regansoap
Well-Known Member
I was wondering if you could use actual sea water in a salt bar????
Salt bars
- Thread starter regansoap
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Sure you can. Many people have used sea water. You will need a high CO soap to maintain bubbles, but other than that, it is no problem. I don't love salt bars, but I made soap with water from the Gulf of Mexico, and I actually like it. I just substituted in that water 1:1 for the water called for, with no problem.
LBussy
Well-Known Member
You could. There are a couple challenges though. Have a look at this:
Ref: http://oceanplasma.org/documents/chemistry.html
The salt in sea water is mostly NaCl but there is a significant portion of magnesium sulfate. Water that is high in magnesium can promote soap scum so while people have definitely used sea salt for salt bars, I suspect that there's a balance between a little is okay and too much. If your local water was on the hard side, it might push the Mg levels too high.
Seawater's salinity is ~3.5% so let's do a little math. Let's say you are making a 4 lb loaf of "typical" salt bars, 100% coconut oil, 20% superfat, 38% water/oils (~27% lye solution). That's as simple as it gets. This recipe calls for 1,814.37g (4 lbs) of oil, and 689.46g of water. Recipes seem to range from 20%-50% salt/oil so let's figure 25%. That means we need 454g of salt.
If the sea water is 3.5% salinity we get 24g of salt (689.46 * .035) so we would definitely need to supplement that by 430g.
Does that help answer your question?
Ref: http://oceanplasma.org/documents/chemistry.html
The salt in sea water is mostly NaCl but there is a significant portion of magnesium sulfate. Water that is high in magnesium can promote soap scum so while people have definitely used sea salt for salt bars, I suspect that there's a balance between a little is okay and too much. If your local water was on the hard side, it might push the Mg levels too high.
Seawater's salinity is ~3.5% so let's do a little math. Let's say you are making a 4 lb loaf of "typical" salt bars, 100% coconut oil, 20% superfat, 38% water/oils (~27% lye solution). That's as simple as it gets. This recipe calls for 1,814.37g (4 lbs) of oil, and 689.46g of water. Recipes seem to range from 20%-50% salt/oil so let's figure 25%. That means we need 454g of salt.
If the sea water is 3.5% salinity we get 24g of salt (689.46 * .035) so we would definitely need to supplement that by 430g.
Does that help answer your question?
Honestly, salt water is such a surprisingly low concentration of salt to water (3.0-3.6%) compared to the amount of salt we put in our salt bars (up to 100% of oil weight or more), I wouldn't worry about the other salts in it. People even use sea salt as the salt in their salt bars to good effect, from what I read. The problems I have heard about are when they use things like dead sea salts, Celtic grey salts, epsom salts etc...
LBussy
Well-Known Member
I know Epsom salts would make a nasty mess. I don't have a good handle on how much Mg is too much, but there was at least one report I read of a person who fixed an issue with their soap by using distilled water rather than the sea water they were using. It was probably a straw that broke the camel's back issue but i think someone new to it might be best served by using distilled water at first as a baseline.
Oh, yes, distilled water first. You MUST have a "control" to compare all other bars to. There is a reason we say to start with the trinity oils, no color, no scent, etc. THEN add/change ONE factor at the time. You have to have that to see what change each tweak brings to the soap to truly understand what you are doing. It sounds long and tedious, but the only way to truly be able to look at a recipe and know what each soap will be like is to do it this way.
I really don't care for salt bars. Too hard, too much CO, too...different...from what I like. I liked the sea water soap because it was harder than a regular bar. Not too much, mind you, but there is an appreciable difference. I was able to use some of the shortening I had to try(never again, but I did learn something) with none of the drawbacks. I will, more than likely, be making more, as my fiance enjoys SCUBA diving, and we will be spending time around sea water. What better way to have those memories for a soaper??
I really don't care for salt bars. Too hard, too much CO, too...different...from what I like. I liked the sea water soap because it was harder than a regular bar. Not too much, mind you, but there is an appreciable difference. I was able to use some of the shortening I had to try(never again, but I did learn something) with none of the drawbacks. I will, more than likely, be making more, as my fiance enjoys SCUBA diving, and we will be spending time around sea water. What better way to have those memories for a soaper??
LBussy
Well-Known Member
I agree! I'm headed down to Galveston here soon. I love the Gulf (these days, wasn't always so nice).
Do you filter the sea water in any way? I'd think shore water would benefit by a rough filtration.
Do you filter the sea water in any way? I'd think shore water would benefit by a rough filtration.
I passed it through a coffee filter. Nothing fancy, but the stretch of beach I got it from has a lot of silt even on the best of days. The Intracoastal Waterway has led to much redistribution of silt/soil down there, even after all this time. What used to be islands are part of the "mainland", and what used to be a peninsula is now an island.
regansoap
Well-Known Member
Galveston sounds so romantic I only know the name from the song.
LBussy
Well-Known Member
Great, now I have Glen Campbell running through my head. Pencils for sale anyone?
I don't think I'd call Galveston an outwardly romantic place, but my wife and I sure love it there. Lots of memories for me.
I don't think I'd call Galveston an outwardly romantic place, but my wife and I sure love it there. Lots of memories for me.
Galveston is a romantic place. You have just been there so often(me too) that we wore the new off long ago.
regansoap
Well-Known Member
You are all very luck - warm sea the gulf aaaaaaaahhhhhhh jealous
