What's a salt bar?

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Jeremy

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Okay, let's start with the obvious, I understand that a salt bar has salt, but what's the point. What is the benefit of salt?
What are the qualities a salt bar posseses over a non salt bar?
Can one use sea salt, iodized, pickeling salt?
It sounds neat ( yes, I used he term neat), but is this something a lot of people use or a niche item?
 
Good question. Salt bars make my skin feel really smooth. I'm not really sure why. Some might think they'd be exfoliating, but they are actually super smooth.... almost feels like you're rubbing a soft stone on your skin when you use one. They get super hard too and last a really long time.
 
I quote: "Bath salts help heal cuts, burns, wounds, and insect bites. The minerals found in the salts are absorbed through the skin which is essential to the bodies' functions. Bath salts also flush out harmful toxins from the body and is a good stress reliever. It also exfoliates the skin, leaving the skin smooth and supple."

I used salts scrubs in the shower for a long time, and really noticed an improvement to my skin. I stopped using them for about 6 months, and again, noticed a change, not for the better, to my skin, so I started using salts again & my skin improved very quickly. Now I've been out of salts for about a week & using my sugar scrub in the shower, let's see what my skin does . . .

As for types of salts, I prefer to use Dead Sea, hoping that it has a higher mineral content. For my salt soap (often called Spa Bar) I used regular table salt, it's what I had on hand . . .

I read that for the soap bar you should not use Dead Sea, it will totally kill the lather.

For a lot of the recipes I've seen on the net, any type of salt is acceptable, I can't tell you how times I've seen recipes for water softner pellets. Honestly, I've been eyeballing the canning salt in the cupboard! Haven't used it, but at some point, I'm going to read the ingredient list, you just know it!

Epsom Salts are not useable in a soap bar, actually, epsoms aren't really salts. Great product, but not the same as salt. I do use them in my scrubs though, along with other salts.

Dendritic is a good salt to add in to products because of the cut of it, very fine, cut like a star, and it readily absorbs & holds fragrance. Other than that, it's just sodium chloride, like all the other salts.

As for demand, I don't know. I made my salt bar because a guy requested it, and at my next party, I will have it out to be sampled, and I'll just have to see how well it sells. It sure has a lot of competition, with OO soap, clay soaps, goats milk, geez, soaps are nice!!!!

Barefoot
 
Imagine you have just been for a swim in the ocean Jeremy....you don't feel exfoliated, just super clean and fresh....that is what a salt bar does for your in your shower/bath!

Tanya :)
 
I agree with Tanya......and I like to make my salt bars with Morton Kosher Salt.....makes a very nice bar.
 
:) Why can you not use Epsom salts in soap. I emailed the Epsom salt council and asked would they work in soap and he assured me they would. :?
I have not tryed this yet, was plannning too, would love to know why not?
 
While Epsom salts are not table salt (sodium chloride), they are salts, chemically speaking (magnesium sulfate). Beyond that, I don't know whether you could or could not use them in a salt bar. Barefoot, have you got some info on that?
 
booboo said:
:) Why can you not use Epsom salts in soap. I emailed the Epsom salt council and asked would they work in soap and he assured me they would. :?
I have not tryed this yet, was plannning too, would love to know why not?

I don't know of any reason you can't.

It's important to note that Epsom Salt is actually Magnesium Sulfate, while the salt generally used in a salt bar is Sodium Chloride.

I tried swaping Epsom Salt, but found the soap too crumbly and of a different texture from my regular salt bar.
 
I haven't tried Epsom's but my understanding is that the bar is very crumbly, and even with all CO, you would not get any lather.

Epsom's are also very corse, would you be grinding them down a bit more if you do use them in soap?

If you do use them, it would be interesting to hear the results.

Barefoot
 
Deda and barefootbody can you tell me how you added the epsom to the soap, was it at trace or to the lye water? Also how much? Did you discount your water etc? In both your soaps was there no suds lather? sorry would really like as much info as possible as I would love to give this a go :) .
Sorry if I have hijacked the thread :(
 
I just made salt soap on Monday, I used table salt. 16 oz of oils, 12 oz of salt. Yes, I did discount the water a bit. I added the salt at heavy trace. Would have added it at medium trace, but, um, spilled my liquid colorant all over the place & cleaned that up first . . .

I haven't used the soap yet, but had a lot of sudsing with cleanup, & really liked the feel of the soap. I'll probably start using it tomorrow night, I'm curious to see if it's moisturizing or drying.

Barefoot
 
Surf girl, do you know what the cure time is supposed to be? I'm figuring at least a few weeks, but I always start using the bars before that . . . let's compare notes tomorrow!
 
I'm going to assume the cure time is about the same as a regular bar (no longer, anyway). But that's just what it is - an assumption.

I'd love to compare notes tomorrow!

I can't get over how HEAVY these bars are. No wonder people say not to drop them on your toes in the shower.
 
Well, I've used my salt soap! It had a pretty good lather, felt a little rough, but I think that's only because it was a new bar, will probably be very smooth next time I use it.

Didn't have as much slip as my OO soaps do.
Didn't feel drying or anything, but also didn't feel moisturizing either.
Did feel clean.

I think the next batch I make I will try using some Shea in it.

Did you use yours Surf girl?

Barefoot
 
Hellooooo barefoot - are ya there?

Tried my soap this morning.
- as expected, it is pretty drying at 48 hrs (that's what I get for impatience). We'll forgive that and assess again in a few weeks.
- lather is modest but acceptable when you roll it in your hands.
- lather when you run the bar over skin is almost non-existent, but the bar feels very smooth and nice.
- hard as a rock already.
- smells fab (manuka)

How did you like yours?
 
Hey, that is too funny! Posted at the same time!

Recipe has 75% CO, with the balance made up of OPO, CB, and CaO. It did not feel at all drying in the shower (felt fantastic!), but my skin sure was dry today!
 
That's too funny!!

My recipe was 70% CO, 9.6 Castor, 20 AO.

Can't say that my skin felt any drier after using it. I think I will try it for a few days.

Manuka, I'm not familiar with that scent, what's that like? I did mine in Oakmoss & Sandalwood, it does smell nice.

The bars are very heavy! I haven't weighed one yet.

I don't have any soda ash on my bars yet, maybe I won't get any. The bars aren't feeling sticky anymore either, they did at first.

Barefoot
 
Manuka is NZ tea tree (which is Leptospermum, different from the usual Australian tea tree, Melaleuca). This is how the scent is described by three online suppliers (I don't think any of them get it quite right):

"Certainly the smell is not harsh, it has a healthy, herbal aroma, similar to Eucalyptus."

"Manuka essential oil has a woodsy, cedar like smell that is much warmer than Tea tree."

"Manuka oil with its tart scent..."

This last description is right (but doesn't tell you how it smells!): "The smell is quite elusive very sweet and gentle."

What it smells like to me is something like a hint of cedar but with sweetness on top. Yum, yum, yummy. Fresh and sweet and clean. The reason I love it, I think, is that it reminds me of the smell on a particular pathway my husband and I used to walk, that led from my in-laws' neighbourhood (in Auckland) through a tea tree forest down to the beach. I got some more oil a couple of weeks ago when we were in NZ from Barrier Gold http://www.barriergold.co.nz/
 

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