Is anyone willing to share a salt bar recipe ?

I just want to try it out and I only have lard, coconut, olive and grapeseed oil in my cupboard. Also, can I use table salt rather than fine sea salt? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

i think a lot of ppl use 100% co with 15 - 20% superfat and table salt. some find sea salt too coarse

You definitely have enough for salt bars. I have never used lard so I can't let you know about that.
You can really use any soap recipe just bump up your coconut oil percentage and use less of the other oils.

I have a few recipes that I change around depending on what I have in the house.

Just so you know- your final soap numbers in soap calc are always screwy when you put them in- way too hard, doesn't lather, blah blah blah.

Some people make salt bars with 100% coconut superfatted at 15-20 percent. Mainly 20% when going 100% coconut oil.

Standard I think is Coconut Oil at about 70%. At least that is my standard.

The ones I made tonight were with coconut oil, Mango Butter, Castor- Superfatted with Shea Oil. (Water 33%- SF 15%) I used dendritic salt, it's cheap and I love the texture of it in the bar.

I make it just like any other cp soap- except I add fragrance and the shea oil at a very thin trace and stickblend to get a medium trace and then add the salt. Work fast to pound those suckers into individual molds (which is a pita) or into a log mold.
I preheat my oven to 170 when I'm making my soap and then turn it off and put the soap in for 2 hours- by then it's hard enough to cut- set out to cure.
Your really have to cut these pretty early or else they get too hard to cut.

I'm sure others have their way of doing it too but this is just the way I do it.
Hope this helps.

Thank you both for your suggestions...I'm gonna give it a try tomorrow !!

another question.....so if I do CPHP, will I add the salt before or after the cook?

100% Coconut Oil with a 20% Lye Discount

50% of the weight of the oils as salt (I used coarse rock salt).

Into individual moulds so you don't have to worry about cutting it up.

This makes a beautiful bar.

I did 1000g of Coconut Oil and 500g of rock salt. :wink:

For my salt bars, I like to use 100% CO; coconut milk as 100% of my water amount; 30% fine sea salt as per my total oil amount; and a superfat of 13%.

Irishlass

Ohhh coco milk instead of water- nice!

I don't do hp for these but I read somewhere on here it's after the cook.

Ok...here's a stupid question from a newbie.

What are the benefits of a salt bar? Exfoliation seems obvious...but is there more? I'm trying so hard to learn as much as I can. Still experimenting to find that "perfect" soap for my family.

I think a salt bar is more of a treatment. I use them all over but alot of people use them on heels and elbows.
They help my acne- in fact it gets rid of it especially on the back. Ughhh!
They also make my skin really smooth and soft.

If you are looking for a good recipe for soap for the entire family- a salt bar probably isn't it.
They don't lather or bubble as much and have more of a lotiony feel some members of the family may not like it.

There are a lot of really good regular bubbly soap recipes out there. I would just factor in your materials and what is easily accessible to you.

I like olive and coconut oil soaps with whatever butters I happen to throw in- shea, mango, babassu etc...but the olive and coconut base make a nice hard lathery bar.
I'm trying to stay away from palm oil but many people swear by palm.
It's a matter of preference.

Thanks for that!! It may be something to add to my arsenal in small amounts then. For those rough spots especially!

My family right now is totally digging my first ever batch of soap. I made pvsoap.com's basic cold process and added some oatmeal & honey to it at trace. Even my 15 year old extreme acne prone daughter loves it! There's been an improvement already. Maybe just having soap w/out all those extra chemicals??

Honestly- I agree with you there on all the chemicals. Since I stopped using all the prescription stuff and otc chemical things- my face has dramatically cleared up. It was bad, I never had it as a kid but I got acne as an adult, go figure.

It seems like the recipe that you are using is a good one. I haven't soaped with Crisco but people like it.

Your daughter might do well with a salt bar- just use fine salt. It can sting a little in open acne. But it isn't unbearable.

The salt bar I use for my face is unscented and has french green clay in it. Then I use a little jojoba to moisturize if I feel dry- my skin is combo. That has been working wonders.
You can get French Green Clay at Whole Foods if you have one around you. It's good stuff for acne.
If your feeling adventurous and want to try something new.

I never thought I would see myself sold so much on the natural side of soap. My hubby and I do alot of our own food processing...gardening, canning, freezing...he's a hunter & we have friends who raise pigs. We even make our own bacon & sausage!! Making soap didn't cross my mind until my hubby mentioned it. He had a 5 gallon bucket of pork trimmings to get rid of. That first recipe I used was to test if I liked soap making...and was done while the trimmings were on the stove rendering down to fresh lard. I've made some lard soap and it should be ready to try soon.

I'm thinking of using a primarily lard based recipe and add some salt to it. I like the idea of the Green Clay, too...but wouldn't that soap be really, really, really, really hard?? (did I get enough emphasis on that really??!) I'm afraid of it not making it into the mold and/or being a PITA to cut. I guess a small batch and some individual molds would work?? Would Whole Foods carry some of the other cosmetic grade materials needed for soaping?

Yeah they do at least in my area. It's a little pricy but I don't buy that stuff in bulk so the most I pay is like 60 cents for a bunch but they have all sorts of nice things like orange peel, rosebuds, lavender, it's in the spice section.

I have never tried lard soap but I would love to try it. I heard it's stinky when you make it though. LOL
I think the clay would make it a little harder but if it's a salt bar it should be cut warm otherwise you can't cut it anyway.

Lard bars are really hard already right?? I heard they were, I also heard it's fab soap. I need to find a lard soap seller- LOL those are hard to come by anymore. Some people also swear by lard for face soap. hmmm??

You don't need anything fancy to make soap - in your case lard, lye and water (oh and a mold is always nice . keep it simple. Becareful with your salt additions, particularly if you use salt to render the lard or you'll end up with soap as hard as hockey pucks (don't ask). you can use natural colorings from your garden - dried mint, flowers, & herbs.

I often render my own lard and love the soaps I make from it. I can't do tallow unless I do it outside (can't stand the smell) but the soaps always come out hard and long lasting. I add 1% castor oil to mine to help with the lather. I'll be happy to send you my recipie, its one of my "base" recipes that other soaps are worked from. PM me if you're interested.

I took in allk of your suggestions and just made my first CPHP salt bars. 100% coconut oil, 20% superfatted, 50% of oil weight in salt. I also added a liitle almond oil. After the cook, I put it into the mold and honest to God, it was ready to cut in less than an hour!!! I washed my hands with a few scraps and it seems like I have lotion on my hands after drying. Is that the way it should feel? Anyways, can't wait until it's fully cured...fun snd fast to make!!

pkd.veronica said:

Ok...here's a stupid question from a newbie.

What are the benefits of a salt bar? Exfoliation seems obvious...but is there more? I'm trying so hard to learn as much as I can. Still experimenting to find that "perfect" soap for my family.

Click to expand...

A salt bar made properly shouldn't exfoliate (unless you sprinkle coarse sea salt on the top). The salt sort of is still visible in the final product (if you used colorant anyway) and looks like it may be abrasive but it is soo smooth!

Squeaky, I've never made salt bar myself but I have used them and I loooove them, they do sort of leave a slick feeling that's very nice (in my opinion anyway). I still have to use lotion after because I'm in a fairly dry climate but they are extraordinary! It is really easy to make! 100% CO 20% SF is my favorite recipe, I think. It produces such a pure beautiful white that is great for color experiments.