Tuesday 13 May 2008

Failed Salt Bar

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I don't know what happened :(. I used 80% coconut oil, 15% olive oil and 5% castor oil superfatted at 15%. I stirred the soap to a light trace then added some celtic salt, which by the way tastes great with food, that was equal to the weight in oils so 500g oils and 500g salt. Stirred it some more until it was quite thick, poured it in to the mould and shoved it into a warm oven till it was hard. Somehow, all the salt sank to the bottom and did not incorporate with the soap. So, what I got was soap with salt at the bottom. Not the homogenous bar that you're supposed to get. You can see what I mean in the picture below.


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When I washed with it, it was very scrubby and the lather was okay. I read on forums that the lather is supposed to be creamy like a lotion and it shouldn't feel scrubby at all! More like a smooth marble.

So, what went wrong? I'm at a loss :(. Too coarse salt crystals perhaps? Not enough lye? Any insight is welcome!

By the way, the fragrance is Yuzu from Sweetcakes. It smells like grapefruit but I'm not crazy about it. It was never really one of my favourite smells. I might blend it with something smoother. It's too sharp for me.


12 comments:

E' Johann said...

hummmmm hummmm good!! piccc

Joanna Schmidt said...

I think they look good!

I hope you get answers, because I am very curious myself.

Sherrie said...

Hmmm... I haven't yet tried making salt bars (it's still on my list) but my solution to all soap dilemmas is to cook it in the crockpot and see what happens. But I'm not sure if that would work for the salt bars. I'm sure they're somehow resurrectable!

Sherrie said...

Gracefruit posted about her success here: http://gracefruit.blogspot.com/2008/05/salt-bar-success.html

In case that might help! :)

Heather@Twin Birch said...

It looks great to me! AND SO DO ALL OF THE YUMMY AMAZING THINGS THAT ARRIVED HERE YESTERDAY!!!! A GRIZZILLION THANKS, MICHELLE!!! SOOO FABU!!! I'm going to do a post in the next day or two so stay tuned!!
xxoo Heather

Suds to Love said...

When I made my salt bars, I used just plain old regular table salt, small grained. From the research and findings online I found that it is not supposed to be scrubby, but very creamy. The only issue I had with my batch is that I cut too soon and so they looked a tad bit wierd. But function the way they are supposed to.

Unknown said...

Mine are not scratch at all they are very smooth, but the first time you use them they may be slightly scratchy...but the salt crystals should smooth quickly. I have never heard of Celtic salt and depending on what it is that may have made the difference. I know you can not make salt bars with dead sea salt...maybe celtic salt is also very high in similar type minerals? I use sea salt but regular table salt should work (not the iodinated type though). My other thought is that you maybe added the salts a too light of a trace and the soap was not thick enough to suspend the salt. But anyways your soap looks cool...and you can have the option of using the soap only side or the salt bar side!

Michelle said...

Magoxtrems: Thank you :)

Joanna: Thanks, Joanna! I still think they look funny though :(

Sherrie: Thanks for the link Sherrie! It did help :)

Heather: You're very welcome! I'm so glad you like them hehe!

Trisha: I might try a smaller grain next time and see how I go!

Sarah: Thanks, Sarah! You might be right, Celtic sea salt is supposed to be chock full of minerals. I'll try fine grained table salt next time! Haha, I didn't even think of that but you're right! :)

Joanna Schmidt said...

Post new pictures after you try another batch of them! I know you get it the way you want it.

Anonymous said...

Does not matter to me what the soap looks like as long as it works

dolls123[at]gmail[dot]com

Anne-Marie said...

I wonder if the trace was too thin to support the (heavy) salt crystals?

Michelle said...

Joanna: Thanks for the words of encouragement sweetie :).

Dolls123: That's true :).

Anne-marie: I think you're right. Maybe I'll go for a thicker trace and finer grain normal table salt.