A different salt soap question, yes there are more of us!

[jettibo]

ACKKK! There are so many of us asking salt questions!

OK, so I was thinking that my castile soap could certainly use some hardening. Would making it into a salt bar work, or is there some reason I shouldn't do this?

 

[MikeInPdx]

I would use a water discount instead. That will get your olive oil soaps setting up quicker. I'm afraid you wouldn't get much lather at all from a salt castile.

 

[jettibo]

Even if I add a little sugar?

 

[MikeInPdx]

You can try it....I'm not really sure. If you do, let me know how it works.

 

[jettibo]

Maybe I'll put some of my Walnut oil in with it and the sugar and see what happens.

 

[meliblom]

Re: A different salt soap question, yes there are more of us

ACKKK! There are so many of us asking salt questions!

OK, so I was thinking that my castile soap could certainly use some hardening. Would making it into a salt bar work, or is there some reason I shouldn't do this?

Do a water discount instead. Castilles can be rock hard in 24-48 hours this way.
A castille salt bar would have little to no lather.
You can add a little stearic acid to make a recipe harder also (combined total about 10%, high stearic is a mess to soap). Use a lye calc. Melt with oils.

 

[IrishLass]

I agree with the others in doing the water discount instead. High levels of salt are a real lather killer (unless you are making mostly Coconut Oil or PKO bars), and with Castiles having minimal lather to beigin with, you will probably end up with not much lather at all.

IrishLass

 

[jadiebugs1]

Agreeing with what most had to say, I would think it would eliminate your lather, but my question is WHY would you need to harden an Olive Oil soap? They get super hard without anything added, just takes longer to cure, but once they do....hard as a rock (this is 100% OO i'm talking here, what I consider a true castile). I would assume if the recipe is mostly OO, it should make a pretty hard bar though.

 

[jettibo]

I made them 3 weeks ago, so maybe that's my problem. I'm horribly impatient, but once I get a few batches curing I'll probably stop obsessing with how they are curing and obsess with the next batch. The soaps I made are 100% castile and they are definitely not cured yet. I want to do a salt bar so I thought of the castile soap. I'll just move on to another one instead.

 

[cdwinsby]

I've found that castile bars take longer to properly cure....more like 8 weeks to the usual 4-6 weeks. Once they do though, rock hard like jadiebugs1 said.

 

[IrishLass]

I want to do a salt bar so I thought of the castile soap. I'll just move on to another one instead.

The best oil for making salt bars with is coconut oil, or a combo of coconut and PKO. They are the only oils with the reputation of being able to lather well in salt water (coconut more so than PKO).

IrishLass

 

[donniej]

When I make my BioDiesel glycerin bars (*very* soft) I have found that re-melting them makes a harder bar.

I stir to trace and pour into ~1 gallon slabs. After a couple weeks I melt it down on the stove and pour into bars. I find it usually firms them up a bit.

The longer they sit, the harder they get. 2 months is pretty decent but with 5 to 10 gallons per month, this can be a lot of soap sitting around.