Salt Soap Crumbles

by Ryan
(Portland, OR USA)

I'm working on a sea salt soap and want it to be relatively crumble free.


It's been a challenge, and perhaps it's impossible without reducing the amount of salt to a very small percentage.

I want the exfoliating quality to remain, but would like strait, streamlined, rectangular bars. I've tried 50, 30, 25, 20, and 10 percent salt to oil. Oils at 80% coconut, 20% olive/castor. Any thoughts?

Answer:

It is quite hard to cut a salt bar and get nice straight edges.

I suggest using a slab soap mold so that you are only cutting the thin side of the bar. Cut as soon as you can handle the soap. Basically as soon as the soap is solid enough to handle...it will likely still be hot.

Even then you may get crumbling.

You could try one of the slab molds with inserts that divide the soap into bars. I've never splurged on one so am not sure how it would work. I think you would still need to remove the soap as soon as possible.

A salt soap isn't really exfoliating even though the bar feels rough. As soon as you start to use it, the bar smooth's out and starts to feel like a polished stone.

For an exfoliating bar, try ingredients like poppy seeds, cornmeal, coffee grounds, herbs, oatmeal, ground pumice and luffa.

Cathy

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Sea salt soap
by: Ryan

Thanks Cathy. I use a slab mold, just get nervous to handle it before it cools. I don't want to ruin it. The soap I'm making is a custom design for a friend, it has to be sea salt.
Thanks again!

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Coconut?
by: Mokhe

Could it also be possible that your high percentage of coconut is making it more difficult? I've read that (primarily) coconut oil bars need to be cut just 4-6 hours later! Or they get very hard and impossible to cut. Just a thought!

Answer:

It's really a combination of both the coconut oil and the salt content that make the bars difficult to cut.

When you cut the bars will depend on when you are able to handle the soap. This will vary from batch to batch. For me, 4 - 6 hours is usually not possible as the soap is still too soft to handle.

It is a balancing act of trying to find the moment when the soap is hard enough to handle but not too hard to cut.

Salt bars are always high in coconut oil and are always a challenge to cut as smoothly as we would like.

Cathy

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