Wow, tried this Euro salt recipe, love it!

[batty]

I tried this last night with one of my older salt soap recipes. After reading this thread, I looked at the original tutorial, the tutorial that he referenced, and one other video tutorial. I noticed that some were using salt at 20% of the liquid, while in the video tutorial she uses salt as 20% of the oils. It seemed like a lot to dissolve in her lye water, but in the video it looks like it all dissolved. Anyway, I tried it out going for the 20% of oils since I usually do almost 100% salt, and I wasn't opposed to having salt left in the bar. I also decided to add some olive oil into the recipe so I did
60% CO
39% OO
1% Castor
All I had was course sea salt, so of course it did not completely dissolve. I kind of attacked the salt with my stick blender so that it would at least get a bit smaller. I found that it did not thicken anywhere near as fast as the tutorials implied. It was also a bit soft unmolding it today. I did a combo of mints/eucalyptus/tea tree, with some finely ground mint tea leaves, so at the very worst it smells refreshing! Can't wait to see what a good cure does to it.

 

[Twiggy]

any updates on the soaps? really curious about lather and all that. too soon huh?

I will update as soon it will cure

 

[Mellifera]

I'll add an update when mine has cured. I was feeling adventurous and did it as a Bastille: 75 OO/25 CO. I dissolved the salt in about 75% of the water called for, then added some goat milk at trace. I scented with orange/patch/cedarwood.

We'll see!

 

[Mellifera]

Well, it hasn't cured yet, obviously, but when I took the soap out of the divided mold today, there were little "ends" from under the dividers, and I couldn't resist. I took a few of these shards and tried them out. Less than 24 hours old, and they gave me a low, creamy lather, not unlike other salt bars that I've used, though sparser. I'm anxious to see what they'll do in a week, a month, or two.

 

[Mellifera]

OK, it's only 4 days old, but call me crazy. I took a bar into the shower. This was a 25% salt to water weight, 75/25 EVOO/Coconut, with some cedar and citrus EOs for a nice masculine scent. ETA Forgot that I put some goat milk in as well, about 1/4 of the liquid (from memory--my book is downstairs).

Four days. If you use it with just water (no sponge, no net, no cloth), you get low lather that bubbles up with more water and work. But take it in the shower and use a net thingy, and holy Moses in a Mustang. Bubbles everywhere. Lather and bubbly love with no toil. And no trouble.

I was amazed because I've actually had a complaint (as I mentioned in another post) from a person I gifted a soap to (same 75/25, IIRC, but no salt) who said that it "didn't lather." If this one bursts into song--err bubbles--in four days with a net, what will it do in a couple of months?

Also, call me even crazier, but I washed my hair with it. Just for the heck of it. My hair is wavy/curly and fine, a horrid combination, in my opinion. Feel nice. Soft. Not stripped.

So I'm liking this method. Definitely a keeper.

 

[Skatergirl46]

If you like it now, just imagine how nice it will be in 6 months.

 

[Mellifera]

The bar in the shower will also be the test bar for how it stands up to adverse conditions. Because while I always remember to put the soap back in the draining soap dish, someone else just plunks it on the wet ledge. Harumph.

 

[Paintguru]

May have to try this. The two aspects that I don't like about salt bars are the crumbly nature of them and the fact that they are slightly drying. This technique seems to address those two issues with the fact that you can use your standard recipe with typical levels of coconut oil and get hard but not crumbly bars. Plus, this allows me to use my master batch of non-salt oils in and make "salt" bars. If the lather is in fact all that and a bag of donuts, it may be a great combo!

 

[OliveOil2]

I am so amazed with the results! I also tried mine after four or five days, and lots of bubbles, I was so impressed that I made another batch right away. It's been about a month, and I tried one in the shower yesterday, love the smooth feeling, and of course the bubbles.
For my recipe I had lots of soda ash, that washed off, and the colors seemed muted, much lighter than the same color in a regular bar of soap. I haven't experienced this with the salt bars. Overall I am so excited about this recipe, think they will be a favorite for sure.

 

[paillo]

The bubbles are amazing, the bars are rock-hard but still creamy, and they last a long, long, time. My hubby has declared these his favorite kind of soap, and I'm not allowed to ever, ever run out

 

[nframe]

Just to add my voice to the praises: I, too, made this a couple of months ago. I followed the Soaping 101 recipe and made it with 100% coconut oil, 20% sea salt and 20% SF. It is scented with aniseed and it is WONDERFUL. Here it is:

 

[lsg]

I made a version of the recipe this morning. My soap traced very quickly. I had to get it into the molds as fast as possible.

 

[seven]

thanks for the update guys... putting this into my 'must do' list

 

[Twiggy]

thanks for the update guys... putting this into my 'must do' list

You must! The end effect is amazing – well the look at least hahaha I didn’t try my yet, is still on a cure rack, but can’t wait to see if it actually makes any bubbles LOL I’ve made it with my regular recipe for some other soap, when I cut it, it was still warm

 

[Hazel]

Great looking soap!

nframe - I really like the flowers and it makes me think of a 'spring/summer' type soap. I thought the round would also be nice with yellow and scented citrus.

Twiggy - I love the delicacy of your swirl and the colors make me think 'Zen'.

I meant to try a batch of this weeks ago, even printed out a recipe but then never got around to making it. I should add it to my lengthy to-do list for this weekend.

 

[batty]

I have used this method a few times now, and I notice that my salt is not dissolving completely. The different tutorials seem to say both put the salt in the water first AND put it in after the lye. Are you guys getting the salt to completely dissolve? If so, what order are you adding it to the water?

 

[OliveOil2]

Even when I heated up the salt water to incorporate the salt, cooled it, and then added the lye there was a thickness to the lye water. I had used 3.6 oz to about 13.6 oz of water, and 40 oz of oils. My recipe was similar to the David Fisher recipe on Ask.Com, but I super fatted at 7%, and used oils that I had on hand. I am so used to superfatting a salt bar at 20% so this was a fun batch. This was a 34% water reduction, since they were way too wet at 36% (first batch) and I had read 33% was perfect, but I wanted to be careful not to have anything seize up.

 

[Saponista]

I added the salt first and dissolved it as much as I could, there were a few grains in the bottom. Then I added the lye and it almost goes frothy and turns completely white.

 

[Twiggy]

Thank you Hazel!!! I'm really happy that you like it

I have used this method a few times now, and I notice that my salt is not dissolving completely. The different tutorials seem to say both put the salt in the water first AND put it in after the lye. Are you guys getting the salt to completely dissolve? If so, what order are you adding it to the water?

That the situation I was worried about when I’ve planned that project. So what I did was- first was salt, then the lye. I’ve measured out the amount of salt I needed and was adding it with small portions to the water. When I noticed that water doesn’t take any more salt I stopped, well only few grams have left in the cup, so I managed to add nearly all salt I was planning to add that way. That is the safe way I think, you have absolute control of you salty water saturation, and can make sure there is nothing left undissolved.

I think if you have more time, or willing to spend more time, you can dissolve little bit more salt in the same water amount, but I was impatient and didn’t want to spend whole day over dissolving a salt for soap

 

[Hazel]

Oh yes! I think white/black or cream/black soap are elegant looking. I always say I'm going to make one and then I don't. I end up going for either no color or other colors. Of course, there are a lot of ideas I have for soap and never get around to doing.

I'm going to make some brine in a little bit. This might help me get motivated to make it tomorrow or Monday.