Looking for tips or recipes for a palm free salt bar

[gibbylet]

From what I understand, too much coconut means a bar wont lather, but making salt soap may require more coconut for reasons which escape me since my brain is overloaded on soap research! I understand some people replace palm with coconut for a hard bar if they want to go palm free, but all the soap recipes I can find for salt bars do seem to include palm (or tallow, which I don't have easy access too at the moment).

I recently moved, and although I could swear I had some palm oil left and had wanted to use it for this recipe before switching to non palm recipes only, but I can't find it in my soap supplies. I was planning on using coconut oil, olive, some castor oil, sweet almond oil and cocoa butter. I have a lot of small amounts of various other oils too, but guess I'm hoping to mainly find a successful coconut/olive oil recipe.

Maybe superfatting to higher than I've gone previously will provide a bit more moisture/lather? Sheesh soap making can be complicated to get the right mix! Any suggestions, links, advice I'm open to.

 

[shunt2011]

Hello and welcome. If you are looking at making a true salt bar then you need high Coconut in order for it to lather well. I like 80% CO, 15% Avocado or Olive and 5% Castor or you can just do 100% CO but be sure to use a high SF. I like 20% You can use as little as 25% salt up to 100% salt based on you total amount of oils. Just keep in mind that unless you are using individual molds you will need to cut it anywhere from 2-3 hours after pouring. The soap will usually still be warm. Be sure to use gloves as well.

 

[new12soap]

Too much coconut oil does not mean a bar won't lather, coconut oil gives lots of big fluffy copious bubbles. Coconut oil and palm are really not interchangeable in a recipe either, for hardness or for bubbles. The reason salt bars have such a high percentage of coconut oil is precisely because it lathers so well. Salt cuts lather, so you need that coconut in there.

Too much coconut oil will make a soap that is more cleansing, and can be more drying. That's where superfat comes in.

IMO you do not need olive, palm, castor, sweet almond, or cocoa butter for a good salt bar, but whatever you choose to add I would agree that you don't want to drop your coconut oil below 80%.

I still love IrishLass' recipe the best:

100% coconut oil
100% coconut milk

13% superfat (in the lye calculator, the coconut milk adds more)

25% fine sea salt (by weight of oils)

If you don't have coconut milk, bump the superfat up to 20%

HTH

 

[Seawolfe]

from what I have read, if you try to make a salt bar with palm oil, it will lather like a block of plastic...

Coconut - you want lots and lots of coconut! I like 80% coconut oil 15% olive oil, 5 % castor, 20% superfat and 80% oil weight in salt (fine canning or sea salt - no iodized, no big scratchy chunks). Use cavity molds or be ready to cut in as little as 6 hours!

 

[cmzaha]

Palm does not work well in a salt bar. 90% coconut, 10% castor with 15-20% superfat makes a very nice salt bar. I like about 16% with a 4-6 month cure time

 

[gibbylet]

Thanks so much you guys! I knew if I went out and drank a lot of wine I'd come home to good information! I am glad to know salt cuts lather and get a better understanding of the reasons why.

And since I read that you should cut your salt bars a couple hours after pouring with palm recipes, but understood if you didn't use palm you had to figure out different processes because of less hard soaps without it, I'm very glad to hear confirmed that a high coconut oil palm-less salt bar will still need to be dealt with quickly so I make sure to make it in the morning.

I swear, I've participated in a lot of forums and I'm pretty sure this soap one has the nicest and most creative people!

 

[IrishLass]

From what I understand, too much coconut means a bar wont lather

Actually, as the others above have said, the exact opposite is true. Lots of coconut will give you more bubbles than Lawrence Welk can shake a baton at. lol

but making salt soap may require more coconut for reasons which escape me since my brain is overloaded on soap research!

As 12newsoap said, you need a lot of coconut in a salt bar because salt inhibits lather.

I understand some people replace palm with coconut for a hard bar if they want to go palm free

As 12newsoap said, palm oil and coconut are not interchangeable and cannot be subbed for one another. Although both will make a very hard bar, coconut will produce bubbly lather like the dickens, while palm will not. However, there is another palm-related oil called palm kernel oil (PKO) that produces lots of lather like coconut and can pretty much be subbed 1:1 in place of coconut oil (its oil comes from the kernel of the palm fruit, instead of the flesh of the palm fruit). Maybe that's what you were thinking?

but all the soap recipes I can find for salt bars do seem to include palm (or tallow, which I don't have easy access too at the moment).

I'm not sure which sites you are reading or getting the salt bar recipes from, but I and many others can assure you that tallow and palm are definitely not necessary for salt bars. Come to think of it, I'm not sure that I've even run across any salt bar formulas that included palm or tallow in them (not that there aren't any, but I've just never run into them before). All of the salt bar formulas that I have ever seen are mostly made with 100% coconut oil or else a high amount of coconut oil and a small bit of other oils...and salt, of course.

And since I read that you should cut your salt bars a couple hours after pouring with palm recipes, but understood if you didn't use palm you had to figure out different processes because of less hard soaps without it, I'm very glad to hear confirmed that a high coconut oil palm-less salt bar will still need to be dealt with quickly so I make sure to make it in the morning.

Trust us- your salt bar (or even a regular bar) made with high amount of coconut oil will need to be unmolded and cut a few hours after pouring, or else you'll need to cut it with a power saw. lol


IrishLass