Salt Bar Recipe

[annalee2003]

Hi!

I want to make a salt bar with the leftover coconut oil (only oil I have left, besides soybean) that I have from my last batch of soap (gotta buy more ingredients!).

I've never made a salt bar before though and wanted to run the recipe by with all you lovely people first before I actually commit to anything!

100% Coconut Oil Salt Bar

16 oz. Coconut Oil
2.37 oz. Lye (NaOH)
5.28 oz. Water
8oz salt

20% superfat

I've read that the salt should be added at trace, is that correct? Could I add it to my lye water instead?

Thank you all in advance!

 

[neonstudy]

I'm no expert, I've only ever made one salt bar before. What superfat % did you use? When I did mine, I did 50% salt, added at trace. I think you can't add it to the lye water, that will make it a brine bar instead. And you can use fine sea salt, but not dead sea salt. If you use more coarse salt, then it might be too scratchy.

 

[annalee2003]

Ah! Knew I was forgetting something.
It'll be set at 20% superfat. I read that the higer superfat was necessary since it's coconut oil and will counteract it being so drying, I believe?

And good to know about the brine bar thing! Although that sounds interesting to make now as well, haha.

 

[IrishLass]

Your recipe looks fine.

If you are making a salt bar (as opposed to a brine bar, i.e., soleseife), add the salt at trace right before you pour.

I make many batches of salt bars, but I've never made a soleseife batch before. However, I do know that when making a soleseife/brine batch, only so much salt will be able to dissolve in the lye solution before it becomes saturated, since there's already a certain amount of sodium present in the NaOH to begin with. If you add over a certain % of salt, it simply will not dissolve. I forget what that % is, though. Hopefully someone will chime in on that.


IrishLass

 

[Obsidian]

I can't remember the exact amount of dissolvable salt but when I make brine soap, I use 26% salt of water weight. If making brine soap, always dissolve your salt first then your lye.

I love salt bars, they are my favorite kind of soap. Add the salt when the batter is thick enough the salt won't sink to the bottom.

 

[Seawolfe]

Add the salt at a medium trace for a salt bar. 50% salt ppo is fine - I go up to 80%. Make sure you used fine grained plain or canning salt - nothing iodized and no big sharp crystals. Heh and be prepared for it to go into gel within an hour or two of going in the mold - it heats up hot! Oh and use individual molds or be prepared to cut it as soon as possible or it will crumble rather than cut.

 

[annalee2003]

Such great tips and info so far, thank you all!
Also loving the info on the brine bars, I'll have to make those another time.

In response to not using iodized salt, why so exactly?
I've tried looking it up and have had mixed reviews. Some say not to use it (but don't explain why. A reaction perhaps?), and others have said that they've used iodized salt and that it didn't do anything.
I'll research some more, but in the meantime, any clarification on this?

Well so far I've found

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=13982

and

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=49747

The last link has a lot of useful info as well.

What I'm mostly getting from all of this is that iodine could/does potentially react to sodium hydroxide? Usually it doesn't though?
I don't know! This is a bit confusing.

Either way, all I have on hand at the moment is Mortens Kosher salt, which seems to be fine to use.

I'm over researching this, haha.

 

[cmzaha]

You can only dissolve 25% for a bine soap. I do make a soleseife that I also add 90-100% salt, because I love to pack in all the salt I can. Several months ago I dissolved a Himalayan votive candle holder that I was tired of and kept the brine in a bucket until I used it up

 

[annalee2003]

Well, the color obviously didn't go as planned ... But I did it!

They were literally hardening the second after I poured them into the molds. I'm excited to unmold them in less then 24 hours!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Looking good! I do like salt bars

 

[artemis]

View attachment 25245

Well, the color obviously didn't go as planned ... But I did it!

Yeah, sorry... If we'd known about your beet plans, we would have warned you about that. If you search the forum, you'll probably find lots of threads about natural colorants and how they are affected by lye. Some of them are surprising.

For example, when it comes in contact with the lye, turmeric turns a brilliant orange color. But in just a day or two it settles down to a sandy color that is perfect for beach-themed soaps.

 

[shunt2011]

Very nice. As others said many natural colorants go kind of blah when exposed to lye or fade in a short time. I'm a huge salt bar fan.

 

[annalee2003]

Yeah, sorry... If we'd known about your beet plans, we would have warned you about that. If you search the forum, you'll probably find lots of threads about natural colorants and how they are affected by lye. Some of them are surprising.

For example, when it comes in contact with the lye, turmeric turns a brilliant orange color. But in just a day or two it settles down to a sandy color that is perfect for beach-themed soaps.

It's ok. I actually knew in the back of my mind somewhere that beet powder didn't hold its color. But the optimist in me wanted to experience it first hand, I guess.

Honestly they didn't come out too bad! I really love how hard and shiny smooth they came out.