100% Coconut and salt? HP

[FrayGrants]

Okay so I've decided to make my first HP soap and I've never made 100% coconut. I understand that I am to use a 20% SF but I am unsure of what the lye concentration should be. I will be using a crockpot with a lid if that makes any difference. My other question is about salt. When people say they are adding salt to a soap is it usually dissolved in the lye water or is it added at trace like an exfoliant, or should I just leave the salt out all together. Does dissolving salt in the lye water add to the hardness of the soap, and how much PPO? Anyadvice would be greatly appreciated so just let me know. I am ready to soap!!!

 

[artemis]

When people add salt to a regular soap recipe, it's about 1 tsp per pound of oil, but added to the water. Coconut soap is different. It gets hard enough on its own that it doesn need that little bit of salt.

However, a salt soap deliberately over does the salt. You should do a search for salt bars or salt soap to find out what that does for the soap.

 

[AliOop]

I agree with @artemis - no need to add salt to a 100% CO soap, unless you want to make a salt bar.

For HP in a crockpot with a lid, I recommend a 28% lye concentration as a good starting point. You might go down to 25% if you plan to open it often to stir it (more evaporation), or up to 30% if you plan to leave the lid on till the end (less evaporation).

 

[FrayGrants]

When people add salt to a regular soap recipe, it's about 1 tsp per pound of oil, but added to the water. Coconut soap is different. It gets hard enough on its own that it doesn need that little bit of salt.

However, a salt soap deliberately over does the salt. You should do a search for salt bars or salt soap to find out what that does for the soap.

Hey Thanks!!! I'll skip the salt and doing some research I saw that a salt bar has up to 100% salt in relation to the oil weight; I see the difference now. I am also finding that the water amount generally used for HP soap is somewhere between 3:1 and 2.5:1, which would puts the lye concentration at around 29-25%. Does this sound about right?

 

[KiwiMoose]

Hey Thanks!!! I'll skip the salt and doing some research I saw that a salt bar has up to 100% salt in relation to the oil weight; I see the difference now. I am also finding that the water amount generally used for HP soap is somewhere between 3:1 and 2.5:1, which would puts the lye concentration at around 29-25%. Does this sound about right?

Yup