Superfat in salt bars

[whitewitchbeauty]

I only used 5% super fat when I made my CP salt bar. Is this OK? I read in some places I should've use 20% but in another place I read 8%. Is 5% too little? Should I just throw the stuff away. It looks like peppermint bark LOL

 

[KristaMarie]

What's your recipe, including salt percentage? Without knowing the details, I'd say it's going to need an extra long cure, and might be harsh for a while, but you don't know how it'll feel until you test it out

 

[Seawolfe]

I accidentally made a 5% superfat salt bar once. It wasn't so moisturizing, but it wasnt horribly drying either. I ended up calling it "grubby paws" soap and passed it out to the boys in engineering - cleaned greasy hands quite well

Give it a good cure and see how you like it.

 

[whitewitchbeauty]

my recipe

 

[KristaMarie]

Did you make a salt bar, where you add salt at trace, or a brine/soleseife bar, where the salt is dissolved in water first?

If the former, you're not likely to get much, or any, lather. Those bars are typically made with at least 80% coconut oil. If the latter, you're in the clear.

Either way, how much salt did you use?

 

[Obsidian]

How much salt did you use? A normal salt bar usually has 80-100% coconut which is the reason for such a high Sf. Since yours has a much low amount of coconut, a 5% SF might be just fine.

There could be a issue with lather though, only coconut oil soap lathers in salt water. If you don't use enough coconut, it won't lather if you used a lot of salt.

 

[Seawolfe]

Agreed - to my mind a "salt bar" is defined by lots of coconut oil and lots of salt - you cant add a lot of salt grains to a soap batter and expect it to lather without a lot of coconut. My typical salt bar recipe is 80% coconut oil and 80% salt (as a percentage of total oils).

Now, some make very nice salt bars with only 25% salt, or dissolve even less in the water before the lye - to my mind the latter is whats called a "solseife" or brine bar and that one isn't depended on as much coconut to carry the lather. But I have heard that bars without enough coconut oil to overcome the salt lather like "a slab of plastic".

 

[whitewitchbeauty]

I used 15 oz of salt at trace

 

[cmzaha]

With 100% salt being used your recipe really is not going to give you any lather, not even with a 1 year cure. Sorry. I also find Palm oils and butters kill lather. I use 80% coconut oil, with a 15% superfat, 20% is just to oily for my liking. Also remember to use extra fine to fine salt only.

 

[whitewitchbeauty]

Thanks for your insight. Can I use the soap for anything? For ex. grate it up and put it in a sugar scrub or something?

 

[TeresaT]

Thanks for your insight. Can I use the soap for anything? For ex. grate it up and put it in a sugar scrub or something?

I wouldn't be so hasty to plan on using it for something else. Let it cure for a couple of months then use it for a week. You don't have to have a lot lather or big bubbles to get clean. You may end up thinking it's the bee's knees and do all of your soaps like that. You may think it's the worst piece of poo on earth and just toss it. Or you may think, "if I tweak this and reduce that, this'll be great!"

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I know the horse has bolted, but I'll still close the stable door - always feel free to pop a planned recipe on here before making it. Or even check out the soap bar threads about what makes a salt bar.

Both would have saved you this.

 

[IrishLass]

Thanks for your insight. Can I use the soap for anything? For ex. grate it up and put it in a sugar scrub or something?

Absolutely. You can grate it up using a box grater with the smallest holes to make really fine flakes like the texture of breadcrumbs, and either use them in scrubs or just by itself like one would use Boraxo powdered hand soap. Or you can use them to make a decorative soap. For example, I made a batch of salt soap a few years ago that I wasn't quite happy with and so I saved it and grated it up to use as 'snow' in one of my special design soaps that I like to make for Christmas:

One of my mottos is to never throw away perfectly usable soap just because I'm not happy with it. I can always use it in something else.....or else I can donate it to Clean The World.


IrishLass

 

[DeeAnna]

Wow, IL, I am impressed at your ability to make amazing lemonade out of those lemons! Lovely!!!