Salt Soap & Fragrance

[saltydog]

I know there are many salt soap fans on here, including myself. A while back, Hazel had suggested that I start a thread re salt soaps holding their fragrance; what morphs, what sticks, what doesn't and for how long.
I have tried salt soap with as much as 100% sea salt and as little as 25% sea salt. My fave recipe is a blend of CO, AO & Castor with 30% salt, but I've indicated where I've used only CO.

1) My oldest soap was made with 100% salt, the CO blend and Peaks Juniper breeze. It is now 8 months old. It was uncolored, and the fo has turned very slight yellow. I can still smell the fo, although a tiny bit of what I call a 'chlorine-y' smell is starting to come through.

2) 80% sea salt, CO blend, fo is Peaks Clean Cotton- also 8 months old- smells like chlorine (to me) with a touch of the fo stll coming through.

3) 100% ss, 100% CO, fo is Peaks Green Clover and Aloe- 6 months old- smells like chlorine, big time.

4) 100% ss, CO blend, Peaks Sage & Lemongrass with Tea Tree EO, 5 months old, went like hot cakes, my friends and family really liked this combo so I have no more to tell, but I made it again:

5) 80% ss, CO blend, Peaks Sage & Lemongrass with Tea Tree EO, just over 3 months old, bars smell great, slightly faded? but I'm sure will bloom in the shower!

6) 25% ss, CO blend, Peaks Love Spell, 2 months old and smelling strong.

7) 25% ss, CO blend, with coconut milk as my liquid, SOS Coconut Lime Verbena 6 wks old, discolored med brown but still smells really good.

8 ) 25% ss, CO blend Sweetcakes 'Clean' type, 6 wks old, very strong

9) 25% ss= half Himalayan & half fine ss, half coconut milk, SOS Grapefruit fo & Tea Tree EO, 1 month old, I smell TT more than the grapefruit, but I'm hoping the TT softens a bit, smells good anyway.

I Just made a 30% ss, CO blend with the lemon/tt combo the day before yesterday, I have to say I do like the lesser salt amounts because the lather is just unstoppable!

Please add any type of fragrance that has worked well for you in your salt soap. Going to work now, have a great day, everybody

 

[LuvOurNewf]

I will be watching this thread as I too really enjoy salt bars. I go as high as 70% but up till now haven't scented any. My unscented 2 month old bars are fine so far. They have SS where as the 4 and 6 week old bars are Himalayan.

 

[Fragola]

Are salt bars supposed to behave differently in terms of fragrance ?

What you call chlorine smell, do you suspect it to be caused by the fragrance, by the salt, by the soap, or ... ? I've had many smells in soap, but never experienced or heard of chlorine.

 

[saltydog]

Are salt bars supposed to behave differently in terms of fragrance ?

What you call chlorine smell, do you suspect it to be caused by the fragrance, by the salt, by the soap, or ... ? I've had many smells in soap, but never experienced or heard of chlorine.

Fragola, I really do not know what causes it, maybe I'm the only one who's experienced it?

I'd like to hear about other peoples experiences though and try to figure it out.
I don't think I did anything wrong when I made my soaps, I think ss are pretty simple compared to making regular soap. I used a SF of 15% with my blended oils and 20% when using only CO.
I can say that I have used all these fo's in regular soaps and they hold just fine, so I'm leaning toward the salt, but I don't know and I'm hoping to learn.

 

[green soap]

So far I have:

50% and 70% sea salt scented with lavender EO, and a hint of patchouli and rosemary EOs. Some fading but still distinctly lavender. I only have tried the 50%, it lathers like crazy. So I decided to stick with 50% salt until I have a chance to check the 70% one.

50% ss in rose petal FO. Scent is sticking and it is strong without being too strong. I am an EO person, but this FO is really lovely.

50% ss in cedar EO and sandalwood FO. Scent is strong, still has a few weeks to cure. This one is my 'male scent' salt bar. You know, the answer to the rose scented one.

All of these are CO except for the tiny bit of infused oil that I used for color (paprika, alkanet, turmeric). I am going to try anatto next time, it seems to be such a strong color, I wonder how it will stand up to a salt bar. Alkanet did OK, paprika not so well. Anatto would of course beg for a citrus scent. Citrus in season now, salt bar.....saltydog you bad girl (boy?). Now I want to make salt soap. Citrus scented salt soap. That would be nice and refreshing.

 

[IrishLass]

I like using less salt, too (25% to 30%) My bars come out just a titch softer in comparison to my bars made with 100% salt, but that's neither here nor there since they are still heavy and rock-solid hard compared to my non-salt bars. And they lather very well.

I like using my stronger and longer-lasting FOs with my salt bars. It may be my imagination or just the individual quirkiness of my scent receptors, but some of my lighter scents don't seem to smell exactly the same to me as they do in my non-salt bars.

So far, these scents work very well for me and last forever and smell the same to me in both my salt bars (no matter what the % of salt) and my regular bars (upwards of at least 2 years):

-Paradise from Daystar
-Salty Sailor from Daystar
-Provence from ScentWorks
-Clean from SweetCakes
-Mediterranean Sea Salt from Oregon Trails
-and 2 (sadly) discontinued scents from Daystar- Mineral Waters Spa and Ocean Blue


IrishLass

 

[Dragonkaz]

This thread is a great idea.

My salt bars are all made from 100% CO and 70% kitchen salt.

I've kept one from each of my original batches, which are well over a year old ... maybe 18 months ... I'd have to check my notes to be exact.

Lavender - colour - grape purple mica - EO lavender - smell divine, colour has lightened, but still obviously purple.

Peppermint - colour: green apple pop mica - EO peppermint - smell still strong, colour has lightened a little, but still quite green.

Tea Tree - colour: lemon drop pop mica - EO tea tree - smell is gorgeous and the colour is a swirl of soft lemon. The colour has lightened, but can still be seen.

I'm keen to try some FO's and this thread should help. I'd not be happy if my salt soap started to smell of chlorine ... loathe that smell!

 

[kelleyaynn]

I make my salt bars with 90% CO, 10% shea butter, 18 - 20% superfat, and 50% kosher salt.

When I do them unscented, they are a beautiful white. The only fragrance I've used in them is agave lime from Nature's Garden. It smells heavenly. I call it my "margarita salt bar!" I've had bars that are almost a year old still smell great. Not quite as strong as at first, but plenty strong enough.

 

[MeadowHillFarmCT]

I've made three salt bars

Lime Celantro (NG) .5% PPO, 80% cheese salt, 100% CO - colored with soap dye (Coastal Scents) green. My favorite and customers love it...


Ginger Peach (NG) 1% PPO, 80% Cheese salt, 100% CO - swirled with soap dye to make red roses on top of bar. Scent is not strong at all - still curing so have not tested.


Tea Tree EO (essential depot) 1% PPO, 100% sea salt, 95% OO, 5% grapeseed. No color. Salt to abrasive but scent is really strong.. Planning on rebatching and adding to either bath salts or bath bombs...

 

[Mellifera]

90/10 coconut oil/castor, 20% superfat, a dab of honey, and 85% of the oil weight kosher salt. I used a bit of rose clay in the last batch with geranium EO--really nice! I've also done no color and ginger/lemon EOs (lovely!) and a brisk rosemary/peppermint/basil EO mix.

I scent them more lightly, since they're facial bars, but the scent seems to hold up just fine.

 

[saltydog]

Bah!
Think I just messed up a batch of salt soap and it was the first time I was using solely eo's, too.
I only used .25 tsp of Spirulina for an ITP swirl, and now my soap smells stinky :cry:

Hubby says he doesn't smell it, but I've got a much more sensitive nose. Geez, I sure hope the eo's come through in the cure..

 

[green soap]

What EO did you use? I suppose an ounce PPO becomes more as salt is heavy.

I used only .7 oz PPO or less and the EO fragrances are noticeable. Not as strong as the FO, but such is usually the case, FO tend to be stronger.

I tried the 70% salt bar and it lathers nicely. Now I have 50% and 70% ss side to side for comparison. 70% ss feels a little scratchier to me, but i'll test again to be sure. I'll check for scent retention as well (lavender).

 

[saltydog]

What EO did you use? I suppose an ounce PPO becomes more as salt is heavy.

Hi green soap, not sure if you're asking me, but I usually use fo at .7-.8 ppo.

Today I used .5 oz of peppermint eo ppo & .8 oz ppo lemon eo. Then I added 12 drops of rosewood eo into the blend.

 

[green soap]

What EO did you use? I suppose an ounce PPO becomes more as salt is heavy.

Hi green soap, not sure if you're asking me, but I usually use fo at .7-.8 ppo.

Today I used .5 oz of peppermint eo ppo & .8 oz ppo lemon eo. Then I added 12 drops of rosewood eo into the blend.

lemon can be elusive but peppermint is very strong for me. Your blend sounds delightful. I have been reluctant to use either peppermint or eucalyptus in a soap to be facial bars because those EO are 'tingly' on the eyes, do you know what I mean? If you tell us that 0.5oz PPO peppermint does not assert itself much i might give it a try in a facial bar too. Try litsea cubeba together with lemon to anchor the lemon, it works for me and I got the idea from this wonderful forum. Have not tried this yet in a salt bar though.

 

[Kleine Teufel]

I use peppermint/spearmint at about 0.3oz ppo, and it's still fairly tingly. I do use it for my face, but I'm not super-sensitive either.

 

[Robbiegirl]

Is there a tutorial on salt bars somewhere? These sound heavenly. I would love to make one.
I like the idea of saving or keeping a journal. Great idea. I'm obsessed and can't sleep!

 

[saltydog]

lemon can be elusive but peppermint is very strong for me. Your blend sounds delightful. I have been reluctant to use either peppermint or eucalyptus in a soap to be facial bars because those EO are 'tingly' on the eyes, do you know what I mean? If you tell us that 0.5oz PPO peppermint does not assert itself much i might give it a try in a facial bar too. Try litsea cubeba together with lemon to anchor the lemon, it works for me and I got the idea from this wonderful forum. Have not tried this yet in a salt bar though.

Yes, I know what you mean about tingly peppermint, and I wanted to avoid that. Today, I smell the peppermint over the lemon, but I also smell lemon. I'm hoping the peppermint calms down a bit, but I'm glad its covering up the fishy smell of the Spirulina. I would use less peppermint than 0.5 oz ppo for a facial bar for sure. I only used 12 drops of the rosewood oil, and I can smell that too..anyway, it smells really good, just very strong but I only unmolded it today.

I made a slurry with the eo's and cornstarch, (my litsea cubeba has not arrived yet) so this will be a good test as far as the cornstarch anchoring ability goes.

Is there a tutorial on salt bars somewhere? These sound heavenly. I would love to make one.
I like the idea of saving or keeping a journal. Great idea. I'm obsessed and can't sleep!

Hi! This is the tutorial that I made my first salt bar with, and they are still my favorite salt bars. You should definitely keep really good notes on every batch, don't trust yourself to remember stuff, because you won't!
Have Fun!

http://thesoapbar.blogspot.com/2008/07/ ... works.html

 

[saltydog]

Just wanted to pop back in and say that my 'Clean' type from Sweetcakes soap has faded quite a bit in scent, and it's discolored yellow.

This surprised me because only 1 out of 13 people reported Discoloration on the SSRB, and that was to a light ivory. My salt soap is a fairly bright yellow. Must be the salt!