What is with this bath melt recipe?

[scout]

I tried this recipe from Aussie soap supplies and don't know what to think aabout it. It floats, but doesn't fizz very much and really just turns into a lump of goo in the tub. Making it I added the called for amount of cocoa butter but it was still powdery so I added more until i could mold. Maybe my expectations were wrong? But it didn't seem like any other melts I have tried. Here is the recipe

50g baking soda
25g citric acid
25g natrasorb
55g cocoa butter
4g fragrance
coloring

So what do you think?
I am heading back to the aussie site to couble check the recipe.

 

[michelleB]

That recipe looks pretty good, but I get what you're saying on the fizz & such. With a few tweaks here & there, I think you'll get it. Up your citric just a little to get some fizzing action and the rest should be ok. As for the trouble with molding/mixing... are you combining it all at once? I jotted down how I mix mine, so hopefully this will help.

50g baking soda
35g citric acid <--- This is all I'd change for now
25g natrasorb
55g cocoa butter
4g fragrance
coloring

To mix it up tho, it really does matter what order you do it. I learned the hard way that you can lose the action from the citric acid if you add it in at the wrong time. Here's what I do when I make mine:

Melt the cocoa butter in a glass measuring cup.
In a second cup I'd measure out my baking soda and natrasorb, mixing these two powders together really good.
In a THIRD cup, I keep my citric acid separate. ADD THIS LAST.

Slowly pour your dry powder mix into your melted cocoa butter, stirring (always stirring). Color if you choose to. Let it cool to being just slightly warm to the touch. Add your fragrance oil. NOW, add your citric acid to this 'barely warmer than room temp' mixture and stir like crazy to get it all blended. Pour/scoop/glop into your molds.

It'll be a little on the thick side, but a very manageable consistency & you shouldn't have any powdery issues.

Hope that helps!

 

[scout]

Thank you Michelle. That is the recipe on their site so I didn't copy it wrong. It is just so different than other bath melts I have tried. Honestly, I don't know if I like it as well. I might give it one more try. Really though that just wasn't enough CB. I don't think it would have held together at all.