Zany's no slime castile

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I had a friend who used to have a salt water fish tank - she would get special rocks from the "salt water fish tank store" and would soak these rocks in water for ??? time and then use in her tank.

I wonder if this would yield "less-faux" salt water?

Someone in this thread metioned using fish tank sea water mix. Ur friend must’ve had a rock version of that. I’m tempted try the mix but I rcvd such good results from saltNsoda that I don’t think it can b improved upon...in terms of hardness, sheen and unmolding.
 
Is anyone using faux sea water instead of just salt in their non-castille recipies for hardness, sheen and ease of umolding?
Edited loads, please read again

My red sandalwood soap used it. I did want to see if it would harden up. It had no hard oils (except coconut), animal fats, butters or waxes. I don't think I noticed sheen, nor was there much difference in unmolding. I'll try to take more notice when I'll use the faux seawater next.

I am gonna make notes for you regarding hardness after my rice soap cures around a month, to see how it compares to the other one at the same age. This soap only used sea salt but more than normal (less than brine though) while the sandalwood used a salt that I'm not sure is sea salt.
 
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Has anyone else tried playing with the amounts of salt and baking soda?

I made soap today, but I added half a teaspoon more salt, and lessened the baking soda by about 1/4 a teaspoon and wow.... Traced in 5 seconds with the SB, when I planned on mixing only til emulsion. Also, soap set after just an hour in the mold. After about another 20mins I was worried I won't be able to cut, so I did.

I'm sure the kaolin clay helped accelerate, and probably the amount of salt combined by even just that lil bit of baking soda changed some properties. Thought I'd mention it in case anyone wanted to try it...
 
I'm here with some other "findings" hehehe

I now have three batches using the faux seawater that have been curing more than 6 weeks, give or take a few days apart for each.

Please crucify me if you wish, but after testing these on my face I tried them on my toddler's right leg, where he has a spot of dry skin the size of my thumbnail. Remember, Asian, tiny hands ;)

Anyways, the first soap I made that followed the recipe almost to a T, had olive, coconut and castor, with a bit of almond oil is more drying for him than my sandalwood soap. The dry spot looked like a rough white rash. That other soap has the olive oil amount split between olive, rice bran and avocado oils, and considering it also has more coconut, that dry spot isn't white at all, just rougher than the rest of his skin, but not overly so like with the mostly olive oil soap.

Go figure. I am not learned enough to say whether it's the combo of oils, if it's the sandalwood powder lol, or if my baby's skin just doesn't like olive all that much.
 
, if it's the sandalwood powder
Oh my. Dawni, dear heart, you used sandalwood powder in baby soap? :eek: Probably not the best idea you've come up with. LOL I've worked with it a bit, a long time ago. Even a little bit can be irritating for my sensitive skin. I sent a bar to my brother and my SIL and even they found it a little too harsh for their skin. At least you have an answer, of sorts. I suggest you stick with the original recipe as is. Your skin, and your toddler's skin with thank you for it. ;)
 
Lols on his one leg only, yes. When the original recipe dried out that spot more, this was the next mildest soap I had.

Are you talking about the other sandalwood, the one with the strong aroma? I used the red one, no smell, for color and strained out all the bits.

Even so, don't worry, he's been back to baby soap haha I just tried it one time each, different days.

It's the same story for my face by the way...
 
Has anyone else tried playing with the amounts of salt and baking soda?

I made soap today, but I added half a teaspoon more salt, and lessened the baking soda by about 1/4 a teaspoon and wow.... Traced in 5 seconds with the SB, when I planned on mixing only til emulsion. Also, soap set after just an hour in the mold. After about another 20mins I was worried I won't be able to cut, so I did.

I'm sure the kaolin clay helped accelerate, and probably the amount of salt combined by even just that lil bit of baking soda changed some properties. Thought I'd mention it in case anyone wanted to try it...
Great experiment. However, olive oil soap doesn't become really mild and gentle for 9 -12 months and more so after an even longer cure. So don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Please try this experiment again in 8 months.
 
Great experiment. However, olive oil soap doesn't become really mild and gentle for 9 -12 months and more so after an even longer cure. So don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Please try this experiment again in 8 months.
Hehehe yes, I did make a note of that and plan to do testing again once a month after the 6mos mark, just to see. I've already hid the rest of the soap bar the test ones.

Now that you mention it, it could be that a combo of other oils are milder than 85% olive, in the beginning?

I should note that. I tried it after 6wks to check for slime but I have a feeling the olive oil I have isn't slimey to begin with? Time to make a Castile without the faux seawater I think, for comparison in the future.

Thanks for the reminder @penelopejane :)
 
Hehehe yes, I did make a note of that and plan to do testing again once a month after the 6mos mark, just to see. I've already hid the rest of the soap bar the test ones.

Now that you mention it, it could be that a combo of other oils are milder than 85% olive, in the beginning?

I should note that. I tried it after 6wks to check for slime but I have a feeling the olive oil I have isn't slimey to begin with? Time to make a Castile without the faux seawater I think, for comparison in the future.

Thanks for the reminder @penelopejane :)
I have you tried a pure castile bar yet with seawater?
It is possible your olive oil isn't slimy to begin with. They really do vary.

Yes, maybe, but 6 weeks is still a really young soap to try on someone with sensitive skin.
It's more likely something to do with the soap curing.
 
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I have you tried a pure castile bar yet with seawater?

Yes, maybe, but 6 weeks is still a really young soap to try on someone with sensitive skin.
It's more likely something to do with the soap curing.
No I don't believe I have. Costs way more here than I can afford lol so making it might be the only way to try it.
 
I'm here with some other "findings" hehehe

I now have three batches using the faux seawater that have been curing more than 6 weeks, give or take a few days apart for each.

Please crucify me if you wish, but after testing these on my face I tried them on my toddler's right leg, where he has a spot of dry skin the size of my thumbnail. Remember, Asian, tiny hands ;)

Anyways, the first soap I made that followed the recipe almost to a T, had olive, coconut and castor, with a bit of almond oil is more drying for him than my sandalwood soap. The dry spot looked like a rough white rash. That other soap has the olive oil amount split between olive, rice bran and avocado oils, and considering it also has more coconut, that dry spot isn't white at all, just rougher than the rest of his skin, but not overly so like with the mostly olive oil soap.

Go figure. I am not learned enough to say whether it's the combo of oils, if it's the sandalwood powder lol, or if my baby's skin just doesn't like olive all that much.

Thx for sharing results. If u sell, u can mrkt ur soap as tested on babies not animals.:D

Sounds like OO is drying compared to other liquid oils as others have reported. To confirm you would need test two bars made with same recipie with OO being the only diff. Also to make sure the baby isn’t thowing the results off, it would help if u could test on a cpl other babies too. :p
 
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Duuude... Haha that's just.. I don't know lol

Dustin's leg is fine everyone. I would not test a high coconut bar, or a fresh soap on him for example. And I tested on my face several times before that. I know, I know.. Not one of my best decisions, but truly I did not foresee anything bad happening other than a drier dry spot, and thankfully, nothing did.

I'll test my soap on my teenager instead bahahaha

Not sure if he'll show me if he has any dry spots or even if he'll let me inspect any part of his self lol
 
Has anyone got to the end of the bar made with zea water? Does it get thinner without bending later than soap made without zea water?
 
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