Please tell me about salt bars

[ackosel]

I've been doing a lot of reading about salt bars and sensitive skin and I want to learn more! I personally do not have sensitive skin, but I have friends who do, and I'm always on the lookout for good sensitive skin soap recipes for them.

First thing I noticed is that salt recipes look a lot different than other recipes, specifically the superfat (~15%) and coconut oil content (~80%). Kind of strange since high coconut oil is stripping and irritates a lot of people with sensitive skin, but salt soap is said to soothe it. I assume the high coconut oil helps counter the anti-lather properties of salt, and the high superfat helps counter the stripping properties of coconut oil?

Now I really want to try a salt bar, but since it seems to be a bit of a different animal than my high lard/tallow, low coconut oil goat milk recipes, would someone mind sharing their favorite salt bar recipes?

Can I make a salt bar with goat milk? (That sounds really silly - I should make a salt bar with SALT!) What kind of salt is best, and how is it best added? I saw a nice video where the lady added sea salt at medium trace which looks like what I would want to do, but I don't know if it was fine or course salt.

Do salt bars require the standard 4-6 weeks of cure time? Are they really soothing to dry, itchy skin? Anything else anyone would share about how or why to make them?

 

[dibbles]

As a lard soap lover, I really, really love salt bars. I use a recipe that, I think, @Obsidian first shared. 85% coconut oil, 5% castor oil, 10% oil of choice (avocado is very nice, but olive, HO sunflower, almond, etc are just fine IME). I use a 15% SF, make them one color and I add fine salt at 50% of the oil rate after the batter comes to trace. You want the batter to be thick enough to suspend the salt so it doesn't all sink to the bottom. I use individual cavity molds because I don't want to babysit a loaf for the optimum time to cut - it's quick, like an hour or two after pouring. I usually use sea salt, but any fine salt will work just as well (not iodized, not dead sea and not Himalayan). Himalayan salt reportedly is too sharp and can scratch or cut skin - I've never used it, but more than one person has reported this.

Salt bars really need a long cure to be at their best. I've found that 7 months is the minimum for how I like them to perform. I make a couple of batches twice a year so I always have them around. I started this thread, which shows what a benefit a longer cure can provide.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/cure-time-doubters-a-visual.62723/

 

[bookworm42]

I've used table salt for my bars. I've also read that if you don't want the exfoliating effect of the salt you can dissolve the salt in your water.
I agree with @dibbles that a long cure time is better.

 

[ackosel]

As a lard soap lover, I really, really love salt bars. I use a recipe that, I think, @Obsidian first shared. 85% coconut oil, 5% castor oil, 10% oil of choice (avocado is very nice, but olive, HO sunflower, almond, etc are just fine IME). I use a 15% SF, make them one color and I add fine salt at 50% of the oil rate after the batter comes to trace. You want the batter to be thick enough to suspend the salt so it doesn't all sink to the bottom. I use individual cavity molds because I don't want to babysit a loaf for the optimum time to cut - it's quick, like an hour or two after pouring. I usually use sea salt, but any fine salt will work just as well (not iodized, not dead sea and not Himalayan). Himalayan salt reportedly is too sharp and can scratch or cut skin - I've never used it, but more than one person has reported this.

Salt bars really need a long cure to be at their best. I've found that 7 months is the minimum for how I like them to perform. I make a couple of batches twice a year so I always have them around. I started this thread, which shows what a benefit a longer cure can provide.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/cure-time-doubters-a-visual.62723/

Thank you! I read your salt bar lather thread yesterday, and that was one of the reasons I now want to try a batch of salt bars.

Can I substitute 100% goat milk for the water in your salt bar recipe? In your opinion, would goat (or other) milk add anything beneficial to a salt bar?

I'll have to borrow my daughter's cavity molds and make us some salt bars! Thank you for enabling - eh, teaching - me about a new soap to make!

 

[dibbles]

@ackosel I've never put goat milk in a salt bar, so I have no advice to give you. With all the coconut oil, salt bars can get quite hot while saponifying, so it depends on what that might do to the milk and if it is acceptable to you. Individual cavity molds should help with the heat problem though. Beyond that, I don't have any thoughts. Hopefully someone who has experience using milks in salt bars will see this and respond.

 

[ackosel]

I've used table salt for my bars. I've also read that if you don't want the exfoliating effect of the salt you can dissolve the salt in your water.
I agree with @dibbles that a long cure time is better.

Thank you for your helpful input. I think I'll start with adding dry sea salt to the batter at medium trace, and then try to wait 7 months for a beautiful bar of soap!

 

[Misschief]

Like @dibbles, I use @Obsidian's Salt Bar recipe. I let mine cure a minimum of 3 months before selling but I do let my customers know that they're even better the longer they age. I use fine sea salt at 50% of the oil weight and I use cavity molds as well. Salt soap is one soap I'm never without. My mom loved them, and it's the only soap of mine that my daughter uses. I regularly use it as my face soap of choice.

 

[Mommawolfe]

My recipe is: (for hot process) 75% coconut, 10% olive, 6% castor, 9% shea
Water, 10.8 oz, and lye, 4.8 oz.
I use 50% of oil weight of fine sea salt.
Fragrance of choice last 20 min of cook
Unmold in one hour after cook, cut while still warm, but firm

 

[DeeAnna]

I've tried salt bars with 100% coconut and 20% superfat as well as a blend of 80% coconut and 20% other fats and 17% superfat. I let the bars cure anywhere from 6 months to 1 1/2 years, testing every month or two along the way.

The lather quality and mildness to the skin improve markedly as time goes on. I agree that 6 months is the bare minimum cure time needed for this type of soap to perform reasonably well -- yet another example of how curing isn't just about water evaporation alone.

But even when I make the soap properly and give it a long cure, I can't get enthused. The soap doesn't dry my skin and it lathers beautifully, but it leaves an odd filmy feeling on my skin after I dry off. I suspect it's the high superfat that's the reason.

In any case, I think it's a neat soap to make, but it's not one I enjoy using. I'll have to appreciate it from afar by reading what you people say about it.

 

[ackosel]

I've tried salt bars with 100% coconut and 20% superfat as well as a blend of 80% coconut and 20% other fats and 17% superfat. I let the bars cure anywhere from 6 months to 1 1/2 years, testing every month or two along the way.

The lather quality and mildness to the skin improve markedly as time goes on. I agree that 6 months is the bare minimum cure time needed for this type of soap to perform reasonably well -- yet another example of how curing isn't just about water evaporation alone.

But even when I make the soap properly and give it a long cure, I can't get enthused. The soap doesn't dry my skin and it lathers beautifully, but it leaves an odd filmy feeling on my skin after I dry off. I suspect it's the high superfat that's the reason.

In any case, I think it's a neat soap to make, but it's not one I enjoy using. I'll have to appreciate it from afar by reading what you people say about it.

Thank you for your perspective! I'm one who doesn't enjoy that filmy feeling. Years ago, when I was a teenager, a salesman came to my mom's house and tried to sell her a water softener, bragging about how much she would love the soft feeling of her skin when she rinsed the soap off. All it did was leave her hands feeling like she couldn't get the soap rinsed off, and the disappointed salesman left without a sale.

A while back, I made a batch of soap with citric acid for a friend with hard water, and gave a bar to another friend with a water softener. The friend with the water softener said she couldn't get that soap to rinse off. When my family used the citric acid soap (and we have hard water), we didn't like the residue feeling, either.

Anyway, I'm still going to make a salt soap and see how we like it in a year or so. I'll never know unless I try!

Thank you all so much for your advice, input and preferences! You people are the best!

 

[ackosel]

My recipe is: (for hot process) 75% coconut, 10% olive, 6% castor, 9% shea
Water, 10.8 oz, and lye, 4.8 oz.
I use 50% of oil weight of fine sea salt.
Fragrance of choice last 20 min of cook
Unmold in one hour after cook, cut while still warm, but firm

Thank you for your recipe! Hot process intimidates me at this point, but I'm sure I'll give it a whirl at sometime.

 

[AliOop]

Thank you for your recipe! Hot process intimidates me at this point, but I'm sure I'll give it a whirl at sometime.

You can make this same recipe via CP using the process described by @dibbles.

Typically, HP uses a lower lye concentration (more water) since some cooks off. To adjust for that, put in the recipe percentages, set your batch size and SF, and set the lye concentration to whatever you normally use for CP.

 

[Servant4Christ]

I don't have much time so cutting straight to the bottom to post. I think @Obsidian's recipe would be easy and many SMF members like it.

80 coconut
20 olive
35-50% canning salt or sea salt
20% SF
33% lye concentration

Things I've learned:

Individual cavity molds are your best friend for salt bars until you have a really good handle on how soon to cut, because it has to be cut while still hot or it'll be too hard to cut at all.

Do NOT use iodized salt or dead sea salt. I cannot remember why off the top of my head, but I know there were good enough reasons that this knowledge is now solidly ingrained in me.

 

[bookworm42]

Do NOT use iodized salt or dead sea salt. I cannot remember why off the top of my head

If you remember please let us know as I'm curious.
Most things I've read is that people haven't had any issue with ionized salt.

 

[ackosel]

If you remember please let us know as I'm curious.
Most things I've read is that people haven't had any issue with ionized salt.

I watched a Brambleberry tutorial on salt soap and she made some soap with dead sea salt to show why you shouldn't use it. The salts that are "no-no's" are not pure salt, but have other mineral ingredients that cause the soap to weep a slimy, oily film that never goes away and makes the lather disgusting.



She shows her sample bar around the 1:00 mark.

 

[Servant4Christ]

I remember there were threads that said the minerals in dead sea salt can make the soap weep. There were several people trying to troubleshoot what was causing problems only to find out it was the dead sea salt.
Iodized salt has added iodine in it so stands to reason that too high of a concentration will result in a soap with a higher iodine value, which I think causes soap to be softer.
So my takeaway has been that small amounts are fine, but large amounts like what is in salt soap are a no-no. I've honestly never used either after reading about them here on the forum. I just use the non iodized pickling/canning salt that I already have in the pantry or sea salt.

 

[bookworm42]

Thanks for the info. I thought my table salt was iodized but considering I never got a weeping soap it must not be.
We bought in bulk from Costco and keep it in a bucket. So I don't have any of the nutritional info.

 

[Ekuzo]

I watched a Brambleberry tutorial on salt soap and she made some soap with dead sea salt to show why you shouldn't use it. The salts that are "no-no's" are not pure salt, but have other mineral ingredients that cause the soap to weep a slimy, oily film that never goes away and makes the lather disgusting.



She shows her sample bar around the 1:00 mark.

Pink Himalayan salt as decoration... isn't that scratchy?

 

[ackosel]

Pink Himalayan salt as decoration... isn't that scratchy?

I would imagine so, but like she said, it won't last past the first use or two. However, I was surprised to hear her say that salt bars are ready after a normal 4-6 week cure. I've seen that in several places. I'm sure once I make mine, I'll be trying it every 4 weeks or so, but I'm sure they won't be great bars of soap until 6-7 months and beyond.

 

[A-Polly]

Don't be certain it won't be great after 4-6 weeks until you try it! I do think salt bars benefit from more like 8 weeks of curing time, especially in a hot and humid place — and of course they just get better and better as the months go by. But I love salt bars and have been happy to use them after only a month or two. We will all have different experiences!

I saw an unusual sort of salt bar in this video by Holly's Soapmaking on YouTube; she used only 10 percent salt, which is an amount often dissolved into the liquid for a soleseife bar, but she added it to traced batter instead. I'm planning to try it!

Another YouTuber who has filmed the making of her salt bars — and provided the recipe — is Holly at Missouri River Soaps. I've purchased her soaps in the past, including her salt bars, and they are lovely. She recently opened her business again after moving to Montana. Latest salt bar video