Soap Challenge Week 8 - Salt Bars

I am participating in the Soap Challenge on Great Cakes Soapworks blog (see previous post).

Soap Challenge Week 8 - Salt Bars

I missed posting this on Amy's blog in time, but I am finally completely up to date on her weekly challenges.  This challenge was to create salt bars using some form of sea salts.  I have never made salt bars.  The ones I saw years ago on the Internet did not look nice and so I had no desire to make them.  More recently I have seen some really pretty salt bars, so I actually became excited to make this type of soap.  After some research I came up with these ingredients to try:

Coconut Oil
Shea Butter
Cocoa Butter
Coconut Milk
Lye
Pink Bolivian Salt (fine)
Pink Himalayan Salt (course)
Tahitian Black Sand (Volcanic)
Pink Kaolin Clay (for color)
Caribbean Coconut fragrance

I wanted to make something really different.  I combined all the ingredients except the sand.  Then I separated about 1/3 of the batch and added the sand.  I layered the black sand soap on the bottom and the peachy pink soap on top.  I added some texture to the top and sprinkled it with Himalayan salts.  Then I placed it in the oven for 2 hours.

I was afraid the soap would harden too fast, so I didn't wait for it to cool enough and messed the top up a bit.  When it was a little cooler, I sliced up the bars and allowed them to cool and solidify.  I guess I expected them to be kind of hard, but mine are soft but firm and a little crumbly, or maybe that's just loose salt. 

They smell good enough to eat.

I can't wait to try them out!!

You can see the other challenge participants' Salt Bars by clicking here.

Next challenge is Peaked Tops.

Bath Alchemy by The Bonnie Bath Co.