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Pretty in Pink: Salty Cold Process

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Time: 45 minutes
Yields: 5 pounds

Why put Pink Himalayan Salt in your CP?  The obvious answer is that it looks totally unique. What you may not know is that  Pink Himalayan Salt is known for its nourishing and soothing properties. I love it inside cold process for its exfoliating and moisturizing abilities. Plus salt bars have a very creamy lather.  For this project, we just added a little of the coarse sized salt on top for the WOW factor!

This is a 5 pound recipe using 2 different molds. You can either make this recipe in a 5 pound mold or split it up into two molds (like I did) using the 9 Bar Baltic Birch Mold and the 2 Pound Loaf Mold. I really wanted to show you two different looks that you can get using two different molds.

Ingredients

16.5 oz Coconut Oil

19.2 oz Olive Oil

16.5 Palm Oil

2.7 Shea Butter

8 oz Lye

18.1 oz Distilled Water

1 oz Lemongrass Essential Oil

1.5 oz Eucalyptus Essential Oil

5 cups Small Pink Himalayan Salt

1 oz Coarse Pink Himalayan Salt (optional for garnish)

Fuchsia LabColor

Super Pearly White Mica

Buy Everything you need in the click of a button! Molds not included in kit button.

Safety Tips: If you have never made cold process soap before, I strongly suggest getting a couple of  basic recipes under your belt before diving in. Check out Soap Queen TV on Cold Process to get started. It’s a 4 part series that will take you through the basics (and be sure to watch the episode on Lye Safety). If you’re a book worm, Bramble Berry also has some helpful reading on the cold process technique.

ONE: In a well ventilated area, carefully prepare your lye water by adding the lye to the water (never add the water to the lye). Stir until the mixture turns water clear. Be sure that you’re wearing your safety goggles, gloves and long sleeves.  I would also recommend watching the Lye Safety video on Soap Queen TV. Safety first, soapers!

TWO: Combine and melt the coconut oil, palm oil and olive oil. Once the oils are heated, stir in the shea butter until fully melted.

Tip: If shea butter gets too hot it has a tendency to become grainy, which is just the nature of the butter. Stirring the butter into the heated oils melts it at a lower temperature, avoiding the grainy texture all together.

THREE: Slowly and carefully add the lye mixture to the oils and stick blend for 10-15 seconds.

FOUR: Add 1 Tablespoon of Super Pearly White Mica and mix for 20-30 seconds until the mica is fully incorporated into the soap.

FIVE: Separate (roughly) 2 cups of the super pearly white soap batter and pour it into two separate containers. Into the first container, add 1 teaspoon – Tablespoon (personal preference) of diluted Fuchsia LabColor . Give it a couple pulses with the stick blender to mix. Do not add anything to the second container of soap batter.

SIX: To the remaining soap batter (which is still in your large mixing bowl) add 1 ounce of Lemongrass Essential Oil and 1.5 ounces of Eucalyptus Essential Oil. Quickly stick blend to make sure the essential oil blend is fully incorporated. Then swoon over the fresh, citrusy and energetic aroma.

SEVEN: Once the mixture has reached light trace, add 5 cups of  pink salt and hand stir with a spatula. Work quickly. This mixture thickens up fast!

EIGHT: Now it’s time for the fun part, creating our salty swirl. Pour a small layer of pink salted soap into the mold, followed by thin stripes of the pink soap and thin stripes of the white soap until you fill up the entire mold. Use a skewer or spoon to create a linear swirl.

NINE: Firmly press down the dividers. Pop on the lid and wrap it in a towel to insulate the soap. Then put it to bed. I was able to unmold my soap the very next morning and it turned out beautiful!

Note: Because of the salt, the dividers may not reach the very bottom of the mold. Just get them down as far as you can.

LOG MOLD OPTION

Have your log mold lined with freezer paper ahead of time and repeat steps eight and nine of the slab mold, alternating pours of salted soap with pink and white swirls. I saved a little bit of unsalted pink and white to get a perfectly lovely swirl on the top of the soap (that’s why the salt portion of the bar doesn’t extend all the way to the top).

Cutting the Log Mold: On a piece of wax paper, turn the soap log upside down so your beautiful swirl is on the bottom. Cutting the soap from this end will prevent any crumbling with the salt, which can be a common occurrence in CP salt bars.

Do you make salt bars? I’d love to hear how your process differs than mine and if you have any can’t-fail tips to share with Soap Queen Readers!

 

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131 Comments

  2. Hi Becky,

    I finally posted some photos of my salt bars on the Facebook page. Thanks for your tips with the recipe!!

    Regards
    Monica

  3. Help! I made the salt bars using epsom salt, before I added the salt it was at thin trace, I added the epsom salt and it turned to a total liquid. It has set for about 3 hours and it is still a thin liquid mess at least on top. What went wrong?

    • Hi Lorrie!

      I am so sorry that you are having some trouble with this recipe. We would love for you tell us a little more about what happened so we could help you troubleshoot. What kind of fragrance or essential oils did you use? You’ll also want to make sure that you’ve stayed within the safe usage rate for your FO/EO as sometimes you can get that liquid film at the top of your soap if you use to much. Make sure to let us know so we can help you out! =)

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  4. I have made salt bars a fee times and here are my suggestions(in have done it where I forgot to unmould in time and it was like trying to cut granite)

    1. Cut as soon as it is cool enough to touch (wear gloves as the lye is still active)
    2. Store in a cool dry place (i live in a high humidity place and they were constantly wet because of the salt)
    3. Cover and line your cut soaps with a clean dishcloth for the first week because of the moisture (change daily as mine were constantly soaked).
    4. Depending on your humidity I eventually used a dehumidifier in my curing area to help with the ‘sweating’.

    Note: salt bars aren’t really scrubby as the soaping action and water when you use it smoothes and dissolves the salt but I love the soft feel it gives after a relaxing bath 😉

    Matthew

    • Hi Matthew!

      Thanks for the great tips and suggestions, I know that there will be soapers that will find them to be super helpful! We always suggest to cut them as soon as possible so that they don’t crumble later on. 🙂 If you have any pictures of your salt soaps, we’d love for you to share them with us on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page. 🙂

      Happy Soaping!
      -Becky with Bramble Berry

      https://www.facebook.com/BrambleBerry

  5. Becky,
    I recently made this salt soap. I used BB Dead Sea Salt and cut back the amount from 5 cups to 3. It has been 4 weeks and it is still weepy. Not nearly as bad as the first two weeks, but still enough to wonder.

    I have read that Dead Sea Salt will cause more water to weep than other types of sea salt.

    Any suggestions?

  6. Ok, so Im feeling crafty 🙂 and I would love to try out this recipe. I just ordered y’all’s 12 Cavity Rectangle Silicone Mold and I’m super excited to try it out. My only concern is that I normally soap at room temperature. Could I do this recipe with the room temp method? Also, do I need to do anything special to this mold to keep it insulated since they are separate cavities? I saw on another thread that a couple people tried to put it in the oven to insulate but it volcanoed. Yikes!! Just want to prevent a disaster. Lol

    Thanks!

    • Hi Michelle! This recipe is such a fun one to make and the bars have a very spa-like exfoliating feel to them. You can definitely soap at room temperature and Anne-Marie actually soaped lower then she usually did with this recipe. To insulate the mold, just cover it up with a towel (you can also put a piece of cardboard over the top to help prevent soda ash).

      The only thing you really want to watch out for is when you cut your soap. As soon as your soap has hardened, you are going to want to cut it or it is going to be super crumbly. Keep us updated on your progress. We’d love to see how it turns out.

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  7. Hi Anne Marie,
    I just made my first spa salt bars….not sure if it is a bar of soap, like my other CP soap bars or a bath tub product. I’ve never purchased or used a salt bar before, so I have nothing to compare it to. I may have used the wrong recipe, perhaps I should of used 100% coconut oil recipes I have read about. Instead of a pink theme I went with a yellow color theme.
    Recipe:
    16 oz olive oil, 8 oz coconut, 2 oz castor, 6 oz Shea . I soaped with 75% salt. I added 1 tbsp each of lavender and rosemary EO’s. Similar to yours I created 1/3 of the loaf with just soap(no salt) and tinted that with 1/4 tsp brambleberry fizzy lemonade. I poured that first on the bottom of the loaf. The rest of the salt loaf was left the natural soap color….it has a creamy light color. Then I topped the loaf with yellow lemongrass soap curl embeds, pressed into the top. I sliced up the loaf 24 hrs later and they came out great, i think. Knowing what I know now and have learned here I could have cut sooner with even better results. The two thin slices I cut off of each end of the loaf fell apart. Will it he soap get harder as it drys out or is this the nature of salt bars. Will they crumble in the shower? Do you use them more like a bath bomb for the bath? Confused.

    • Hi Mally,
      I’m so glad you tried this recipe out, salt soap is so much fun!

      It’s just the nature of CP salt soaps to crumble, and the best way to minimize that is to cut it right away after you unmold it. It will get harder the longer it cures, and so that’s where you’ll get the crumbling.

      If you do have some crumble, you can take those little pieces and use them as a sample exfoliators to take to craft fairs or to give to friends. It might be less scrubby than the original, but it will still have a nice exfoliating texture from the small pieces.

      Hope that helps, let me know if you have any more questions!

      -Kirsten with Bramble Berry

  8. Thanks for the tips Becky. That helps alot. I’ve also been reading that many people hot process their salt bars. Should I insulate my soap or put it in the oven? I’m soooo excited to make this tomorrow morning 🙂

    • Good morning, Monica!

      We don’t ever hot process our salt bars, but we do definitely suggest letting it go through gel phase by properly insulating it. We can’t wait for you to try it out. Keep us updated on your progress and if you get pictures, we’d love to see how they turn out. You can share them with us on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page:

      https://www.facebook.com/BrambleBerry

      Happy Soaping! =)
      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  9. Hi There,

    I’m attempting to make my first batch of salt bars. My total oil weight is 1270g and I would like to add 75% of himilayan salt.

    Obviously to fit the batch into my mould I would need to decrease my soap batter but I’m confusing myself with my calculations and trying to work this out. Can you help?

    Thanks

    • Hi Monica!

      We are so excited for you to make your first salt bars. I’d suggest just decreasing your oil by about 75%. The calculation for that is going to be you Oil Amount X .25 which will give you the oil amount that is decreased by 75%. Just be aware that with the amount of salt you want to add in it may be super crumbly, so as soon as it has hardened, you are going to want to cut it. I hope this helps! =)

      P.S. Then you can take this and input it into the lye calculator to create your recipe!

      Lye Calculator: https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Lye-Calculator.aspx

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  10. I made this last weekend and cut it after 14 hours and it came out PERFECT! I used Brambleberry’s ultramarine pink rather than the fushia lab color and mixed Brambleberry’s cranberry and fig fragrance oil with Brambleberry’s pink grapefruit essential oil for a lovely clean fragrance with a slight fruit scent. Of course I couldn’t wait to try and tested a sample piece and it lathered nicely. All are biting at the bit to try this while it cures. Thanks Ann-Marie!

  11. Hi,

    Bought your 9 bar slab mold just to make this recipe…should be delivered in a few days. Can you tell me how to adjust the recipe for only the 9 bar mold.

    Thanks can’t wait to try this salt bar!

    • Hi Gloria!

      The 9-bar Birchwood Mold is going to hold about 2-3 pounds of soap. All you need to do to adjust a recipe, is run your oils through the lye calculator and then hit calculate. Once you are on the next screen it will give you an option to resize your batch and then you just pick anywhere from 24-32 ounces and it will resize your batch (with lye and liquid amounts) for you! I hope this helps. =)

      Lye Calculator: https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Lye-Calculator.aspx

      -Becky

  12. Hello – I recently tried this recipe with Euro sea salt and the bars were so crumbly that they fell apart. I did an 80% coconut recipe with some olive oil, castor oil and cocoa butter. I decided to crumble the bars up before they got any harder so I could rebatch the soap. I haven’t re-batched a salt soap before and I had a question. Can I make a regular soap recipe and put the re-batched salt back in it for a more stable bar or do I need to make a high coconut recipe again because I am adding the salt back in? I just think the salt bars are too unstable but I still like the idea of them. Thanks….

    • Good morning, Shelley!

      We’ve found that using any other salt other than the Pink Himalayan Salt can cause the soap bars to be much more crumbly and the changes with the oils could have caused it to fall apart as well. But, you can totally rebatch your soap into a brand new batch to make it a more stable salt bar (I’d suggest sticking to the recipe above). Just make sure to cut your bars as soon as they have hardened so that they don’t crumble. I hope this helps! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. =)

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  13. I made this soap a while ago and I like the recipe! The Brambleberry White Ginger & Amber FO is awesome!

    However, I’ve discovered that I’m not a fan of the pink Himalayan salt. It’s just TOO scratchy. It doesn’t dissolve in the shower either and just seems to fall out. I’m sure I didn’t do this recipe perfectly–it traced really fast and my colors are more like blobs than swirls (I soap just for family & friends so it really doesn’t matter)–but I find myself being glad that part of it doesn’t have salt in it. I do like the soap overall! :o) The next time I make this, I’ll probably use regular or kosher salt.

    I had no problem with crumbly soap with this batch. I made it in the square bar silicone mold, so no cutting necessary. :o)

    My only problem is that the soap seems to be getting DOS! No idea why. Since it’s only for me, I don’t suppose it’s a big deal.

    Thanks for sharing your knowledge & recipes!

  14. I’m having trouble understanding “superfat” and what it does to soap. When I ran the whole recipe through the lye calculator it came up with 0% superfat. I read the previous post about superfating at 20%, and your answer was to keep it low for more lather. So confused, please help!
    Thanks much, you guys are so helpful.

    • I typically won’t superfat above 8%. If you do more than that, it cuts down on larger. That said, I’d go with a 2% over a 0%.

      • Hi. I tried the salt bar recipe. There are crumbly bits. Can you please tell me how to use the crumbly bits into a new batch of salt bar.

        Do I make the batch with less salt as I will be adding the crumbly bar and bits?
        Do I also crumble the crumbly bars as well?
        Love your blog. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

        • If you have a bunch of crumbly bits, I’d actually toss them into just a plain batch of soap – it will add a little texture to the soap but not much scrubbiness.

          The reason we recommend cutting so soon is because of the crumbliness. I don’t think you did anything wrong =)

  15. Can anyone suggest a good substitute for Shea butter in this recipe? I would like to try these, but of course do not have any Shea Butter on hand at the moment. Of course, I will be sure to run the whole thing through the lye calculator again with any suggestions you may have, thanks!

  16. I tried this soap last night & decided to cut after 6 hours. I was able to smooth the edges & stamp the back w/ minimal crumbling. Here’s was I noticed about some of the soaps I’ve made in the past, including the salt soap: during the incubation phase, the log will sweat, getting tiny clear droplets on the soap, but will later absorb. Once absorbed, spots will appear on the soap where the droplets used to be. Well yesterday, I decided to blot the droplets from the soap during the incubation phase & did the zap test on the liquid. Sure enough, it zinged & zapped away. Is this normal? Will it create a harsher soap whether the liquid is reabsorbed into the soap or blotted away? Of course I will let it cure 6wks, ph, color, zap & shower test it. I used a small portion of the soap & it lathered fine, didnt burn.

    • Hi Tony!

      If you soap zaps, it is typically because it is lye heavy and wouldn’t want to use it on your skin. Once your soap has cured, I’d do another zap test just to make sure it was the liquid (and not the soap). If it is still lye heavy, you can use it as laundry soap but we don’t suggest using it on the skin.

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  17. I made a batch of salt Spa bars last night using 80% coconut, 10% castor and 10% shea butter.

    I was so paranoid about getting it cut soon enough because of all the horror stories I have read about it turning to cement, that I may have cut the loaf too soon.

    I removed the loaf from one of the Brambleberry silicon molds and it was firm enough to handle yet it was almost too hot to handle!

    I placed the loaf in my soap cutter and everything worked great.

    The problem I see this morning is that my white bars have an almost purple halo in the middle of the bars.

    This reminds me of the problems I had when I refrigerated my soap after making it to prevent it from gelling. I had several batches have a strange halo in the center. I suppose this is caused by an partial gel.

    Did this happen to my salt bar? After I cut the bars, I laid them out to dry without insulating them.

    • Hi Garret!

      It does sound like your salt spa did go through a partial gel phase. There is nothing wrong with your bar, it will just have a fun purple halo in the middle. To prevent gel phase, make sure you are not insulating your mold and keep it somewhere that it is cooler. You can also soap at room temps to prevent it. 🙂

      I hope this helps!
      -Becky

      • Thanks Becky!

        Come to think of it, My oils and lye were around 110 (a little on the high side). I usually soap around 90 to 100..

        I quit trying to prevent gel phase in the fridge because the issue I was having was that wooden molds with freezer paper did not gel and the soap came out perfect. The silicon molds work great and a big time saver, but they act as an insulator and I found that a lot of my soaps were going through a partial gel.

        Lately, I have been insulating and it’s been working great as long as I soap around the 90 to 100 range.

        This salt bar was a challenge because of the short time frame between the pour and the slice and dice.

        This is my 20th batch and I’m still learning.. 🙂

        • You are doing great, Garret! We are always here to help you out with any questions you may have. You can also ask us questions on our facebook page:

          https://www.facebook.com/BrambleBerry

          This salt bar recipe can be a bit tricky, but you are definitely on the right path. If you have any pictures, we would love to see how they turned out, and you can share those with us on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page! 🙂

          Happy Soaping!
          -Becky with Bramble Berry

  18. Thanks for the email. But again I have failed at this salt soap. It is too crumbly. I would like to re-batch this time. The 1st try is way to hard right now to stand here and grate it.

    How would you suggest I re-batch it. It was suggested to make another batch of soap high in Coconut Oil, like 80% with a high superfat 20% grate salt soap up as fine as possible, Add equal parts of your old soap to new batter at medium trace

    That sound about right to you?

  19. Last year I loved my pink salt soap, but it crumbled so much (I broke up the crumbles and added to other soap) and the remaining bars were more chunks than bars. This year I think I have created disaster. I realized the directions I had didnt say to wait for trace so I just used the emulsion blender a few seconds and it looked like it was very early trace to me but it is almost 24 hours later and the soap didnt heat up and is very soft. I think I had the “false trace” experience for the first time in 10 years of soap-making, but I am trying to pour earlier so avoid the soap being too thick. Is there any point in reheating it? I have been reading online about doing that with other problems. Ruefully, Laura

    • Good morning, Laura!

      If you’ve already poured your soap in your mold, then we suggest waiting to see if it harden up. If it hasn’t hardened within 48 hours, I’d suggest popping in the oven for a CPOP to see if that helps. Keep us updated! 🙂

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  20. I could not cut the soap until the next day, I tried, but it was still mush inside. When I did cut it was more crumbly than the last mistake batch. I have them sitting on the shelf drying. Do you think when they are ready for use, that they will crumble in the shower when they are used?

    OK, got it, no wonder my fragrance is so light. I was only using oil amounts. Oil, water, lye, thank you.

    • Hi Fran!

      Sometimes when you are soaping, your batch can give you what we call false trace. The best way to make sure you have full trace is drizzle a bit of the soap on top of the batter and see if leaves a line of batter. If it does that, then you know you have reached full trace. With this batch, we suggest letting it sit for awhile until it hardens up a bit.

      And, I’ve sent you a private e-mail with something that should help you out! 🙂

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  21. OK, today is twice I tried this. This time I diluted the Lab color. I tried not to over stick blend. It was a bit thin but I thought I saw trace. As I was pouring the salt in the batter, I thought it would get nice and thick, but that did not happen. The salt was falling to the bottom of the batter, so I had to keep mixing while pouring. Hoping the salt doesn’t all fall to the bottom. We will see tonight when I cut. The color is beautiful, I hope this one works. It is such a beautiful soap!

    Also, on your fragrance calculator, do you mean the total amount of oils being used, or the total amount after lye water?

    • Thanks for keeping us updated, Fran! Just make sure you cut your bars as soon as they have hardened so they don’t crumble up on you!

      And, when you are using the fragrance calculator you want to input the entire weight of what you will be making. So, if it is cold process soap you would enter in the oil + water + lye amount and that would give you the final weight which you would input into the fragrance calculator.

      https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Fragrance-Calculator.aspx

      I hope this helps! 🙂
      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  22. Hi Annmarie,

    I just received another bottle of fuchsia lab color. I am attempting to make this again.

    1. The bars that I had previously made I used the undiluted lab color are very crumbly. Is that how the salt bar should come out?
    2. How long do you cure?
    3. Do you cover to gel this salt bar?

    I am going to try this again, using your recipe exactly. I don’t want to waste more product again, so just checking on a few things before I start.

    • Hi Fran!

      Crumbly is totally normal in salt bars, which is why we recommend cutting your soap so quickly and soon. If you want to gel your salt bars (which is totally okay — we do!), you just need to cover your soap while it is hardening. And let it cure for the normal 6 weeks and you’ll be good to go! 🙂

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  23. I know the salt soap is not cured, but it will definitely bleed, as I have tried a piece of it. And it is bleeding alot. What can I do it with it. I don’t know if I want to even give to friends and family with this much bleed.

  24. I did try and shake the bottle, but it was like paste and looked as though there was very little in the bottle. I did not warm as instructions on your website said.

  25. Hi,

    I made the salt soap. The soap that I separated into 2 cups, got thick right away, first mistake.

    The Fushia Lab color was thick in the bottle, and it did not poor out, so I had to bang it out. After I put a tablespoon into one of the cups, I realized it was too dark and looked back and it said something about diluted??? 2nd mistake.

    That was not clear in the instructions. I tried to call your office but you were closed. I proceeded to finish the soaping.

    I had to spoon the the 2 separate cups into layers, it was so thick. I swirled the best I could.

    My question is, since the lab color was so dark purple is it going to bleed?

    • If you used the colorant undiluted, there is a possibility it will bleed in the soap. We’ll know after the soap is hardened and cured. In that case, pink bubbles are not the worst ever. =) Keep us posted how it turns out.

  27. Hi Ann-Marie,

    I just received my order from Bramble Berry. i was waiting on the Fuchsia LabColor and Super Pearly White Mica, and the PH strips and a whole bunch of other goodies.

    1. On the soapcalc what number should I put in that box? 2. How and when do I use the PH strips, and what is a normal PH. 3. I like a moisturizing soap, but don’t want to mess around with your recipe, you are the expert!!!! Will this be a moisturizing bar?

    I also bought everything melt and pour curls with Wow Orange. Can’t wait to try that.

    • Good morning, Fran!

      You are going to have so much fun making soap, thank you so much for your order!

      1. When we made this recipe we used a 5%-6% superfat and found that it had a lovely and creamy lather.

      2. pH strips are super simple to use. When you are in doubt over the pH of your soap (ex. you think it might be too lye heavy) you would use the pH strips.

      To use the strips, all you need to do to is to wet your soap with water and then rub your hands on the soap to form bubbles. Once you’ve done that, put your pH strip onto the wet soap and check your reading. We normally like it to read around 7-10, but make sure it isn’t above 10.

      https://www.brambleberry.com/pH-Strips-1-pack-of-50-P4434.aspx

      3. Salt bars are a little different then regular soaps, but we did find this recipe to moisturizing and exfoliating! 🙂

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  28. I want to try this recipe. I am somewhat of a beginner. I do not have any color for the soap. How would it come out without the color pink.

    I do have Chamomile powder and Lavender powder, do you suggest I use this, and what color do you think either of those will create?

    Another question, how long should I let it sit before I cut it. I usually go about 24-36 hours, is that too long?

    • It will look great without the color – just plain.

      Chamomile powder will go a yellow/brown, similar to a clay and the Lavender powder will go a brown. I wouldn’t use the Lavender powder.

      You want to cut this quickly – as soon as it gets hard, usually about 8 to 12 hours after making it at the latest.

  29. This recipe looks so GOOD!!! I have some dead sea salt do you think I can use it instead of pink salt?

  30. Love this recipe, am somewhat of a newbie in the making of cp soap, I am trying to stay as natural as possible; my question is would I be able to replace the labcolor with rose clay with this recipe still keeping the “Pretty in Pink” concept and if so, could you recommend how much? Also original from the islands and would love to send this home. Island life being humid, it has mentioned that there is sweating, is that just in the curing process or after 6 weeks curing time. Would using the shrink bands help in this envirnment also? Thank you Anne-Marie and the rest of the “Bramble Beauties”! You guys rock!

  31. Thanks so much for your great tutorials -I’ve decided to create a salt bar for my customers, and had no clue as to how much salt to use. I was able to estimate fairly well based on your recipe, how much to put in my own current recipe. I can’t wait to give it a whirl! 🙂 ~Becky

  32. Hi,
    I would love to try this recipe because they look so gorgeous! I plugged it into soapcalc and noticed that the SF was only 3%. Is this correct? It seems awful low when quite a few people use up to 20% in salt bars. I’ll wait to hear from you before attempting this. Thanks!

    • It is pretty low. I kept it low to hopefully help with the decrease in lather that happens with a slightly higher superfat but I totally understand your concern. I’d increase the Shea to 4.0 ounces in the recipe and that will bring you up to a good 5% =) Let me know how your batch turns out. =)

  33. I loved making the Pink Salt Bars. I sold out of them! The scent combination was wonderful! I had to change my wrapping quite abit because the soap sweated. I will try the shrink wrap you suggested in the earlier posts.

  34. Hi,
    This is my first time posting. I made my first salt bars last week and, I think they turned out fine. i cut them less than an hour agter I poured!! One thing I have noticed is that ther is the occassional very tiny discoloration on the surface – kind of a light yellowish orange. No other difference (smell or touch). Any idea what this would be.
    I am trying the Pretty in Pink recipe as I type – well, I just pored the lye in the water anyway.

    • Without seeing a photo, I can’t tell what it is but it could be from the soap not fully mixing in? I’ve had full on orange tops before on Castile soap and I was shocked! But when I thought back over the soap, I realized I poured at extremely light trace AND the temperatures were lower than usual. So that might be it? The soap should be fine to use =) But if you want to post a photo on our FB page or email it to me, I’d be glad to look it over (info at brambleberry dot com).

      • Thanks Anne Marie. If I get a chance, I will send a picture. I am beginning to think that th spots may relate to bars having stood on one end too long while they were still cooling (remember, I cut them after about 40 minutes).
        The Pretty in Pink bars turned out gorgeous. I used a slightly different proportion of oils &, of cpurse, ran it through a lye calc. In addition to the lemongrass & eucalyptus, I added some pink grapefruit eo. I was so worried about it hetting too thick to fast that I combined my lye water & oils at 92degrees. It enede up being pretty runny when I poured it into the mold, so my inbetween layers are not really visible. It was so thin that I was a little worried and then, it surprised me ane got hard very quickly. Again, I cut them in less than an hour. Every bar is intact with only minor crumbling at some of the edges. I have been rotating them as they cooler to avoid the possible discoloration. Oh, and did I mention, they smell SOOOO yummy.
        Thanks for the great recipe.
        Kate

  35. I attempted making this recipe but mixed the Himalayan sea salt with a cup of dead sea salt. My soap came out way to crumbly and only managed to get a few good cut bars. I thought of turning this into a sudsing salt scrub but would I just crumble the rest of the pieces after it finishes curing a few weeks, then add some oils to it in a jar or bottle? Any recommends?

    • If they all crumbled, I’d consider tossing the crumbles into another batch soap. Scent the soap, even color it and then toss all the crumbles in. It’ll still be an extremely exfoliating bar of soap with all the crumbles but it should stick together which would be a plus! =)

  36. I’ve made salt bars and never had any weeping. I use sea salt but never dead sea salt. I’m wondering what types of salt folks are using that could cause the weeping? Either way, great tutorial and I love the rustic look of salt bars. They’re my new favorite.

    • Hi Brenda,

      Oh, that is interesting! I’m betting that I’ve naturally gravitated towards using exotic salts so I wonder?! Maybe it’s an environment thing too?

      I love your site, by the way. The stamps are classy and I think it’s hilarious that you got a degree in engineering. Mine is in psychology with an emphasis in criminal justice. And now, we both make soap! Go figure =)

  37. My soap is about half way through curing and is nice and mild already. All the weepyness is gone and it is nice and dry. The only thing I’m really not happy about is that there is absolutely no lather. Maybe I did something wrong. Did a little online research and saw that many ppl doing salt soaps do a recipe with almost all coconut oil. I’ll try that next time *shrug*

    • You can definitely go 100% Coconut Oil. I find that recipe a little drying for my skin – just a tinch – so I tend not to go 100% Coconut Oil but that will definitely help with lather. My recipe tends to be more of a lotion-like lather (but don’t worry, it’s still cleaning even if there are not copious bubbles). =)

  38. Since the salted soap tends to sweat, any recommendations on how to wrap it? Do you think a regular paper wrap will hold up? Thanks!

  39. I washed my hands with a little piece and no redness…touched it to my tongue and no zap…it was just concerning that the liquid had a PH of 14, not sure how that happens.

    I will let it cure the usual 6 weeks and give another try 🙂

    Thanks so much for your feedback!

    • That is a high pH, I agree. Just make sure to check the pH of the soap after a six week cure and of course, the old fashioned tongue test again. I swear by that tongue test to be the extra ‘for sure’ after a pH test =)

  40. I would not classify it as a heavy duty, but it is for CP soap. It is pretty thick plastic yet clear/see-through…not as thick as say a plastic kitchen tub (what I used to use). I have made several batches of soap in this mold and have never seen this amount of liquid. I believe it came from here : http://www.snowdriftfarm.com/mold_market_molds.html

    For the recipe, the only change I made was to follow what another suggested in regards to mixing the essential oils in the salt first. I thought this would buy me more time in trying to keep the soap at thin trace.

    I do insulate my soap pretty well with saran wrap on top, wrap in two heavy towels and place in an ambient oven. I don’t turn the oven on or anything like that, it is just a hiding place to hold the warmth of the soap.

    I was using my new mini temp gun (love it) and my lye was at 125 and the oils were 93…I figured the lye had enough heat for the oils so I did not heat oils up to 100 and wait for lye to drop to 100…and that’s about it…

    • If it was clear liquid, I wouldn’t worry about it at all. Do the typical tongue test and make sure there’s no zing but salt soaps sweats a bunch and if this soap went through a nice warm gel phase and sweated out its liquid and then the salt “held onto” the liquid (rather than the typical evaporation), that could easily account for the clear moisture up top of the soap. =)

  41. Hmmmmm How weepy is weepy?

    I was so excited to make this bar, very concerned about the layering and rightfully so…I guess I did not work as fast as I should have but I am always afraid of “false trace” sooooo naturally it was a little too thick for thin strips but it should be fine right?

    Well, I made it last night and this morning went to unmold and noticed moisture on top of the bar under my saran wrap. I peeked under my clear plastic mold and there was a lot of liquid. I actually poured it into a cup… 4 3/4 ounces of pink watery liquid, does not appear oily at all and the PH was at 14!

    Unfortunately since my soap went to medium trace, I was not quick enough to test the PH, so that is unknown.

    I was afraid to cut into the soap but it was clearly past the gel phase. I cut it into bars and yes it was a lil crumbly but did not hit any lye pockets that I have read about with false trace mishaps etc.

    The mold I used was a heavy duty plastic for CP soap, I covered the top with Saran Wrap and covered with towels and put to bed as usual…This mold does tend to give me sweaty bars but never this amount of liquid. Thought? Advise?

    • So, you used the Heavy Duty Plastic Loaf mold? Did you change any part of the recipe? Almost 5 ounces of water is a lot but I’m not too concerned without more information about the recipe and the mold =)

  42. Did you have any issues with a bit of the EO’s migrating to the outside of the soap? I unmolded mine (in a log) and saw that the paper looked a bit wet. I tested, tested, and tested again the pH to make sure it wasn’t extra lye. The soap was solid through the center but the outside was oily like i’d taken a brush and lightly brushed it with oil. Did I do something wrong? I even stick blended my EO’s in and poured everything at a medium trace.

    • Not at all – if it’s the salt CP recipe, the salt calls moisture to itself and is very weepy at times so you’re good to go! =) Great to check though on the pH. It’s good to be on the safe side.

  43. I just made this recipe and cut it without too much crumbling. When I made it I ended up using about 3.5 cups of salt.

    As the soap cures, will it become more brittle and crumbly or will it harden and be less likely to break?

    I love the way it smells!

    • It will get harder as it cures so cut it right away if you can. The longer you wait to cut the more crumbly it could potentially be (that’s just the nature of the CP salt soap). I’m so glad you tried the recipe though. I love the scent combination too!

      Courtney from Bramble Berry

  44. I made this the other night in a log mold. I only had about a cup of pink salk so I used epsom salt for the rest. I used PinkBerry Lab Color to swirl. For fragrance I used Sweet Strawberry. YUM. I was going to cut them tonight but when i cut the end off it was vERY crumbly. I didnt turn it upside down though. THey are still very mushy. Should I wait a few more days and then do the upside down cut trick? or try to cut sooner?

    Thanks.

    • Crumbly soap is totally par for the course with salt – that’s why we recommend cutting quickly =) I hope that you were able to get some good cuts from that.

        • I know this is like a day late (actually a couple of years late :-D) but I gotta ask. Did your epsom salt soap turn out okay? I was soooo eager to make some salt soap today and it was not until it was DONE that I saw all the negative reports of the epsom salt (that was all I had today). I just wondered how long to let it sit and what to expect. I hope I have not totally screwed up and entire batch of soap BUT I don’t do it too often so I can’t complain.I notice you posted the pics on FB but under what name and what dates? Thanks for ANY reply.

          • Hi Trice!

            We’ve never had a problem using Epsom Salts in this recipe, so you should be just fine! Just make sure you cut it as soon as it starts hardening or it can be a little crumbly. 🙂

            -Becky with Bramble Berry

  45. Himalayan Pink Salt in salt bars is a lovely idea! I’ll have to try it.

    What comes to the process, I use a whisk to blend the salt in. I think it disperses the salt faster than a spatula and still doesn’t make the soap thicken up too fast as it would with a stick blender.

  46. okay so I made it… and IDK didn’t move so fast on me.. .which could be good OR bad… so going to wait and see what happens. i think it smells divine, my husband however is sneezing.. ROFL!!!!! keeping fingers crossed!!!

    • Yay! Keep me posted on how it comes out – AND cut it within 12-18 hours to make sure it’s not too crumbly. =)

      • It came out AMAZING Anne-Marie, I was SO happy with how this turned out. I posted the pics on the Facebook Page. This was GREAT!!! Your tutorial and then all the wonderful Ladies posting really helped this come out beautifully. Thank you so MUCH. I can not wait til my order gets here too. I have plans to do some of the other tutorials that are on here as well. LOVE IT !!!

  47. Okay so if you forget to unmold while the soap is still warm, about 24 hours after making, and the soap crumbles….Any suggestions for the crumbled bits. I had 10 out of 18 bars actually cut without cracking and breaking in half. As I got half way through the slice they would crack and break into two. I salvaged some of them by making tiny hotel sized bars, but there is a lot of crumbles left over. Anyone had this happen and find any nifty ideas for the left over crumbles? I was thinking of letting it cure still and then later trying it in a salt scrub…

    • You could toss the crumbles into a new bar, sort of like a mini exfoliation bar? So, it would be way less scrubby than the original salt bar but still have some scrub and some texture from the smaller crumbles?

  49. For my first try on this recipe I would like to make a half recipe (not sure since it also has salt if the that would be added to ingredients in lye calculators). Do I need to run it through the lye calculator or just half the recipe? Can’t wait to try it.

    • Hi Margo. Just cut the recipe in half and run it through the lye calculator again. Then use half of the amount of salt.

      Have fun with the recipe!

      Courtney from Bramble Berry

  51. I want to make this, but can I use the melt amd pour soaps for this? If so how much salt do I add?

  53. For the spring/summer i was making it 70-75% coconut oil, the remaining with castor, avocado, and/or olive oils. Fragrances used: lime, pomegranate/orange, herbal and pink grapefruit. SF 15-20%. 100% sea salt (not dead sea salt). Placed in silicone individual molds because it falls right out whenever you have time to unmold! When I saw this recipe, I couldnt resist making it. When it was time to use (i fragranced it with LMAO) there was water in my mold; it didnt sud as much as the regular salt bars i was used to. It wasnt creamy like you state. So maybe I did it wrong! I plan to make another small batch

    • I love the idea of Lime, Pomegranate, Orange, Herb Grapefruit! Yum yum!

      I don’t superfat that much. I do about a 5% so that might affect the lather (a lot) since oils will weigh down lather.

      I’m not sure if you’ve tried the recipe above yet but if you have, let me know how you like it =) And if you’re going to be making it, pop back in to tell me how the lather goes =)

  55. Once I remember to keep distilled water on hand, AND have mastered the basic CP soap, I will be making this fabulous soap, thank you! I no longer use the Neti Pot and have a big jar of the pink sea salt sitting around.

  57. I add my essential oils to my sea salt ahead of time, make my soap, blend to very, very thin trace, pour in the salt/eo mix and give it a quick mix with the stick blender to make sure the salt is evenly dispersed, and pour as thin as possible to ensure it pours even — it sets up quick! I can usually unmold in 6 hours. I love making these and they sell like mad.

    • Oh that’s a great idea to add your fragrance and essential oil to the sea salt. That saves a step =)

  58. Most salt bar makers use between 10 and 20% superfat in their bars. What percentage did you use? Lovely looking soap and pink salt is so beautiful!

  59. I made some some salt bars and i used the 12 bar glossy silicone mold. I love the way they came out! It was the first time I used this mold I was great!

  60. My salt scrub bars are very popular, I colour them with blue spa minerals and scent with spearmint, peppermint and eucalyptus. I have found that they can’t be left too long to cut as they tend to be a bit brittle, last time I cut them while the logs were still warm, maybe this is because the salt dries out the soap. Storing them is also interesting as they sweat more than other soap.

    • Blue Spa Minerals? That sounds amazing! I love your scent combo idea too.

      Totally know what you mean because man, that soap gets hard fast! =)