How do you rebatch failed salt bars?

[Montuckygirl]

I made a very large batch of salt bars which I split in half to make two different scents from a YouTube video recipe and accidentally forgot to allow the frozen aloe/lye mixture heat up to a good temp and my soap never saponified. I am kind of new to soaping, under 20 batches. How can I salvage this soap with salt in it?

 

[DeeAnna]

I'm a little confused why you say the soap never saponified. What basis are you using to say that? Photos? Recipe?

It feels like there's information missing that is critical to understanding your troubles. That may be why your post hasn't gotten any responses until now.

What people normally do is freeze the water-based liquid and then add solid NaOH. Is that what you did?

If so, the heat created by dissolving the NaOH should have thawed the frozen liquid just fine. Even if this lye solution was quite cold, it still should have saponified okay, especially since salt bars are normally very high in coconut oil and heat up pretty fast.

Or are you freezing the lye solution after it's made up?

 

[Montuckygirl]

When I went to test the bars with water, they act just like a hard blob of oil and salt, no suds, just leaves oil on my hands like I was wiping solid fat on my skin. I will follow up with a picture soon. Yes, I know I added the lye. I did freeze the water based liquid and add solid Na OH. I did not freeze the lye solution after it was made up.

 

[artemis]

When I went to test the bars with water, they act just like a hard blob of oil and salt, no suds, just leaves oil on my hands like I was wiping solid fat on my skin. I will follow up with a picture soon. Yes, I know I added the lye. I did freeze the water based liquid and add solid Na OH. I did not freeze the lye solution after it was made up.

Still missing information here. We need the recipe and methods you used. Also, how long did you let the bars cure before using them?

 

[Montuckygirl]

I used Ellen Ruth's recipe: Basic Sea Salt Soap Recipe:48 oz (1361g) Coconut oil, 6 oz (170g) Castor oil, 3 oz (85g) Cocoa butter, 3 oz (85g) Shea butter, 8.2 oz (232.5g) Lye, 20 oz (567g) Aloe Vera juice & Distilled Water, 3 6 oz (1020g) Sea Salt (fine grind). I used pure aloe vera juice and no distilled water however.
I tested for suds after one day, after one week, at four weeks and at 6 weeks. No suds to this day, the salt is just leaching through and turning the soap crusty.
Finally got some pictures to show you. The only difference in these is the fragrances used and a scant bit of mica for color. The recipe was split into two.

 

[Montuckygirl]

I was just thinking the other day. The aloe vera gel I used may not have had enough water in it. I had harvested my own aloe vera leaves, pulverized the pulp, poured it into ice cube trays, froze it, then used that directly with with the lye. Is it possible there just wasn't enough water in the aloe pulp to convert the fats to soap? Again, if I try to rebatch this, would it be worth cutting the soap up and adding some water and trying to rebatch it or will the salt dissolve and mess it all up? Will it even matter if the salt dissolved as I am pouring it into individual molds to reharden?