Soap Made with Lots of Salt

Salt soap is soap made with high content of salt, usually range from 50~100% of soaping oil.  It can be done in cold process and also oven process.  The first time I tried making salt soap I did it in oven process, meaning using oven heat to force it to saponify in 90 minutes then cut right the way when it's cool enough.  If it's left uncut for hours you won't be able to cut it anymore, it would turn rock hard, that's the salt working.  Since then I've been soaping salt bars cold process.  I make my salt soap the same way I make all my other soap, cold process, because I use milk to soap.  Without using the oven heat to force saponification I need to avoid cutting because that high of salt content would harden the soap and make it too crumbly to cut.  My solution is using individual silicone molds.  My favorite shape is oval, easy fit in my palm and easy to tumble under water.

Besides being rock hard, another obvious characteristic of salt soap is it doesn't produce bubbly suds.  It makes rather creamy lather almost lotion like.  What's salt soap good for if it doesn't lather well?  High concentration salt is very effective in exfoliating dead cells off your skin leaving you clean but smooth after shower.  Think about the reason why people take bath with salt soak, it softens your skin and exfoliates away dead skin cells.  If you don't have time to take a long luxury bath or simply don't have a tub at home, using salt soap in the shower would be the only alternative.

I have tried a few different salt to soaping oil ratio in the past, and finally settled with 80%, meaning if I use 100 g oil to soap, I would add 80 g of salt.  Almost any kind of salt can be used to make salt soap, even table salt.  The only salt that's not good for salt soap is Dead Sea Salt.  Dead Sea Salt has a property of attracting moisture in the air, if used in big quantity it would cause the soap to sweat and weep if it's at a humid area.  I like using sea salt and Himalayan pink salt for their richness in mineral.  I love using salt soap to wash my combination skin type face.  It is not suitable for sensitive skin or wounds, think about how much it hurts when your wound touches salt... ouch.

Soaping Banana Coconut Milk

Can you believe it's almost the end of summer already?!  We the soapers are very much like fashion retailers, always have to think a season or 2 ahead to have enough time for production.  I love using banana and coconut milk for fall and winter because these 2 seasons tend to dry out my skin.  I love using coconut milk, it's the best of the 2 worlds (plant milk and animal milk).  Plant milks tends to have the silkiness but no fat; animal milk tends to have all that protein and fat but lack of that silkiness.  Coconut milk is the exception, it has high content of creamy fat AND the silkiness from the plant.  Here's my earlier about milk soap test: Blind Milk Soap Test Results

There's usually a challenge soaping banana (high sugar) PLUS coconut milk (high fat) in the hot summer.  Sugar and milk fat are the 2 major contributors to soap overheating.  Soap batter gets thicker than usual, making fancy swirl design impossible.  Another combination that causes similar soaping problem is avocado puree with coconut milk, this one is purely high fat!  Well, and lots of starch from avocado...  Here is their story:
Almond Delight Soap
(banana coconut milk)

 Green Tea & Willow Soap
(avocado coconut milk)

Teakwood & Cardamom Soap
(banana coconut milk)

Soap made with banana coconut milk produces lot of bubble, creamy thick bubbles.  Who would not like that?!