Help fixing salt bars and something else

[HopJuicer]

Hello all,

I normally punch in all my numbers into soapcalc on my computer, for these salt bars I used my phone. Maybe it was the small screen and no keyboard, but the screenshot of the recipe shows a 0% super fat. I didn't catch that until the soap was made.

23.46oz water
11.73oz lye
64oz coconut oil 76 degree

It should have been set to 20% super fat, 18.77oz water, 9.38oz lye. Any recommendations on saving these bars?

The next issue is that this soap poured into the mold white as white. When it started to gel I noticed a pink color. When I cut the bars about an hour later they had a faint pink color inside and out. I made two batches, one in a silicone mold, the other in a wood mold with freezer paper that I normally use. I soap at room temp.

Today I decided to try out the cool water FO i got from wsp (it smells amazing) and made a batch.

17.69oz water
44.80oz lard
6.40oz PKO
6.40oz coconut oil 76 degree
6.40oz cocoa butter
7% super fat

I colored with ac, blue ultra marine, and left some uncolored. The uncolored has a faint pink as well. All of my equipment is the same that I have used for most of my batches. I don't think this is anything, but maybe worth mentioning, this was a brand new bucket of coconut oil I got from wsp I used in the salt bars and the cool water bars. I will add some picks in moment. I appreciate any advise!

 

[HopJuicer]

Here are the different batches. Hope these load, it's late lol

 

[HopJuicer]

I can take more tomorrow in better light if needed.

 

[Obsidian]

Some FO's will discolor to pink or purple, usually they are the more masculine types.

Unfortunately, there really isn't anything you can do to fix a bad salt bar. Rebatching will result in a separated mess, its the salt that causes the trouble.

You can grind it up for laundry soap or powder it and add some liquid oil for a bubbly salt scrub. Another option and its usually what I do is, powder all your salt bars then make some new coconut soap with a high SF, instead of adding salt to this, you add your salt bar powder.
I use 1 part salt bar powder to 1 part new soap. I recommend trying this with a small batch, see how it works for you. I wouldn't use all coconut for the new soap either, 80% coconut, 20% OO will help lessen the harshness a bit, 25% SF should be a good number.

Cut your salt bars as soon as they are firm enough to handle, this is usually within 2-4 hours. They will usually still be warm but this prevents your bars from breaking apart.

 

[HopJuicer]

Thank you for your advise! I will make another coconut soap with that recipe and see how it goes. I thought I timed cutting these better than my last salt bars. It was probably about 2 hours when cut, still broke apart. I will get it one of these days.

When I make the next batch to mix the salt soap powder in do I add less FO since the original bars already have FO?

 

[IrishLass]

RE: the pink color- ditto what Obsidian said. It's somewhat amusing to me, but I have about 3 different manly scents that discolor to some shade of pink/mauve (not exactly my hubby's favorite color for a manly scent). Interestingly, though, none of my girly scents that I use morph to pink/mauve.

I sometimes like to do what Obsidian does, i.e., powder/finely grate up some of my salt bars and add them to other batches. Sometimes I only add a little in order to get a picturesque 'snowy' effect, such as in my Sugared Spruce soap that I make for Christmas; and sometimes I add as much powdered salt soap to my regular 50% OO formula or my tallow/lard formula as I would normally add as salt to my regular salt bars (which for me is 25% salt). I find it to make a lovely change from the norm.

RE: how much FO to use. I find it depends on the strength of the scent in the powdered soap and how much of the powder you will be using. For what it's worth, this is what I do: If my powdered salt soap is fairly new and the scent is still strong, and if I'm using my normal 25% amount of the powdered soap, I'll drop my regular amount of FO by .25% or so, but if the salt soap is older and the scent has faded, I'll just use my normal amount of FO.


IrishLass

 

[Seawolfe]

Give the salt bars a few months to cure and see. I accidentally made a 5% SF salt bar that was actually very nice for grubby paws, and not drying - surprisingly. And then if you don't like it, grind them up for sugar / salt scrubs.

 

[HopJuicer]

These are great tips! Thank you all for your help. I have enough from this batch that I will grind some up to add to another recipe, and give some a nice long cure and see how it turns out.

I had the TD out for the cool water soap, then thought how white the lard bars normally turn out and decided not to use TD. Now I know. My daughter looked at the bars this morning and commented how she liked the pink color I added lol. Me too kiddo, me too!