Clarification: 100% CO vs Salt Bars

Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
A

AmyW

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2011
Messages
1,156
Reaction score
16
Location
Alberta
Regular 100% CO bars are just that.

But then I've seen recipes for Salt Bars that are either 100% CO or something like 95% CO and 5% castor.

You don't add oil to the 100% CO because it messes up the lather or bubbles, so why is it added to the salt? Or am I reading bad recipes?
 
My 100% CO bars with salt at 20% sf didn't bubble... at all. (salt kills lather?) So I took a percentage of that and added a bit of castor and other moisturizing oils and lowered my sf to 15% ish. Much better.
 
Thanks! I made a batch with mostly CO and added some castor and grapeseed. 17% superfat, 75% kosher salt. Crossing my fingers it comes out right (I'm playing mother hen watching the mold right now, hoping to catch it before it goes too hard) :lol:
 
Yes, salt does kill lather, but my 100% coconut oil bar (20% superfat) with 80% salt content still lathers. That's the purpose in using 100% coconut oil, I think, because coconut oil soap produces such a great volume of lather, it counteracts the anti-lathering properties of the salt. Castor oil should help too, though. I'm not sure why your bar didn't lather. As an aside, I have been wanting to try a salt bar with less (like 50% salt), just to feel the difference.
 
I've got 100% coconut soap sitting in individual molds right now. I added 50% salt to half the batch so that I could compare the lather.

I had a problem, though, in the mixing. I was interrupted just as I mixed the oils and lye and ended up not mixing enough. After a couple hours the soap separated, so I dumped it into a microwaveable bowl and rebatched. Part of the soap had hardened, so the rebatching was to get the oils incorporated properly. Anywhoo, I'm now waiting to unmold. Then to let the soap cure before comparing the lather....
 
Well I goofed but only aesthetically :lol: It felt hard on the outside, but it wasn't ready to come out of the mold, so the whole bottom edge, all the way around, ripped off. I used a knife and "sculpted" the soap back onto the block. Waited an hour (about 2 hours since pouring) and cut it, was soft-butter smooth to cut. I just checked it again (trimmed a piece off one of the butchered bars), about 4 hours past pour, and now would have been the time to take it out of the mold and cut. I was so worried about waiting too long and it being impossible to cut without crumbles that I didn't wait long enough :lol:

The bar looks great though, I can't wait to test it.
 
Oh, and I tried to get that sucker to gel and it just would not heat up. Now that it's cut, there's a small oval of partial gel but it's barely noticable. Lye and oils were 110F and I wrapped it and put on on top of my very warm stove, what I've done before that made the batch gel. Interesting how different ingredients can do such different things.
 
I made a batch of 90% CO and 10% Castor and added table salt at 80% somewhere between light and medium trace. I poured into my log mold and wrapped it up in a beach towel and left it on the counter while I worked on my next batch. After about 30 minutes it was hard. I couldn't get free to cut it for another 15 minutes or so. It cut pretty easy but it hadn't gelled completely, but almoosst...so I stuck all the cut bars back together and wrapped it (in the wax paper liner) back up in the beach towel. Peeked after about an hour and voila...full gel! The bars popped apart easily and are so pretty...I can't wait to try them!
BTW, I used Peak's Beach Daisies FO and they smell just like coppertone suntan lotion to me...YAY!
 
Sorry...I forgot to mention I made the above batch at 15% superfat.
I also tried out the 100% CO with 20% superfat recipe during the same soaping session (no salt in this one)...it fully gelled and is lovely also!
 
AmyW said:
Regular 100% CO bars are just that.

But then I've seen recipes for Salt Bars that are either 100% CO or something like 95% CO and 5% castor.

You don't add oil to the 100% CO because it messes up the lather or bubbles, so why is it added to the salt? Or am I reading bad recipes?
Click to expand...

Amy,

I made my first salt bars with 95% CO and 5% castor oil. Used coconut milk for the liquid and SF at 18%. This is by far the creamiest, sudsy bar of soap I have made. Probably beginners luck, but I am uber glad they turned out. Oh, I used sea salt (fine) for the salt.
 

Similar threads

N
Brine Bar Ciaglia
Replies
10
Views
889
not_ally
N
Val’s5
Spotty Salt Bar- ok?
Replies
6
Views
717
Val’s5
Val’s5
Catscankim
Superfatting and extra oil with additives
Replies
9
Views
1K
dmcgee5034
dmcgee5034
U
I just want to make a liquid 100% Soy Soap
Replies
2
Views
242
AliOop
AliOop
Blufuz
adding glycerin kills lather?
Replies
4
Views
2K
Blufuz
Blufuz

Latest posts

Back
Top