Salt soap Trials

[GemstonePony]

Alternative title would be Adventures in Medium trace. 100g of oil per batch meant I couldn't stick blend, also less precision. 25-27% SF, honey 1TBS PPO, Aloe Vera Juice/coconut cream split, 40% natural sea salt, and 2% Sodium Gluconate per batch. Experimenting with Avocado Oil, Shea Butter, and Castor.
Pink: 75% CO, 15% Avo, 10% Cas
Yellow: 80% CO, 15% Avo, 5% Cas
Green: 85% CO, 5% Avo, 5% Cas
Blue: 80% CO, 20% Shea
Purple: 85% CO, 5% Shea, 10% Cas.
I originally planned to also do a white 100% CO batch, but I didn't have time/dishes/energy for it. And I got impatient for medium trace with the green, so there was some salt at the bottom after I had finished most of the pouring.
Now to stick the tray in the top of my closet for a year. No fragrance, so I'm not tempted to pull them out early.

 

[shunt2011]

Love the colors. Curious on the SF. I’ve never done higher than 20% and generally do 18% these days.

 

[msunnerstood]

That takes a lot of patience to do so many small batches, not to mention waiting a year for results. Beautiful colors!

 

[dibbles]

It will be interesting to see what you think of the various combinations after you test them. Good experiment!

 

[GemstonePony]

Love the colors. Curious on the SF. I’ve never done higher than 20% and generally do 18% these days.

Thank you! I kept hearing SF from 20-30 for salt bars, so 25% seemed like a happy medium. Once I've narrowed down the bases, I'll play with salt and SF amounts. So, barring unforeseen circumstances, there will hopefully be more salt trials in a year ish. And yes, I know that's barely enough time for them to get a good cure, but I'm hoping it's enough time for me to get an idea of where they're going.

 

[Dawni]

I honestly think, since it's a comparison, that you will be able to tell before they're going before a year.

You should be able to tell one piece from another at maybe 4-6mos, and decide which you like best, and then let the rest of the batch cure a year. So you can make more before next year and use/gift/sell before 2yrs from now lol

They're so pretty btw.. I love the colors you picked.

 

[gardengeek]

That's a lot of dishes!
I've settled on your yellow rrecipe but with 35-40% powdered sea salt and 18% SF. Liquid is 100% aloe juice. I've found that in my testing it takes a longer cure for recipes with butters. I also like HO SFO instead of AVO. I still want to test Safflower too.

 

[dibbles]

Daw i is right about a test earlier than a year. I would wait 6-7 months though. They will continue to get milder, but the lather and characteristics won’t change very much after that.

 

[GemstonePony]

I honestly think, since it's a comparison, that you will be able to tell before they're going before a year.

You should be able to tell one piece from another at maybe 4-6mos, and decide which you like best, and then let the rest of the batch crew a year. So you can make more before next year and use/gift/sell before 2yrs from now lol

They're so pretty btw.. I love the colors you picked.

Thank you! In pulling recipes from other threads, it looked like the avocado oil/oleic oil of choice recipes were good at 6 months, but it looked like on average the Shea/butter of choice recipes made a terrible impression at less than 8 months.

 

[earlene]

That's a lot of dishes!
I've settled on your yellow rrecipe but with 35-40% powdered sea salt and 18% SF. Liquid is 100% aloe juice. I've found that in my testing it takes a longer cure for recipes with butters. I also like HO SFO instead of AVO. I still want to test Safflower too.

What is does SFO mean in this context? I assume it is either Sunflower Oil or Safflower Oil, but I am curious which one.

 

[Dawni]

Thank you! In pulling recipes from other threads, it looked like the avocado oil/oleic oil of choice recipes were good at 6 months, but it looked like on average the Shea/butter of choice recipes made a terrible impression at less than 8 months.

Could be because Shea will cut down lather if not cured for a sufficient time - for regular soap, more than regular cure time - so I assume it's more so for salt soap.

I'm looking forward to your updates, whenever you start em lol

 

[shunt2011]

I use avocado in mine and still like them at 12 months or more. However, I agree with the others where you should have somewhat of an idea at 6-7 months. So you don't really have to wait 12 months to see what you may like more.

 

[gardengeek]

What is does SFO mean in this context? I assume it is either Sunflower Oil or Safflower Oil, but I am curious which one.

Sorry for the confusion @earlene. I meant Sunflower. I thought I should clarify before I posted but got lazy. When I post using the app on my phone every backspace I make my phone kicks me out of the thread and then I have a heck of a time getting my cursor in the correct location to backspace again (to clear the text). I need a new phone!

 

[linne1gi]

Alternative title would be Adventures in Medium trace. 100g of oil per batch meant I couldn't stick blend, also less precision. 25-27% SF, honey 1TBS PPO, Aloe Vera Juice/coconut cream split, 40% natural sea salt, and 2% Sodium Gluconate per batch. Experimenting with Avocado Oil, Shea Butter, and Castor.
Pink: 75% CO, 15% Avo, 10% Cas
Yellow: 80% CO, 15% Avo, 5% Cas
Green: 85% CO, 5% Avo, 5% Cas
Blue: 80% CO, 20% Shea
Purple: 85% CO, 5% Shea, 10% Cas.
I originally planned to also do a white 100% CO batch, but I didn't have time/dishes/energy for it. And I got impatient for medium trace with the green, so there was some salt at the bottom after I had finished most of the pouring.
Now to stick the tray in the top of my closet for a year. No fragrance, so I'm not tempted to pull them out early.

For me the easiest way is to make a larger batch and split it into colors - So you are talking 5-6 colors. Make up a 600 gram batch just to emulsion, split into 6 containers and add salt right before molding.

 

[dibbles]

For me the easiest way is to make a larger batch and split it into colors - So you are talking 5-6 colors. Make up a 600 gram batch just to emulsion, split into 6 containers and add salt right before molding.

Except she is testing different recipes and the color is just for easy identification.

 

[linne1gi]

Except she is testing different recipes and the color is just for easy identification.

Aha, makes much more sense.

 

[Emmamia]

On you green you only have 95% of oils?

 

[GemstonePony]

On you green you only have 95% of oils?

Good catch, that one should have been 10% castor. However, I'll have to check my paper notes to see what I did. If the error is correct, and it was 85g CO, 5g Avo, and 5g Cas, then my CO percentage would be over 89%, while the other two would be a little over 5%. That being the batch I didn't correctly incorporate the salt on, it's scientific value was already compromised. If I had to make another error, I'd want it there.

 

[earlene]

Sorry for the confusion @earlene. I meant Sunflower. I thought I should clarify before I posted but got lazy. When I post using the app on my phone every backspace I make my phone kicks me out of the thread and then I have a heck of a time getting my cursor in the correct location to backspace again (to clear the text). I need a new phone!

I get that. I stopped trying to even read SMF on my phone long ago, because I would then of course want to reply and it never worked out well to try and type & have to correct (whatever needed correcting) before posting. Or I'd post without meaning to, and then couldn't edit from my phone. It was such a fiasco, I just quit even logging on from my phone.

 

[GemstonePony]

I was checking dates on my soaps, and I realized I should update this because the only pic of them is with their bright, vivid young-soap colors, which may set unrealistic expectations regarding their appearance as they cure. I've been rotating them weekly, so here's their 5-week salt haze.