Tony’s Soap

I made salt bars for my love. He is always complaining of having oily skin so I figured it would work for him.  I made up a recipe of 90% coconut oil and 10% cocoa butter. Shea butter would work nicely too. I made 16 oz of oil for a test and add 8 oz of sea salt. I scented it with Nautica type fragrance oil.

here is tony’s soap recipe but always run your own recipes through soap cal.

Never make soap In a room with pets or children and wear safety gear. I use dishwashing glove but medical disposable glove will work.  wear a long sleeve shirt , pants, and close-toed shoes. lye can burn the skin. I would keep white distilled vinegar around to neutralize the lye if you need too. I wear safety glasses to protect my eyes because you can’t use vinegar on them if it gets in there. Anything you use to make soap can not be used for anything else so dedicate some tools just for it. Do not use any kind of aluminum with soap or lye. They don’t play together and it could be bad. I am not a pro, I just like to make soap on occasion.

Things you will need:

kitchen scale: You need to weight out everything even the water.

safety gear: long sleeve shirt, pants,closed-toed shoes, gloves, safety glasses, vinegar

stick blender: it helps unless you like to be mixing for hours

spoons: I have used wood but if it touches lye it brake down, steal spoon are good but the become soap spoons, plastic can be used but it has to be high grade aka thick or it will melt. Due to the heat from the chemical reaction.

bowls: glass, plastic, steel . You will need one for the lye to measure out and one for the oils. you will need to heat the oils so heatproof would be good. may need one for the fragrance oil.

distilled water: lye can react to trace metals in water so make sure it distilled

lye: food-grade is preferred but I have used some drain cleaner but it has to be pure lye, no dyes or fillers.

water pitcher plastic: its what I use to measure out the water and to mix the lye in.

skin safe fragrance/essential oil:  I would check on the amount you can use per the amount of soap made.  both fragrance and essential oils can dry out and cause irritation if you use a stronger amount then recommended.

molds: I used a cupcake mold that I got goodwill because I didn’t have bar molds.  if you are making salt bars ready to use sizes are recommended. It’s hard to cut salt.

mica for color if you like I used one from etsy 

This is your time to suit up with your safety gear.

I would start by mixing your lye with water. Use distilled water because metals in the water will react with the lye. always pure the lye into the water, not the other way around. Use a heatproof container because the lye water is going to heat up .do it in a ventilated area because it does make a vaper you don’t want to breathe in. Allow to cool to around 120- 130 f.

I would take this time to measure out oils/butter, salt, and fragrance.  melt the oil/butter down to about the same temperature. they can be a little off from each other. I took this time to add my mica. I was only going to make it one color because salt bars can get tricky.

this would be the time that you would add the oils and blend till its trace. that means if you move the blender around it should make a trail on the oil/lye mixture. If my explanation doesn’t work there are videos on youtube. you are basically making an emulsion of oil and water. It kind of like making dressing but you can’t eat it and the lye stops the oil and water from separating, well most of the time.

after trace, you will want to add your fragrance. This can cause problems if you have never used the fragrance before. it’s good to know how it will react now. most people would have tested the fragrance in soap before making salt bars with it. I didn’t have any trouble so I was good.

some times the fragrance with accurate the trace and cause ricing. This is when the soap becomes grainy and hard to stir. I haven’t had this problem yet.

if all is good add the salt mix well and pour it into molds.

Let set overnight untouched. it takes about 24 hours for liquid stage soap to turn hard and be safe to touch and unmold. salt bars harden up much faster than other soaps.  the high amount of hard oils and butters might have something to do with it or it could be the salt taking the water out.

after you unmold, leave to dry out for about 5 weeks in a safe /dry place. then you are good to use. the longer you wait the lower the ph is in the soap. you can test the PH if you want to know if it is safe to use. I made this recipe because coconut oil is the only oil that will make soap bubbles with salt. who knew salt kills soap bubbles. This was my first time making salt bars and it was fun. I hope I didn’t leave anything out.

I hope this update was informative. you can leave a comment below.