Experiment #1: Wet Salt Bars

May 28, 2008 by | 9 Comments

Wet Soap Mold Liners and SoapCut Salt BarsWell, it wasn’t a complete failure, but something isn’t quite right here. Yesterday I completed my first salt bar experiment using 80% coconut oil, 15% shea butter, and 5% castor oil with a 15% superfat. As the soap started to thicken, I added some Mediterranean Sea Salt fragrance oil and a green oxide coloring. Finally, I added Fine Dead Sea Salt equal to the amount of oils and just stirred it with a spoon. I thought it would get pretty thick once I added the salt, but it didn’t. After pouring it into the mold, I put it in the oven at 170 degrees for two hours. It was warm and gelled when I pulled it out. I left the lid on the mold, and four hours later, it was all wet and oozing!! Since it was still warmish, I decided to go ahead and cut it before it got too hard. This was a small batch of soap and I cut it into small bars. I wish I had taken a picture of the pool of wetness on top of the soap before I cut it, but you can see how moist it was. The blue soap mold liners are very wet. I even had trouble getting it out of the mold because the moisture had created a vacuum on the bottom. This morning the soap was harder, but still soft enough for me to break a bar in half. I’m going to see if it will harden as it cures. I’m thinking the culprit might be the type of salt that I used. There are lots of other minerals in the Dead Sea Salt that might interfere with the soapmaking process. Never fear, I have two other types of salt that I plan to try next! (Notice I filed this post under the “Making Soap” category, not the “Botched Batches”!!)

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  1. I’ve only made one batch of salt bars, it was my third batch. I read tons on forums and online and decided to just use regular table salt. The only thing that I had happen, is that I didn’t let it sit long enough after gelling in the oven. I cut them too warm, but I didn’t want them to get too hard and break. They work just fine and other then being ugly when you first use them, a wash cloth rubbed on them to lather them makes them look polished and smooth as they should.

  3. They are getting harder, HOWEVER, they are still weeping! I’m going to take another picture – they are all standing in a small pool of wetness. Stay tuned for the next post about Experiment #2 – they are much better!

  5. I read today elsewhere on the net that you cannot use Dead Sea Salts in these bars. There is some mineral in those salts that causes the continual ‘weeping’. I wonder if that was the problem?

  6. Yes, most definitely, Kerry. I wish I had known before I made these! I’ve had much better luck with “regular” sea salts. You can get some at Walmart!

    I plan to experiment some more with this type of soap. After the holidays though! 🙂

  7. Sounds to me like u have the best of 2 products out of one. Have u thought about scooping the liquid up and putting it in a 2 or 4oz jar and using the liquid for a liquid face cleanser and the bar for the bath or shower. I think that’s what I would try and if it fails oh well but if it works it might turn out to be a darn good bath-n-body set. Never know till you give it a try

  8. Hi! I just did the same mistake 2 weeks ago using dead sea salt. How did yours turn out? Mine are sweating and don’t really lather. Should I just wait a few more weeks or rebatch it? Mine where hot process. Thanks!

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