Sunday, February 22, 2015

Bedtime Bath Salt Bars

Can you believe that it has been four months since I made a batch of soap?

I made my Christmas Tree Feather Swirl soap in late September and that was it for 2014. My husband and I had a cross-country move looming and I was busy with a million things getting ready for it. Plus I didn't want to haul a bunch of uncured soap two thousand miles.

By late January, we were settled enough in our new home for me to start thinking about making soap again. After such a long hiatus, I was worried that I wouldn't remember how to make soap. So I chose something simple by design and also out of necessity. I was out of almost all of my oils, as I had used most of them up and didn't want to buy more until after we moved. But I did have some coconut oil left, and two pounds of pink Himalayan sea salt.

You know what that means.

SALT BARS!

(You may remember that I adore salt bars. Hubby likes them, too. You can see previous batches that I've made here. And here.)

I did drag some fragrance oils with us on our road trip. And a bottle of lavender FO leaked all over the place. BUT the car smelled lovely. And lavender is known to be calming, and it is important to stay calm while driving.

One of the scents that made the cut was Element's Bedtime Bath fragrance oil, which also happens to feature lavender - along with chamomile - and it smells like a popular brand of baby lotion.

Salt soap batter gets thick pretty fast once the salt is added, so swirls and other intricate designs are just about impossible. So I decided to do a two-layer soap.

For this batch of salt soap, I used 100% coconut oil. Salt is a lather-killer, so a large percentage of coconut oil is necessary to restore the lather. In fact, coconut oil lathers well in salt water, unlike other oils. And because coconut oil can be drying in high amounts, I included a high superfat of 20% to make the soap more nourishing.

My recipe called for 32 ounces of oils. I decided to use the salt at a 1:1 oil:salt ratio, meaning that I used equal amounts of oil and salt. So for 32 ounces of oil, I used 32 ounces of salt.

The colors that came to mind for this baby lotion-type fragrance were pink and purple, probably due to marketing influences. I brought the soap to trace and then split it in to two equal portions. One portion I colored with ultramarine pink, the other with ultramarine violet.

Next I added 16 ounces of pink Himalayan salt to each portion. Then I poured the purple layer into my acrylic slab mold, smoothed it out, and then carefully poured the pink layer on top of it. Once both layers were poured, I inserted the dividers and let the soap gel.

A few days later, I unmolded the bars. Salt bars get hard really fast, so I could have unmolded much sooner. I just didn't get around to it right away. I especially like using my slab mold with dividers for salt bars because it takes all of the guesswork out of when to cut the soap. Salt soap needs to be cut at just the right time. Wait too long and you get a crumbly mess. With the dividers, I don't have to worry about cutting. And because salt bars are so hard, unmolding was a breeze.

Here's a videoooooooooo!


I'm glad that I've got a new batch of salt bars made and curing! We'll be set for a while now. And with such a fresh, soothing scent, we'll smell like clean, happy babies!

19 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the move going smoothly and enjoy those salt bars!

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  2. Happy to hear you are settled and getting back in a routine. These new bars even look calming, Jer!

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    1. Thanks! It's nice to finally be mostly settled now and back into a routine. I like how the pink and purple look together, too, and the scent is very calming.

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  3. Glad to see you soaping again and settled into your new home. :) I've tried EBB's Bedtime Bath FO and I really liked it. Your salt bars look so inviting and calming. :)

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    1. Thanks, Silvia! It's good to get back to soaping. Elements' "Bedtime Bath" FO is a wonderful scent.

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  4. Those salt soaps look so creamy. I like the color combo and idea to add Himalayan salt. Grate job Jenny!

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    1. Thanks, Gordana! I think they turned out nicely, too.I'm looking forward to using them!

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  5. Hmmm, you're making me think I should spill a bottle of lavender EO in our car for those rush hour commutes. :)

    The two toned soap is really neat, a perfect match for the FO; soft and subtle.

    Glad to see you're settling in and back to soaping!

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    1. Haha, thanks, Monica! I like the pink and purple layers, too. It's good to be settled and to be able to get back to soaping.

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  6. Those look wonderful! I think I need to tackle those!

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  7. Those look wonderful! I think I need to tackle those!

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    1. Thanks, Cindy! If you give salt bars a try I hope that you enjoy them, too!

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  8. Wow, Jenny, I love this pastel color of the soap, especially because it's a salt soap! Can you believe that I made salt soap only once or twice and it 's been almost 2 years already? I am really ashamed, as salt soaps are one of my favorites and everyone loves them too!
    Lovely video, as usually!

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    1. Thank you, Natalia! I like the soft pink and purple, too. Salt soaps are wonderful - I hope that you make another batch soon! And I'm glad that you enjoyed the video. Thanks for watching!

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  9. Four months!? Welcome back then =) Salt bars are a fabulous way to return. They look great =)

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    1. Thanks, Anne-Marie! Four months was a long time to be away from soaping - it was good to get back to it!

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