Who hasn’t fallen in love with those beautiful-looking handmade soaps, smelling refreshing, inviting you with their vibrant colors?
I know I have! I first encountered handmade soaps on the street of a little island in Greece! Most of them were made of olive oil (Greece is famous for the cultivation of olive trees)
I was astonished that someone made them with their own hands, using just natural ingredients that are surely super beneficial to our skin.
I always wondered how they were made and how can I make them myself. Searching through the Internet I found a way to do it and you could try it too.
This particular way includes adding sea salt to different oils and essential oils. In this way, your soap bar can become a gentle exfoliating scrub that will soften your skin.
Below are some of the things you should be aware of when you make this recipe!
Determine the Recipe
A basic soap recipe requires different measures. However, a sea salt soap recipe usually requires a lot of oil. It goes like this: 75 percent coconut oil, 10 percent palm oil, 10 percent olive oil, and 5 percent castor oil, though some simple recipes are just 80 percent coconut and 20 percent olive.
What Kind Of Salt Is Best?
It is not recommended to use dead sea salt or Epsom salt. Both of these soaps contain lots of minerals. One of them is magnesium that in this recipe may take the moisture out, leaving the soap dry.
Pink Himalayan salt and regular sea salt are the best choices! Choose coarse salt that has smaller granules so that exfoliates the skin properly, but still doesn’t irritate it.
What You’ll Need
- Large pot
- Spoon
- Soap molds
- Materials
- Coconut oil
- Palm oil
- Olive oil
- Castor oil
- Lye solution
- 24 ounces to 2 pounds salt, depending on preference
Instructions
Mix the Lye Solution
Mix your lye solution, melt the oils and measure them. Blend the oils and the lye like you would normally do in any other cold process soap batch,
Add the Salt to Your Salt Soap Bar Batch
How Much Sea Salt?
The quantity of salt in the homemade soap depends on the use of the soap. If you want to use it as a hand washing soap, add a smaller amount. If you want to use it as a body exfoliator, add a bigger amount.
However, there are some recommended models:
2 pounds of soap ═ 2 pounds of salt
24 ounces of oil ═ 24 ounces of salt
So, it’s time to add the salt once your soap has reached a light trace and you’ve already added the fragrance!
Once the soap has reached a really light trace and you’ve added your fragrance or essential oil, it’s time to add the salt. Dump the salt into your soap pot and start stirring vigorously.
Pour the Soap
Pour or scoop the soap into your mold. It is recommended you use a silicone one so that you can take it out easier after it’s hardened.
Cut the Soap Sooner Rather Than Later
Be aware that the salt soap will start to harden very fast, So it’s better to cut it as soon as it is firm enough. Don’t worry if it’s still warm as it is going through the saponification process. If you wait too long the soap will be difficult to cut and you will be left with crumbly bars.
