What Do You Like About Salt Bars?

[DeeAnna]

Given the necessary high amount of available coconut oil & high SF in salt bars; any issues clogging pores for those with acne prone skin? Based on numbers it seems it's highly possible...maybe the salt offsets that?

The soap itself offsets that. Superfat in soap isn't the same as putting the fat straight on your skin. Most of the superfat in soap doesn't remain on the skin; it's emulsified by the soap so the fat rinses off. The high superfat used in a high coconut oil soap is "sacrificial" in that the soap emulsifies this superfat rather than strip the natural fats from your skin.

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

Perhaps some people like the bars a bit softer than those that are fully cured. No accounting for what folks prefer. That is what makes us so interesting (and also helps explain why we don’t just all use the same brand of soap)!

Yes. I love my salt bars starting at 4 weeks. I tried one that was like 5 months or so and was not blown away. I still loved it cause i love my salt bars but it wasnt as amazing as i thought it would be

 

[SaltedFig]

@Alfa_Lazcares It is worth keeping one to try again at 12months and 18months ... you may be pleasantly surprised at the difference

 

[Steve85569]

Have some that are 3 years on the basement bathroom sink. More like a cleansing cream than a lather now . Could be mistaken for shaving soap.
I use that bathroom when I come in from the woods or garden rather well soiled.
Love salt bars at 100 salt by weight of oils.
And you can even swirl them.
Just don't wait too long to cut them. My first batch I waited overnight and had to use a saw.

 

[redhead1226]

I played around with this last night (but did not soap it yet)

put some kosher sea salt into a tall narrow pitcher, and then SB the bejeezus out of it - shaking it as well so that I would get movement top to bottom in the soap. It got very powdery - I wonder if this is similar to what you bought?

I can not describe the texture. But it’s like silk. I’m not sure you can replicate it. But you can try.

 

[redhead1226]

Perhaps some people like the bars a bit softer than those that are fully cured. No accounting for what folks prefer. That is what makes us so interesting (and also helps explain why we don’t just all use the same brand of soap)!

Salt bars are never soft at any stage. So I’m not sure about what you are saying. The salt is the hardening agent.

 

[cmzaha]

Have some that are 3 years on the basement bathroom sink. More like a cleansing cream than a lather now . Could be mistaken for shaving soap.
I use that bathroom when I come in from the woods or garden rather well soiled.
Love salt bars at 100 salt by weight of oils.
And you can even swirl them.
Just don't wait too long to cut them. My first batch I waited overnight and had to use a saw.

Yep waiting overnight would require a saw. I cut my 100% salt bars within 45-60 minutes. Usually the 45 min mark is what works for my recipe. In my opinion there is nothing better than a 2-3 yr old 100% salt bar. I have one that I use once in awhile that is 5 yrs old. I don't want it to go away so I don't use if often

 

[christina rogers]

So I have an obsession with soleseife bars but can you help?

I’ve done 15% brine
And another recipe (lovin soap) has 20% but a ton of water

How much water do I need for 20% brine?

I hear salt can be 25% of water, but do I take out the water for the lye first
(As in extra water for the lye, plus a 20-25%salt /75% water solution?)

From what I heard: if I don’t have enough water, the lye won’t incorporate correctly
and will be lye heavy

I’ve done soaps for about 3+ years and just found the brine soaps

*lastly: is it possible to do goats milk brine soap with high coconut? Or does it get too hot too quick?

 

[Dawni]

I've done 25% brine before and it worked fine at 2:1 for me. Just make sure your salt is dissolved completely and strain before adding your lye. I think that answers your other question too?

The most recent soleseife I did had an unmeasured amount of saturated salt in the water. I put salt in a bottle, about 1/4 of it and filled the bottle with water and let it sit about a day, shaking every now n then until the water could hold no more salt. I strained out what remained and measured what the calculator gave me BUT I took out about 20 grams and replaced that with plain water and mixed and strained again, just to make sure. Almost nothing was left btw.

I'm gonna try with no plain water replacement next time. This soap also had coconut milk powder stick blended into the oils.

I haven't tested this one though.. But I have a good feeling about it lol I hope that helps you some?

 

[christina rogers]

I've done 25% brine before and it worked fine at 2:1 for me. Just make sure your salt is dissolved completely and strain before adding your lye. I think that answers your other question too?

The most recent soleseife I did had an unmeasured amount of saturated salt in the water. I put salt in a bottle, about 1/4 of it and filled the bottle with water and let it sit about a day, shaking every now n then until the water could hold no more salt. I strained out what remained and measured what the calculator gave me BUT I took out about 20 grams and replaced that with plain water and mixed and strained again, just to make sure. Almost nothing was left btw.

I'm gonna try with no plain water replacement next time. This soap also had coconut milk powder stick blended into the oils.

I haven't tested this one though.. But I have a good feeling about it lol I hope that helps you some?

Thank you
That is very helpful

I don’t know where I heard the lye would leach out, or not saponify, but that was my hurdle

These brine bars are my new best friend, lol. I’d like to increase the salt and see where it goes

Thank you again

 

[cmzaha]

I actually add in any undissolved salt when I make soleseif bars as long as I have not used Himalayan Salt for my brine

 

[Dawni]

I actually add in any undissolved salt when I make soleseif bars as long as I have not used Himalayan Salt for my brine

Ah yes! The 25% brine used Himalayan pink so I strained it to prevent it from scratching, and the saturated brine was my first time so I wanted to make sure I did not have undissolved lye (because I wasn't sure how much more my water could dissolve).

 

[Clarice]

Hi all. So, I read this thread about 6 weeks ago and since I was early in my soaping journey, I apparently absorbed about 15% of what I read!

Having just gone over this again, I have now twigged to the use of HIGH levels of CO. I definitely did not get that first time around. I also failed to grasp the high level of SF!

I am going to make some new batches using the 80/20 advice (80 CO/ 20 other for a bit of experimentation) but first I must wait for my powdered sea salt (thank you @redhead1226 - I was able to locate salt works).

For those of you familiar with @Zany_in_CO “no slime Castile” would her faux sea water be suitable to use as the additional water (I use a 50% concentration master batch lye).

Here is a link to @Zany_in_CO ’s recipe: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/zanys-no-slime-castile.72620/


Thank you to all who contributed to this thread. I see now I must go back and re-read a good bit of what I “thought”I learned! lol

 

[Dawni]

@Clarice you probably won't need the faux seawater since you're using a high percentage of coconut oil although there's no harm in trying, but I suspect the soap will give you a harder time n thicken up really quick.

But maybe if you're only going to use it for the remaining liquid added to your masterbatched lye, it could prove to be ok.

That is best with 100% olive or as Dean tried it, 100% sweet almond oil, or a combination of other oils, especially if you have all or mostly soft oils. It helps harden and prevent slime.

 

[Steve85569]

One more thing to like about salt bars....



Mixing was started two and a half hours before the pictures were taken.
Recipe:
100 % coconut oil
100% salt ( by weight of oil)
2.5 : 1 water to alkali ratio (high water)
Drop swirl.

 

[Clarice]

Ok - so I made two batches of salt soap today - both 500 grams

A: 80% CO / 20% AO / 70% salt / MB Lye + additional liquid / 18% SF
B: 80% CO / 20% HOSO / 35% salt / MB Lye + additional liquid / 18% SF

Salt was "sea salt" purchased at local grocery; it was rather coarse, so I used a SB to pulse through it and get it quite fine
I masterbatch lye at 1:1 and when additional water was added there was no significant temp rise.

Both recipes are in SMF under my user name boonmah

I melted the CO, over a water bath, removed when there were a few tiny chunks left and allowed to melt the rest of the way. I then added the second oil, used SB to incorporate lye, when thoroughly emulsified - but before light trace - I added salt - SB a bit more, then poured into individual molds - that was about three hours ago. As of writing the soap is still very liquid.

I had done a salt bar once before (albeit not with CO) and it traced so fast and so hard that it spooked me. That may well have influenced how I treated this batch.

Here are my Qs:

Should I have SB longer - i.e., to a light trace before adding salt?

Does CO take a LOT longer than OO to reach trace?

Like @Zany_in_CO 's no-slime-castile, will this "come together" if I just leave it ALONE for a couple of days?

Any suggestions you have to improve my technique?

THANK YOU!!!!!

 

[penelopejane]

Ah yes! The 25% brine used Himalayan pink so I strained it to prevent it from scratching, and the saturated brine was my first time so I wanted to make sure I did not have undissolved lye (because I wasn't sure how much more my water could dissolve).

Dawni
It is best not to use Himalayan salt in soap. Even if you dissolve it it can recrystallise as sharp scratchy bits in your soap.
Use plain cooking salt, canning salt or sea salt.

 

[penelopejane]

Ok - so I made two batches of salt soap today - both 500 grams

A: 80% CO / 20% AO / 70% salt / MB Lye + additional liquid / 18% SF
B: 80% CO / 20% HOSO / 35% salt / MB Lye + additional liquid / 18% SF

Salt was "sea salt" purchased at local grocery; it was rather coarse, so I used a SB to pulse through it and get it quite fine
I masterbatch lye at 1:1 and when additional water was added there was no significant temp rise.

Both recipes are in SMF under my user name boonmah

I melted the CO, over a water bath, removed when there were a few tiny chunks left and allowed to melt the rest of the way. I then added the second oil, used SB to incorporate lye, when thoroughly emulsified - but before light trace - I added salt - SB a bit more, then poured into individual molds - that was about three hours ago. As of writing the soap is still very liquid.

I had done a salt bar once before (albeit not with CO) and it traced so fast and so hard that it spooked me. That may well have influenced how I treated this batch.

Here are my Qs:

Should I have SB longer - i.e., to a light trace before adding salt?

Does CO take a LOT longer than OO to reach trace?

Like @Zany_in_CO 's no-slime-castile, will this "come together" if I just leave it ALONE for a couple of days?

Any suggestions you have to improve my technique?

THANK YOU!!!!!

I take mine to light trace because the salt stays in suspension through the bar if I do that. Yours will still make soap.
It is great to be able to recognise emulsion it is a good stage to mix in colours etc.

 

[Dawni]

Dawni
It is best not to use Himalayan salt in soap. Even if you dissolve it it can recrystallise as sharp scratchy bits in your soap.
Use plain cooking salt, canning salt or sea salt.

Ack! I didn't realize it would crystallize again even in brine soap. Thank you.. Good thing my soaps sre for home use. I'll keep those as mine and always use a loofah lol

 

[penelopejane]

Ack! I didn't realize it would crystallize again even in brine soap. Thank you.. Good thing my soaps sre for home use. I'll keep those as mine and always use a loofah lol

Test it. It might be ok. But it is just not worth the risk in soap. It is really lethally sharp in soap and can draw blood.