Why salt bars?

[Finchen]

Sounds interesting, I need to try this.

I have oily facial skin and am thinking about making a salt bar and also add some clay.

At which stage do you guys add the salt? How much % of water?

One more question: Can a salt bar be used for hair too?

 

[JackiK]

Hazel was kind enough to send me one of her salt bars and I'm in LOVE. I can hardly wait to make some of my own.

 

[Hazel]

Aw shucks...thanks for the kind comment.

I'm looking forward to seeing pics of your salt bars.

 

[margarita]

i usually do superfat about 20 percent. lately i've started making them with half distilled water and half buttermilk at trace, and i almost always add a little clay. i'm totally addicted to buttermilk as my favorite milk in soap. salt bars with this recipe aren't oily or greasy at all, nor drying -- just perfect, imho

oh yeah, and i use 75 to 80 percent salt for the total volume of the oils.

I've tried your recipe today and it went great. Here's the pic of my first batch of salt bars:

The green is a bit icky, but I'm still very happy with the result. Thanks again, paillo! I can't wait to try them out in the shower.

 

[SudsyKat]

I have kind of the same question that Margarita had - and maybe it's been answered and I'm just not getting it. If so, I apologize and am totally open to someone pointing out the answer for me.

So, the question in my mind is, when you have such a high superfat number and you're including oils like castor, and the ideal curing time is several months, doesn't that create an issue with rancidity?

I've just noticed my first case of DOS (I think - it's not really little dots, more like faint orange areas) in a bar of castille at 7% superfat. So, this is the topic on my mind at the moment.

 

[American Valkyrie]

This is in response to the original question.

Soap bars cured my acne. I'm not kidding. I still get a few breakouts... say, two pimples a month, down from about 10 a week. I'm 34, and had adult acne all the way until I started trying my salt bars on my face. I like to shave a salt bar down with a vegetable peeler, then mix in baking soda. Just a few weeks ago, I learned why it works so well... there is a certain acne-causing bacteria that loves a pH of around 4. That's pretty acidic. Salt bars take a bit more oil off, and mixing it with baking soda gives it more alkalinity, and is soothing.

I don't wear foundation anymore. I used to put it on before I left the house to get the mail.

I've given my salt bars to three friends with acne. Now I need to make sure I always have some on hand, because they keep coming back for more!

Also, they're very inexpensive to make. I use coconut oil at 20% SF with equal amounts of plain, cheap table salt.

They're also a lot quicker to make. You do need to watch it as it hardens, because it's really hard to cut if you wait too long. But I don't have a lot of time on hand, and I find that salt bars trace faster and harden faster. I shape them within 24 hours (clean the edges with a vegetable peeler) then let them cure and they are SUPER hard!

 

[Dennis]

True story. I gave a salt bar to a neighbor and her teenage son (friend of my son) came to me and told me how much he loved it. Seems he used it to clean parts he took off of his jeep. :shock:

Haven't heard yet from his mother.

 

[kelleyaynn]

True story. I gave a salt bar to a neighbor and her teenage son (friend of my son) came to me and told me how much he loved it. Seems he used it to clean parts he took off of his jeep. :shock:

Haven't heard yet from his mother.

Hmmm..... next time I want to clean my car wheels, I might have to give that one a try!

Cleans car parts, cures acne - salt bars are starting to sound like the next miracle cure. And I'm not trying to be obnoxious. I just made some salt bars so I can try them on my son. The acne on his back is terrible, but his doctors don't want to prescribe antibiotics for him because he is on so many other meds already (he's autistic, epileptic,
ADHD, etc. ).

 

[Finchen]

This is in response to the original question.

Soap bars cured my acne. I'm not kidding. I still get a few breakouts... say, two pimples a month, down from about 10 a week. I'm 34, and had adult acne all the way until I started trying my salt bars on my face. I like to shave a salt bar down with a vegetable peeler, then mix in baking soda. Just a few weeks ago, I learned why it works so well... there is a certain acne-causing bacteria that loves a pH of around 4. That's pretty acidic. Salt bars take a bit more oil off, and mixing it with baking soda gives it more alkalinity, and is soothing.

I don't wear foundation anymore. I used to put it on before I left the house to get the mail.

I've given my salt bars to three friends with acne. Now I need to make sure I always have some on hand, because they keep coming back for more!

Also, they're very inexpensive to make. I use coconut oil at 20% SF with equal amounts of plain, cheap table salt.

They're also a lot quicker to make. You do need to watch it as it hardens, because it's really hard to cut if you wait too long. But I don't have a lot of time on hand, and I find that salt bars trace faster and harden faster. I shape them within 24 hours (clean the edges with a vegetable peeler) then let them cure and they are SUPER hard!

Thanks for the info. That is great. I have oily skin and many pimples at the moment and want to get rid of them. Are you using 100% of coconut oil?
How much water do you add? Can I use iodized salt?

Thanks for your answer.

 

[American Valkyrie]

This is in response to the original question.

Soap bars cured my acne. I'm not kidding. I still get a few breakouts... say, two pimples a month, down from about 10 a week. I'm 34, and had adult acne all the way until I started trying my salt bars on my face. I like to shave a salt bar down with a vegetable peeler, then mix in baking soda. Just a few weeks ago, I learned why it works so well... there is a certain acne-causing bacteria that loves a pH of around 4. That's pretty acidic. Salt bars take a bit more oil off, and mixing it with baking soda gives it more alkalinity, and is soothing.

I don't wear foundation anymore. I used to put it on before I left the house to get the mail.

I've given my salt bars to three friends with acne. Now I need to make sure I always have some on hand, because they keep coming back for more!

Also, they're very inexpensive to make. I use coconut oil at 20% SF with equal amounts of plain, cheap table salt.

They're also a lot quicker to make. You do need to watch it as it hardens, because it's really hard to cut if you wait too long. But I don't have a lot of time on hand, and I find that salt bars trace faster and harden faster. I shape them within 24 hours (clean the edges with a vegetable peeler) then let them cure and they are SUPER hard!

Thanks for the info. That is great. I have oily skin and many pimples at the moment and want to get rid of them. Are you using 100% of coconut oil?
How much water do you add? Can I use iodized salt?

Thanks for your answer.

I use 100% coconut oil. 38% water solution, right off of soapcalc. Adding fragrance oils hasn't had an effect on my skin, either, but soon I'm going to make a fragrance-free color-free batch for super-sensitive skin.

I've used iodized salt for my first batch. Worked just fine. After that, though, I bought the non-iodized one because it was 25 cents per container. I figured... it's for soap, so might as well save money. I've read you can use table salt (regular and iodized) and sea salt, but NO epsom salts. It's not the same chemical makeup.

Your skin might get a tiny bit dry at first. It'll correct itself soon. I just dabbed on some good moisturizer until my skin got accustomed to the soap change, and that took less than a week. I've been using it for 6 months now, and as long as I just remember to wash my face morning, night, and before/after workouts, my skin is great.

 

[Finchen]

Thanks American Valkyrie, your reply helps me a lot.

 

[Hazel]

Finchen -

Has anyone mentioned that you have to cut salt bars before they cool? They get really hard so you want to cut them within a couple hours or so. I used molds with cavities the second time I made salt bars. It made it much easier since I didn't have to worry about not cutting them in time.

 

[Finchen]

Thanks Hazel, I have read about the early cutting issue and decided to use a silicone mold so that I can avoid the cutting.

There is one more thing I wanted to ask, but now I cannot remember it. I am getting old...

 

[Hazel]

You might know this already but salt bars are much better after a longer cure. At 4 weeks, they're nice but after a couple of months, they're wonderful!

 

[Finchen]

I know but I am impatient and I am sure I cannot wait 3 months, so will start using them after only 4 weeks.

 

[Hazel]

That's what I did which is why I suggested a longer cure time. Don't worry. It will get to a point that you'll have so much soap, it won't be hard to wait. You'll have all the other soap to use during this time.