Do Salt Bars have to have CO?

[Candybee]

I was wondering if you could sub either PKO or Babassu for coconut oil to make salt bars? Or does it absolutely have to be CO? Has anyone tried?

BTW-- I just made my first salt bars with coconut oil and love them!

But a lot of coconut oil makes me feel itchy. So it got me thinking could PKO or Babassu be subbed? Or even subbed as a % of the CO? Eg.; 50/50% CO and PKO? I can use up to 25% CO in a recipe but after that the itching gets more intense.

I made my bars with 60% CO and 8% superfat and they are lovely but just a tad itchy for me. Can I make them with 30% CO and 30% PKO instead?

[TallTayl]

You can sub any oils you want. Coconut is traditional with salt bars because CO tends to provide the most lather with the high salt of a salt soap. Give each one a go and see what you like.

The trick with high coconut to reduce irritancy (itch) is much higher superfat to counteract the lauric acid.

[Candybee]

Thanks TallTayl. I was also thinking of using a higher superfat too. But now I'm going to try both. Lately I have been doing a 50/50% of CO & PKO in my soapmaking and its helped tremendously without having to up my superfat. I'm hoping I can try this with salt bars too.

I also need to be patient and let the salt bars fully cure before I make a final judgment. But I just can't seem to keep my hands off my tester bar! LOL

Edited July 4, 2013 by Candybee

[Scented]

The other thing is that coconut's cheap lol. Babassu not so much.

[Candybee]

But PKO not so much. Haven't actually tried Babassu yet. But if its only going into salt bars it might be worth the extra cost.

[TallTayl]

But PKO not so much. Haven't actually tried Babassu yet. But if its only going into salt bars it might be worth the extra cost.

I used to think that way.... I collected every oil and butter available.

Ingredients now need to multitask In my shop. Besides i never found babassu to be all that. It was just as drying as coconut when used as a direct replacment to coconut at 4 times the cost. The easy solution to the skin feel for either is increase the SF % or add oils with high unsaponifiables, such as avocado or shea or mango.

[Scented]

Tall's right, though I do love me some babassu lol.

[Candybee]

I do have avocado in that recipe at 5% I think -- will have to check on that. So maybe up the avocado to 10% and increase the superfat.

At 60% coconut oil how high can I superfat? I superfatted at 8%. Whats reasonable 10, 12? higher? I know that 100% coconut oil salt bars can be superfatted at 20%. But mine are only 60%. Thats why I started at a lower superfat.

[emilyspoppy]

This old chandler-only geezer would like to know; Is this thread in English or some foreign language or secret code?

[Candybee]

This old chandler-only geezer would like to know; Is this thread in English or some foreign language or secret code?

LOL Dave. It does look like 'greek' if you are unfamiliar with some of the terms. Superfat simply put means decreasing your lye or 'discounting' lye. The higher the superfat the less oil is saponified so you end up with a milder soap with a bit of extra conditioning. There is more to it but hopefully you get the picture.

Babassu Oil and Palm Kernal Oils (PKO) are hard/solid fats very similar to Coconut Oil (CO) in that they produce lots of lather and help harden soap among other things. But in general you want a lathery soap so you use one or more in your recipe. CO is by far the most popular and cheapest as mentioned above.

Edited July 5, 2013 by Candybee

[emilyspoppy]

LOL Dave. It does look like 'greek' if you are unfamiliar with some of the terms. Superfat simply put means decreasing your lye or 'discounting' lye. The higher the superfat the less oil is saponified so you end up with a milder soap with a bit of extra conditioning. There is more to it but hopefully you get the picture.

Babassu Oil and Palm Kernal Oils (PKO) are hard/solid fats very similar to Coconut Oil (CO) in that they produce lots of lather and help harden soap among other things. But in general you want a lathery soap so you use one or more in your recipe. CO is by far the most popular and cheapest as mentioned above.

Yep! I wasn't fibbing when I told a gal buddy soaper recently that she need not worry that I would ever become a competitor for her CP soap business. I knew the "skinny" on coconut oil and soap, the rest was simply gibberish that just gave me a headache.

[Scented]

I do have avocado in that recipe at 5% I think -- will have to check on that. So maybe up the avocado to 10% and increase the superfat.

At 60% coconut oil how high can I superfat? I superfatted at 8%. Whats reasonable 10, 12? higher? I know that 100% coconut oil salt bars can be superfatted at 20%. But mine are only 60%. Thats why I started at a lower superfat.

So maybe 80% coconut and 20ish% avocado eh? What I've found is that the more coconut is superfatted, the less irritating it becomes. Me, I'd probably go with 15ish%

[Candybee]

Thanks all for your help. I'm gonna use a higher superfat next time and maybe tweak the avocado %.

[chuck_35550]

I have two bars in my shower. One is a gm and the other is a salt. I generally use them together to balance my skin (salt too dry and gm too oily) or alternate the bars to keep my skin just right. I never have quite understood the idea behind a salt bar. Mild exfoliation (maybe) is supposedly a reason but it seems mostly people like the lather more than anything else KWIM? What would happen if you made up half batches of each and poured them in layers? Big lather and great conditioning all in one bar would be kinda cool. I like mp imbeds to help do the same thing in a soap. Just a few ideas. HTH

Steve

[cmzaha]

I use 75% CO, 10% Sunflower or Avocado, 7% Shea Butter, 8% Castor Oil, with a 20% superfat and it makes a great salt bar, which I cut in 45 minutes