Salt bar Help

[MeadowHillFarmCT]

I made CP salt bars on Sunday - they are soft, weaping and zap. Based on what I read here this is what I used

CO 36.4oz
OO 10.4oz
Grapeseed 5.2oz

Lye 7oz
GM 20oz
FO 2oz
Sea Salt 26oz (50%)
Cocoa 2tsp to color

 

[carebear]

I wish I knew. I have about a 20% failed batch rate with salt bars.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I've only ever made them with 100% coconut oil and water, 50% salt, sometimes with some fragrance, never with milk.

Perhaps your FO made it overheat.

 

[Happy Lass]

I wonder if it's too much olive oil? With salt bars you want mostly coconut oil so that the bubbles won't be overcome by the salt. Also, Olive oil tends to be soft until it's cured a bit.

I've only used water in my salt bars, so I can't comment on the GM.

 

[Soaplady22]

I think it's the amount of GM also, but I don't know why they would zap.
Olive oil soaps tend to be soft in the beginning but harden with cure. It's just my opinion, but I think you're a little heavy on the FO as well. They will harden after curing a month or so.

 

[MeadowHillFarmCT]

Thank you all.

I opted to not do mostly CO because others were saying it's drying but as long as I was at least 60 % - I'd be good. I also did 20% SF which may have been too much with the GM.

Well - I will just rebatch them if I can and they don't come out good.

The zap could also be the soap Some didn't zap but the sweaty ones did.

 

[Jezzy]

I make 100%co bars. I have never seen a recipe with oo. I use anywhere between 70 & 100% Salt I have (knock on wood) never had a bad salt soap recipe.

Next time use 100% co. Watch the soap. It gets hard real fast!

 

[lovelysuds]

I'm late on this..sorry. I think sea salt is culprit. It tends to hold more moisture than reg table salt. My sis made a batch of sea salt bars twice & had weeping & Goo. I use the same recipe with plain table salt & had no problem. I could be wrong but its what made sense to us. And I'm a better soaper than her hehehe!

 

[busymakinsoap!]

I have a 100% fail rate with salt bars :?

Im having a break from them, but might try again soon

 

[MeadowHillFarmCT]

It's been almost a month and they still accumulate moisture on the top of them. I've been flipping them and drying them almost daily.

We have been getting alot of rain here in CT so maybe that is the reason they are weeping.

I plan on trying salt bars again next week (vacation) but will use 100% CO, 100% salt and water instead of GM. I got some Lime Cilantro FO from Natures Garden and plan on swirling a bit of green in there.

If that doesn't work - maybe I'll put the salt bar idea away for a while.

 

[kelleyaynn]

It could be a combination of all of the above possibilities. I'd go with 90 - 100% CO and 20% SF. Some sea salt will work, but some will be high in minerals, which can be problematic. I use kosher salt, which is nice, and you can choose between coarse or fine grain. I also use coconut milk in mine - I'd try water or coconut milk rather than animal milk, at least to start with.

Another possible problem with using so much OO is that it may not lather well. As I understand it, only CO will lather in salt water, and with such a high % of OO, the lather may be poor.

But, if you don't experiment, you won't possibly learn something new and really cool!

 

[becsh]

I'm late to this thread but have you considered the weather? I don't know where you are but you mentioned it's been raining alot. Is it very humid? I live in the tropics and I find my salt soap is absolutely gorgeous 6 months of the year, and then as soon as the wet season hits it starts to weep clear stinky liquid.

I know it's not the bars, cos they're fine when not in the humidity. I've put it down to the salt in them being hydrophilic - it attracts moisture out of the air.

Try putting your bars somewhere air conditioned - in the fridge if necessary. See if that fixes your problem.

 

[MeadowHillFarmCT]

Thank you for the tip. I do notice they dry up if it's not moist out. I did another batch with 100% CO AND 100% SALT (cheese salt) ppo and they do not sweat at all. Actually they have a white salt haze on them.

 

[Lindy]

Hi another late in.

I just ran your recipe through SM3 and your SF is 18% which is really high when you've got oils other than CO in there. You are also at only a 26% lye concentration so you have a whole lot of liquid in there.

It should be just fine but it is going to take a long time to cure out.

If you should decide to try this again try this:

Use your same recipe as you've laid it out, but use 7.9 oz lye (5% SF) and drop your liquid down to 14.7 oz (35% lye concentration).

Other than that it should make a nice salt bar.

 

[Dragonkaz]

I've made two batches of salt soap and both have turned out well. I used -

95% coconut oil
5% castor oil

70% salt - plain table salt

Superfatted 20%

I used pop mica to make a major swirl of colour, plus I used some other dyes to dye a few tablespoons of rock salt and left that to dry for 24 hours and then sprinked them on top of the soap.
Lavender Salt Bars

 

[citymouse]

I am really happy i found this thread I have salt bars on my list of things to make.

For those of you who do the 95-100% CO do you find it at all drying? Also I just wanted to confirm that the reason for making salt bars is primarily as an exfoliating bar right?

thanks
Erin