I have four children
They all work hard, supporting themselves, living independently, making their own decisions, taking responsibility for their lives. Two of them are married with outstanding wives. One child has gifted me with three rambunctious, healthy, smart grandchildren. I am beyond blessed.
Now, onto big bubbles. I had a good soaping week and thanks to Amy Warden and this weeks soap challenge I was motivated to create some more salt bars. Some soapers and customers don't get salt bars. They are a bit like liver. You either love them or you do not. You either see the beauty or you do not. You either understand the immense amount of iron your body craves and will thank you for after eating a big hunk of salt bar , I mean liver, or you will not.
My salt bar is simple. Coconut, olive and Castor oils. No colorants and only Rosemary Essential Oil to scent. I use a 1.5:2 salt to oil concentration, meaning that in a soap recipe calling for 32 oz of oils, I use 20 oz of salts. Of those 20 oz, 12 are Celtic Sea salt (a very light green grey color), 4 are Epsom Salts and 4 are Himalayan Salts.
The fun and furious thing about salt bars is they get hard FAST. I do not cook mine in the oven as many soapers do, I just pour into the mold and then cut as soon as it cools enough to do so. I still get some crumbling but that happens sometimes. In the end I get bars that suds fair enough, clean your skin well and leave your skin amazingly soft.
I recently sold 50 bars of soap to a wonderful B&B just 5 miles from us in the little town of Forrest. I included 8 salt bars. Two weeks after, I got an order for them for more soap. But not any of my nice looking soaps...no they wanted the weird looking salt soaps. Yeah for Hampsher Hotel !
Simple is often best. Still lovin' my unscented, uncoloured soap.
ReplyDeleteI think the re-order speaks volumes!! Yes, sometimes simple is best! I had no idea you could use epsom salts - do you grind them finer?
ReplyDeleteHappy Mother's Day! So, explain what makes salt soap,so great. Do you have a recipe I can follow? It's time to make more soap!
ReplyDeleteHappy Mother's Day and thank you for the laugh! Not chopped liver, yours are so simple and pure. Congratulations! Your order shows people who love them really do. River stones or spa soaps these are favorites for many men!
ReplyDeleteWhat a pretty bar of Salt Soap!
ReplyDeleteThe simpler, the better! My favorites are always the plain ones. Yours looks fabulous!
ReplyDeleteSoap bars rock! Congrats on the order Donna ~ that is wonderful. I hope your Mothers Day was filled with joy xxx
ReplyDeleteHurray for the big re-order!
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a nice Mother's Day, Donna! Your salt bars are lovely. I have never used or made salt bars before, but I want to give it a try someday soon.
ReplyDeleteOne of my most joyful discoveries as a soaper has been the salt bar. I love what it does for my skin (I am woefully acne-ridden at times, even in my mid-thirties) and I love the way a salt bar wears down and reminds me of a river rock. Plus they are harder bars than most other handmade soaps, and thus last longer.
ReplyDeleteI had to come find you and comment; saw the photo of your rosemary soap on the Soap Bar FB group. It's stunningly beautiful.
One thing I am curious about is the Epsom salt! I've read that you can't use epsom in soap, but you seem to be doing just fine!