Sugar bar experiment with high sugar amount.

[jenneelk]

Back in February someone asked if there was a sugar bar with tons of sugar like a salt bar but it seems no one had really tried it, or had tried a variation of it but it was too soft. I went ahead and tried it back then and realized I never posted the results.

Mine turned out great overall. It took a long while to firm up and still now if I push hard on it I can make a dent, but it doesn't seem to wear down too much faster than a typical bar. I love to use it on my feet for exfoliating. It doesn't get super smooth like a salt bar but it's abrasive too much either. It's a bit and IMO just enough for feet, elbows, etc. I wear flip flops 9 out of 12 months and have horrible feet.. this works great to clean my cracked feet and also smooth them out.

I did 100% sugar. Bubbles are pretty good but I don't use it to wash overall.

Picture is a new one and the first wash with it.

 

[Obsidian]

That looks pretty good, much better then my squishy failed attempt. Is it as scratchy as a coffee bar? I'd love to find a alternate to coffee grinds.

 

[jenneelk]

It's different.. it has a mild all over sort of abrasive but not really scratchy so much. Like if I use it on my arms it feels rough but not like coffee grounds that can leave marks sometimes. lol

Trying to think what it might compare to.. it's a very light scrubby feel.

 

[Obsidian]

Sounds really nice. Did you use a high amount of coconut or other hard oil? I'm thinking of doing a 80% coconut with 20% SF just like I would a salt bar.

 

[jenneelk]

No not high like salt bars.. I just used a basic recipe I had. Coconut Oil was 21 and I had higher sunflower and palm actually. It was an old recipe I made to use up the sunflower so it was 30%.
Seemed to be ok though because I have to wonder if it was firmer if it would cause it to be too rough. Maybe the tad bit of soft still gives it some give and less abrasive? It's run of the mill right down the middle in terms of quality numbers and hardness was 43 before the sugar.

 

[jenneelk]

If you want one I can send you one.. they are small little bars. Perfect for the palm and running along your feet. lol
I think I still have your address from our last trading.

 

[Obsidian]

Thanks for the offer, its tempting but I think I'll try a high coconut version. This way, we can compare lathers

 

[hmlove1218]

Hmm... This makes me want to try it too lol

 

[Saponista]

100% weight of oils for the sugar?

 

[jenneelk]

Yes I did 100%.

 

[Saponista]

I think I will give this a go. Could cut it into inch squares, put it in a jar and label it as sugar scrub.

 

[DeeAnna]

I found out that plain white sugar (sucrose) is about 5 times more soluble in water than table salt (sodium chloride) is. I wonder if that is one of the reasons why "sugar bars" may tend to be softer than the base soap or the same recipe made as a salt bar. Also, sugar is a covalent molecule compared to salt being ionic and that could affect things too .... oh, neverrrr miiiind, just cut to the chase, DeeAnna....

So, okay, I wonder if a sugar bar might be harder if the lye solution was fairly concentrated (say, a 40% NaOH solution) rather than "full water" of about 28% NaOH. Less water = Harder sugar bar?

Even if softer, a sugar bar strikes me as being much less messy than the usual sugar scrub. Thanks for sharing your results, Jennee!

 

[CaraBou]

Cool experiment! Does it taste sweet?

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Cool experiment! Does it taste sweet?

"I'll just zap test this other bar, just to make sure..............oops, I've eaten another one!"

An interesting idea. I'm not sure if high CO is really needed, as it isn't salt water so the lather shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Saponista]

I think the high sunflower doesn't help with your bar hardness. I was reading the results of someone's single oil soap experiments and the all sunflower bar was very soft and sticky even after curing and developed DOS fairly quickly.

 

[vuladams]

Curious how this sugar bar holds up over time. Did it get harder months later? Or stay the same? Curious because I made a sugar bar at 10% of oil weight and am noticing it's taking longer to set up, so I'll wait until tomorrow to unmold it.

 

[CanaDawn]

I found out that plain white sugar (sucrose) is about 5 times more soluble in water than table salt (sodium chloride) is. I wonder if that is one of the reasons why "sugar bars" may tend to be softer than the base soap or the same recipe made as a salt bar. Also, sugar is a covalent molecule compared to salt being ionic and that could affect things too .... oh, neverrrr miiiind, just cut to the chase, DeeAnna....

So, okay, I wonder if a sugar bar might be harder if the lye solution was fairly concentrated (say, a 40% NaOH solution) rather than "full water" of about 28% NaOH. Less water = Harder sugar bar?

Would the hygrophilic nature of sugar vs salt also be a contributing factor to the softness?

Oh...and searching for information about that lead me to this:
http://www.certified-lye.com/safety.html
"Lye (sodium hydroxide) may react with various sugars to generate carbon monoxide, which is a poisonous gas; mixing sodium hydroxide and sugar in a closed container is therefore dangerous. Do not allow lye to contact sugar."
Which, as well as being a bit of a warning (although we're talking small amounts, I"m sure, and since we're using lye in a ventilated area (right?) the carbon monoxide won't likely be a big concern), suggests that there is a reaction with the lye and therefore I wonder if there's a lye discount happening net.

 

[cmzaha]

I guess I missed this post. I do make a sugar bar and they work really well. Mine do not stay soft at all. I use a mix of Turbinado and Demerara sugar. The sugar does not dissolve and does not smooth out like glass as salt bars will. I like my sugar bars almost as well as my salt bars. Mine are made with tallow, olive, coconut, palm, castor. with 20% sugar

 

[Obsidian]

I actually got a couple bars of this soap and its quite hard. It does seem more soluble then regular soap but thats ok as mine got DOS sitting on the soap rack in the bathroom. The extra bar in a dry room is DOS free though. It has a very nice exfoliation, not too scratchy.