Sea Salt in Bars

[dippy]

Hi All

I am a newbie here and I am in the process of formulating my first 2 recipes with the help of a lye calc. I want all natural products as that is what brought me to soap making and I am looking to make a gentle all round bar (possibly with goats milk) and a body scrub bar.

For the body scrub bar I like the sound of sea salt for the exfoliation. My question is how do you put this in the bar? As it comes from the shops or do you have to grind it down smaller? The sea salt you buy from supermarkets to put in salt grinders are fairly large lumps and I am wondering if that is too harsh on skin as it comes. Also do you put it in at the end once you have a light trace or before then?

Thanks so much for reading! I am at the very start of the learning curve but I am learning lots reading threads on here.

Dippy

 

[Obsidian]

First off, salt isn't a exfoliant. The salt dissolves away quickly and you'll have a nice smooth bar.

You want to use fine ground sea salt, never grind it yourself. That creates very sharp edges that will slice your skin.

Salt reduces lather so a salt bar has to be formulated with that in mind. Most people use around 80% coconut with the rest made up of a HO oil of choice, I use olive. Make sure to use SF of 20% to counter the high cleansing of the coconut.

Add the salt at med trace so it doesn't sink. It will generally set up really quickly so you need to add any color/scent before the salt.

Salt bars also get incredibly hard quickly and can be difficult to cut. I suggest using cavity molds instead, much easier.

If you don't want to deal with a salt bar, finely ground oatmeal makes a pretty nice scrubby bar. A cheap coffee grinder works good for grinding the oatmeal.

 

[dippy]

Ah thanks so much Obsidian. I will try the oatmeal instead. Can I just blast it in a nutri bullet type blender? Or does a coffee grinder produce a different level of grind? I don't have a coffee grinder so it would be another thing to put on the wishlist!

So what is the benefit of the salt bar? Does it lock in moisture or something? I know every one is different but I am not sure of the appeal of bars that don't lather.

 

[Obsidian]

Yes, a nutribullet will work great.

Salt bars do lather if enough coconut oil is used, in fact they have a large amount of very thick lather.
If a large amount of salt is added to a basic recipe, thats when the lather is reduced.

Salt bars are not moisturizing, no soap is. It cleans, it doesn't add to the skin.

Salt bars can help with some skin issues like acne. I love them in the summer as they really make my skin feel cleaner.

 

[dippy]

Ok so if they are good for acne I am guessing they are better with more oily skin types. I have very dry skin so much so that I didn't get any spots at all as a teenager. They possibly wouldn't be good for my skin then.

Thanks for pointing out no soap is moisturizing. I guess I am confusing not stripping the skin of natural oils with actively moisturizing the skin.

 

[amd]

First off, salt isn't a exfoliant.

My husband will disagree. This is exactly why he refuses to use a shower poofy with a salt bar, he likes the scrubby feeling of the salt on his skin.

For the body scrub bar I like the sound of sea salt for the exfoliation. My question is how do you put this in the bar?

I think salt bars are worth at least trying once. They can be a nice experience. Use extra fine salt - canning & pickling salt works well and is easily found in grocery stores - and give them a long cure for best results. A recipe that I use from the forum is:
50/50 coconut milk and aloe vera juice
SF 18%
Lye concentration 33%
80% Coconut Oil
15% Liquid Oil (my husband likes avocado oil)
5% Castor Oil
30% Salt (this is not included in oil qty, but is in addition to oil qty, so if you have 100g oils, you would use 30g salt)
I use the aloe juice to dissolve the lye, and add the coconut milk to oils. Mix until trace, add salt, and mix a minute or two longer to keep batter thick enough to hold salt. Pour into mold. If you use a loaf mold that needs to be cut into bars, you will need to cut within a few hours (3-4) and it will still be warm when cutting. I recommend using cavity molds for your first batch, it will make the process so much easier for you.

My hubby has really oily skin, so the high cleansing combination of the salt and coconut oil are great for him.

Ground oatmeal is a nice exfoliant too. I found coffee grounds to be a bit harsh. Cornmeal is nice too, I find I use a lot less of that than ground oatmeal. You can also use poppy seeds, apricot kernel powder - with both of these, less is more, you do not need as much as you think you do.

 

[dippy]

I will try the salt bar - thanks for the recipe amd. It does sound nice and if it doesn't suit me it sounds like it would suit my daughters skin. I have ordered poppy seeds in the order I placed yesterday so will try those also. I think the oatmeal looks the most promising for me and I like the sound of the oat and honey bars.

 

[Obsidian]

My husband will disagree. This is exactly why he refuses to use a shower poofy with a salt bar, he likes the scrubby feeling of the salt on his skin.

That is so odd. I've used all kinds if salt and I can't feel any except the too scratchy himalayan.

 

[cmzaha]

Salt bars themselves are not exfoliating and I am not at all sure how amd's hubby would find a salt bar made with 30% salt exfoliating. But we all have our opinions and that is why we have choices. I have made salt bars for at least 10 years using 100% salt and they are not scrubby, in fact I add oatmeal to mine. The exfoliation comes into play with the natural exfoliation properties of saltwater itself. The recipe I have used since day one is 85% CO or CO/ Palm Kernel Oil Split, 5% liquid Oil, 10% Castor Oil. I have tried many combos of the 80/15 and always return to the above. While I use a log mold mine are really better poured in individual cavity molds because cutting becomes very tricky.

Obsidian just brought up a point I was going to add, never use Himalayan no matter what you read the clay in it is too sharp and will or can lacerate the skin.

Edited to fix my percentages above. This whole staying at home is messing with my brain.

 

[dippy]

I was intending on using less CO as I had read it was drying in amounts over 50% unless you add more superfat. I would rather avoid Palm if possible and don't want animal fats.

I am wondering if I am way off with my recipe! I know I need to experiment myself but don't want to waste lots of money on recipes destined for failure.

I looked at a tutorial online and based it on what ratios they suggested on hard (lathering/conditioning) and soft oils. I was thinking 30% Coconut Oil, 15% Cocoa Butter, 15% Shea Butter, 30% Olive Oil, 10% Castor Oil

I have put it into the lye calc and the INS looks ok but it seems very low on cleansing! I am not sure if I am interpreting the calc correctly. Is this a rubbish recipe? Was thinking of putting goats milk in the place of the water.

 

[Megan]

My salt bars are smooth as river rocks and that's why I like them. As someone with chronically dry skin, they are still to cleansing for me even with a 30% SF. Mine so far are 100% Coconut oil and I plan to add some more conditioning oil in and drop the SF to 20%. Despite being too cleansing for my full body, I really like them on my upper back and ...shhhh...butt...because I tend to get some spots there.

but it seems very low on cleansing

Low cleansing is GOOD! My go to formula has a cleansing number of 12 and it is a very gentle bar. All soap cleans!

 

[dippy]

Oh thanks Megan. I have the same skin type as you so sounds like I am going in the right direction.

 

[Obsidian]

Yes, you want a lower cleansing number. I try to keep mine around 11 or so but I have dry skin. Personally, I can only use 15-20% coconut most of the time.

 

[shunt2011]

I have dry older skin but I love salt soap. I use it on my face at least 2-3 times a week. I have experienced some scrubby salt bars myself. The one I'm using now in the shower was made with powdered salt and it's got some scrubby texture to it. I used the salt at 50% in this one. I've had other salts be a bit scrubby as well using fine sea salt. I've been making them for 9 years now. They are a favorite of mine and some of my customers.

 

[dippy]

I will try and get the cleansing down Obsidian. The trouble is without using palm oil or animal fat I don't think I have enough hard oils. I dropped the coconut to 10% and upped the olive oil instead which brought my cleansing to 10 but I think it will be too soft and doesn't look like it will be very bubbly. The INS is 136 which looks on the low side.

So it's 15% coconut oil, 15% cocoa butter, 15% shea butter, 45% olive oil, 10% castor oil and goats milk added. Does it sound worth trying this recipe or should I keep tinkering with it?

I have bought a 1kg mould but I think I should be using one half the size initially to avoid expensive mistakes. I could fill it half way.

I really love the sound of the salt soap shunt. I will definitely try it. I think the thing I am realising is everyone is different on what works for them no matter what skin types etc.

 

[IrishLass]

I looked at a tutorial online and based it on what ratios they suggested on hard (lathering/conditioning) and soft oils. I was thinking 30% Coconut Oil, 15% Cocoa Butter, 15% Shea Butter, 30% Olive Oil, 10% Castor Oil

I have put it into the lye calc and the INS looks ok but it seems very low on cleansing! I am not sure if I am interpreting the calc correctly. Is this a rubbish recipe? Was thinking of putting goats milk in the place of the water.

For what it's worth, this recipe actually looks quite nice to me. It's numbers are very close to my own regular tallow/lard formula, which everyone in my household loves, and which I superfat at 8%. It comes out wonderfully bubbly and doesn't dry our skin out, but then again, dryness is very dependent on one's personal skin-type. Although it's not drying to us, that doesn't mean it won't be drying to everyone. That's what makes creating your own soap so wonderful....the ability to tailor it to your own needs.


RE: salt bars. I'm one of those that doesn't find my salt bars to be scrubby, which is good because I love salt bars and scrubby soap is definitely not my favorite thing with which to shower. I don't even like using a pouf in the shower, except for the bottoms of my feet, that is. When dry, my salt bars do feel a somewhat rough (at least not as smooth as my regular CP when they are dry), but when I get them wet in the shower, they smooth right out and are quite pleasant to use. It could be just my imagination, but I find them to have a certain lovely quality about them that leaves my skin feeling extra freshened or something. Maybe it could be the natural exfoliation of salt water itself that Cmzaha mentioned above, which my skin happily doesn't equate to being scrubby

IrishLass

For what it's worth, I make mine with 30% fine sea salt ppo, 100% coconut oil, 100% coconut milk as my soaping liquid, and a 13% superfat.

 

[earlene]

As a new soapmaker, I made a few soaps with exfoliating additives. Some things ended up way to scratchy for my skin. So be cautious when you choose them and don't add excessive amounts of exfoliants. And test them carefully, too. You may like them, or you may not. I ended up advising my family to only use some of my exfoliating soaps on their feet as a foot soap, they were so scrubby. Tea leaves were the worst for scrubbiness for me; as the soap got older and lost more water, the tea leaves got harder and felt much more like I was washing with soapy twigs. Not all people have the same results, but they may not use the large pieces of tea leaves that I used. I used loose tea, not the powdery stuff often found in some tea bags.

I used regular table salt in salt bars I made May 1, 2018, at 1:1 ratio of salt to oil (CO only), and 20% SF. It is now 2 years old, and I opened up a bar to see if it feels scratchy. It doesn't, but my skin still finds it too drying. And that's my hands. It was also drying on my skin of me lower leg as well (I just washed part of a leg to try on different skin than hands only). But it wasn't rough or scratchy at all; the surface of the soap is quite smooth except on the bottom (which was really the top of the soap as it sat in the cavity mold when first poured.)

If I make salt soap again, I will try a higher SF than 20% for evaluation, but since my skin is not particularly fond of this, I am in no rush.

 

[penelopejane]

I will try and get the cleansing down Obsidian. The trouble is without using palm oil or animal fat I don't think I have enough hard oils. I dropped the coconut to 10% and upped the olive oil instead which brought my cleansing to 10 but I think it will be too soft and doesn't look like it will be very bubbly. The INS is 136 which looks on the low side.

So it's 15% coconut oil, 15% cocoa butter, 15% shea butter, 45% olive oil, 10% castor oil and goats milk added. Does it sound worth trying this recipe or should I keep tinkering with it?

I have bought a 1kg mould but I think I should be using one half the size initially to avoid expensive mistakes. I could fill it half way.

I really love the sound of the salt soap shunt. I will definitely try it. I think the thing I am realising is everyone is different on what works for them no matter what skin types etc.

The soap calcs numbers don’t work for high olive oil soaps because they don’t take into consideration the fact that olive oil soap turns rock hard after 12 months cure.
your 2nd recipe sounds great. I don’t use palm or animal fats. I use 10% max coconut oil in soap, some I use no coconut oil. Even in my salt bars I only use 40% coconut oil and the rest is avocado and olive oil.

unfortunately no one can give you the perfect soap recipe because what works for memight not work for you. Best thing is to make a lot of small 1lb batches and test them before cure, after 6 weeks cure, 12 weeks and 12 months cure.

 

[cmzaha]

I was intending on using less CO as I had read it was drying in amounts over 50% unless you add more superfat. I would rather avoid Palm if possible and don't want animal fats.

I am wondering if I am way off with my recipe! I know I need to experiment myself but don't want to waste lots of money on recipes destined for failure.

I looked at a tutorial online and based it on what ratios they suggested on hard (lathering/conditioning) and soft oils. I was thinking 30% Coconut Oil, 15% Cocoa Butter, 15% Shea Butter, 30% Olive Oil, 10% Castor Oil

I have put it into the lye calc and the INS looks ok but it seems very low on cleansing! I am not sure if I am interpreting the calc correctly. Is this a rubbish recipe? Was thinking of putting goats milk in the place of the water.

Your recipe will not work as a salt bar. Much less than 75% CO will not lather and 30% butters in salt bar absolutely will not lather. All you can do is about 7% butters. For most people 20% SF works fine any higher will get oily. Some people simply cannot use salt bars. Everything is trial and error and dependent on the individual. Do not waste your ingredients on the above recipe you simply will not be happy. Palm oil is also not good in Salt bars. There is just not much I have not tried.

 

[penelopejane]

Your recipe will not work as a salt bar. Much less than 75% CO will not lather and 30% butters in salt bar absolutely will not lather. All you can do is about 7% butters. For most people 20% SF works fine any higher will get oily. Some people simply cannot use salt bars. Everything is trial and error and dependent on the individual. Do not waste your ingredients on the above recipe you simply will not be happy. Palm oil is also not good in Salt bars. There is just not much I have not tried.

I think she's looking at a few different bars. One she was considering was a salt bar.