really using a puck.

I'm wondering if I should use less salt but use a courser grind, maybe 50% of oil weight instead of 75%. The sea salt soap I'm trying to duplicate seems to have a courser ground. Here are the post crumble pics (and my daughter had loads of clean fun!):


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## Seawolfe (Aug 12, 2014)

From what I've read, coarser grinds make the soap scratchy - so Ive only ever used fine grind. Except if I put large crystals of Hawaiian salt on the top as garnish or something.

Yeah cutting salt bars properly - my husband calls it my "white whale"  I have single molds and use them, but I do love the look of a cut salt bar - provided it survives the attempt.


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## cmzaha (Aug 12, 2014)

The only coarse salt I would recommend is Kosher coarse table salt. It is a flaked salt and I only use it as a portion of my salts. Coarse sea salt is very abrasive and can actually lacerate the skin.


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## goji_fries (Sep 5, 2014)

Very informative and good post overall.


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## cmzaha (Sep 6, 2014)

Bex1982 said:


> I did 8% sf, 20% and 15%. I like 15% the best but everyone is different.


I also like 15% superfat. 20% feels oily in my opinion


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## kmarvel (Oct 4, 2014)

cmzaha said:


> I agree with all this plus I would up the fo to 1 oz ppo. I usually 1.2 in my salt bars. I find the fo gets lost and just smells like salt after time.



I agree.  I usually make a 3 lb loaf with 2 oz of FO.  You would think that would be a strong scent but it mellows out but doesn't fade.

 Where does everyone buy their salt for their salt bars?  I love the Himalayan pink salt I get at Walmart.
 But I have to grind it in the coffee grinder to try and get a good salt coarseness.  But it usually grinds it too much.  So the salt bar doesn't get that "scrubby" feeling.
 Any suggestions??


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## goji_fries (Oct 4, 2014)

kmarvel said:


> I agree.  I usually make a 3 lb loaf with 2 oz of FO.  You would think that would be a strong scent but it mellows out but doesn't fade.
> 
> Where does everyone buy their salt for their salt bars?  I love the Himalayan pink salt I get at Walmart.
> But I have to grind it in the coffee grinder to try and get a good salt coarseness.  But it usually grinds it too much.  So the salt bar doesn't get that "scrubby" feeling.
> Any suggestions??



Use a coffee grinder/mill that has selections for medium, coarse and fine.


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## cmzaha (Oct 4, 2014)

Salt bars are really not scrubby, if they are they are to coarse and the risk of tissue damage arises. Most salt bars with become smooth like a river rock upon use. Grinding causes sharp edges to the salt. Even using fine salt and the coarse kosher salt I label mine with a warning to always wet and rub the bar with their hands before using on the body. Pearl salt is harvested from Lake Assal in Afica.


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## kmarvel (Oct 7, 2014)

cmzaha said:


> Salt bars are really not scrubby, if they are they are to coarse and the risk of tissue damage arises. Most salt bars with become smooth like a river rock upon use. Grinding causes sharp edges to the salt. Even using fine salt and the coarse kosher salt I label mine with a warning to always wet and rub the bar with their hands before using on the body. Pearl salt is harvested from Lake Assal in Afica.



thanks, cmzaha!!!    :clap:


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## kmarvel (Oct 7, 2014)

goji_fries said:


> Use a coffee grinder/mill that has selections for medium, coarse and fine.



Maybe use medium grind??


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## cpacamper (Oct 8, 2014)

OP here with a follow up on my original recipe.  I expected my salt bars to have some scrub to them, kinda like cmzaha described above (like a smooth river rock).  Instead, my bars are soft and slick like regular soap.  Its as if the salt crystals completely dissolved.  What did I do wrong?


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## Obsidian (Oct 8, 2014)

You didn't do anything wrong, salt bars are really smooth, not scratchy at all. River rocks are very smooth, thats why we compare them to salt bars. If you want a bit of scrubby, you can add in some finely ground coffee grounds.


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## SozoArtisanSoaps (Oct 18, 2014)

That's actually good to know lol...I bought a salt bar from another company (handcrafted) and when I use it, it scratches up my skin really bad... I can only wipe in on now after lathering it up. I made some myself and it was smooth with no scratchiness. I thought I did something wrong lol


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## AlicesWonderhands (Nov 15, 2014)

Anyone here use Hawaiian black lava salt? I adore the river rock like feel of my salt bars! I run them over and over in my hands almost like a meditation! And I've only used fine sea salts. 

I am designing a charcoal salt bar and have a bit of the lava salt on hand..... so pretty! 
I Dont want to give up too much of that smoothness...
What method of application have you or would you use?


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## Obsidian (Nov 15, 2014)

I used black salt after running it through a spice grinder. It made the soap ever so slightly grey since the salt is coated with charcoal. How big is the grain of the black salt you have?


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## cmzaha (Nov 15, 2014)

Fine black lava salt works well, but will not necessarily give a pretty color. When I use Black lava salt I add in more charcoal to color it, or I split the batch and use regular fine sea salt and black lava with the added charcoal for a black and white swirl. Black Lava is sea salt is produced on the Island of Moloki but is not black, charcoal is added for the black. I personally save my money and use regular Pacific sea salt, that I buy for $.10 per lb and add in my own charcoal


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## danielle22033 (Nov 15, 2014)

Seawolfe said:


> Personally I would swap the 5% sunflower for castor oil, but that's only because I loves me some bubbles. Yeah +1 put the SF to 20% like Obsidian recommends.
> If its in a loaf, be ready to cut in a few hours, mine are always still hot when I cut them.
> Edit to add - I see you're using individual molds - never mind about cutting!



I have not made salt bars however I am curious about doing it.  Your comment really stood out to me.  Is there a reason why you cut while still hot? Does it get that hard?  

Also, I was wondering what SL stands for?  

Thank you


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## Obsidian (Nov 15, 2014)

Yes, they get that hard. If you wait too long, the bars will break apart when you cut them, thats why individual molds are often recommended. SL is sodium lactate, not a ingredient I would add to a salt bar as it helps harden the soap.
SF is superfat, it important to have a SF of 15-20% with a high coconut oil salt bar.


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## cmzaha (Nov 16, 2014)

danielle22033 said:


> I have not made salt bars however I am curious about doing it. Your comment really stood out to me. Is there a reason why you cut while still hot? Does it get that hard?
> 
> Also, I was wondering what SL stands for?
> 
> Thank you


 SL is Sodium Lactate which is used to help harden soap. I do not find it at all necessary in salt bars. A no miss recipe for salt bars is 90% coconut oil, 10% castor oil. After a 3-6 month cure they will have a lather that you cannot imagine. I find 6 month cure time optimal for salt bars. I am using one not that has cured 1 year and is the best salt bar in the world!! It is such a thick lather with lots of cushion you could shave with it. 
I cut my salt bars not later than 90 min, wait to long and you will not get them cut. Once they are cool or cold it is to late. Indivudal silicone molds work great for salt bars. The nine or 12 cavity square silicone molds make nice size salt bars


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## AlicesWonderhands (Nov 16, 2014)

Obsidian said:


> I used black salt after running it through a spice grinder. It made the soap ever so slightly grey since the salt is coated with charcoal. How big is the grain of the black salt you have?


If you google Hawaiian black salt, it looks like most of the pictures that come up. I would call it a medium grind. I really want to just mix it in with the whole bar, but i DONT want to make scratchyness. maybe just a bit in the bottom of the mold? I have charcoal I am going to be using in the bars as well. I would really love to do a black and white swirl type, but im not sure how to do that with the salt bars. would you have to split the soap before you add the salt? 
sorry, tons of questions I know. But i am just so excited to have others to talk to about the soaps, hahahaha! And these salt bars are just blowing my mind! 
Thank you very much for all who share the knowledge!


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## Obsidian (Nov 16, 2014)

My pink salt is medium grind and its a bit scratchy, I won't use it again unless I grind it first. You can buy fine black salt online, I saved my medium black for the tops of loaves.
To do swirls, scent the whole batch then separate before adding the salt. You might want to keep your salt around 50% so it doesn't thicken as quick and soap cool.


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## JustBeachy (Nov 16, 2014)

SozoArtisanSoaps said:


> That's actually good to know lol...I bought a salt bar from another company (handcrafted) and when I use it, it scratches up my skin really bad... I can only wipe in on now after lathering it up. I made some myself and it was smooth with no scratchiness. I thought I did something wrong lol



Another reason not to use rock salt for your bars.


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## AlicesWonderhands (Nov 18, 2014)

Obsidian said:


> My pink salt is medium grind and its a bit scratchy, I won't use it again unless I grind it first. You can buy fine black salt online, I saved my medium black for the tops of loaves.
> To do swirls, scent the whole batch then separate before adding the salt. You might want to keep your salt around 50% so it doesn't thicken as quick and soap cool.



So split,salt each half, swirl? 
Ty !


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## Obsidian (Nov 18, 2014)

Yep, thats how I do it.


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## holga_me (Sep 3, 2015)

cmzaha said:


> I personally save my money and use regular Pacific sea salt, that I buy for $.10 per lb and add in my own charcoal



Can I ask you where do you buy it that cheap? thanx!!:shock:


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## cmzaha (Sep 3, 2015)

holga_me said:


> Can I ask you where do you buy it that cheap? thanx!!:shock:


When I posted this it was still .10 per lb, it has gone up, but is still cheap. Winco Foods in the bulk section


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## holga_me (Sep 3, 2015)

cmzaha said:


> When I posted this it was still .10 per lb, it has gone up, but is still cheap. Winco Foods in the bulk section



Thanks again! Really appreciate your info!

By the way, I like your website and a packaging! Looks like a products for active people!
Do you surf?


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