I have a bit of a love–hate relationship with salt soap.
Actually, that isn’t quite true. I love salt soap. What I don’t love is trying to make, store, package and post it in the Irish climate.
Salt bars are made by adding a generous amount of salt directly to the soap mixture. Depending on the recipe, the amount of salt can be surprisingly high. The result is a very hard, dense bar with a creamy, almost lotion-like lather. It feels completely different from an ordinary handmade soap, and there is something particularly lovely about using one in the shower.
On paper, salt soap sounds like exactly the sort of product I should make. It is simple, traditional, naturally beautiful and a little bit different. I enjoy making products that turn ordinary ingredients into something special, and a well-formulated salt bar certainly does that.
So why isn’t there one in the permanent Janni Bars range?
What makes salt soap so good?
Salt bars are especially popular with people who enjoy a really thorough, fresh-feeling cleanse.
Despite what you might expect, using a properly made salt bar shouldn’t feel like rubbing handfuls of rough sea salt against your skin. The salt becomes part of the bar, creating a smooth, solid soap rather than a harsh scrub. There may be a very gentle texture, but it is not the same as using a soap containing coffee grounds, seeds or another physical exfoliant.
The lather is usually lower and creamier than the big, bubbly lather you might get from an ordinary soap. Salt naturally reduces bubbles, so a salt-soap recipe needs to be formulated with that in mind. Coconut oil is often used at a higher level because it helps the bar produce lather even with all that salt present.
Of course, increasing the coconut oil also means the rest of the formulation has to be carefully balanced. Soapmaking is rarely as simple as adding one lovely ingredient and hoping for the best. Every change affects something else, whether that is the hardness, lather, feel on the skin or how well the finished bar lasts.
When the balance is right, the result is a dense, creamy lather that feels rich and luxurious. It can take a little getting used to if you normally expect lots of large bubbles, but plenty of people fall completely in love with it.
Salt also makes an exceptionally hard bar. If it is allowed to dry properly between uses, salt soap can last very well in the shower. As always, a draining soap dish makes a huge difference. You don’t want any handmade soap sitting in a puddle of water, no matter how hard the bar was when you first unwrapped it.
There is also something beautifully simple about a salt bar: salt, oils and butters, carefully formulated into a solid soap. It fits perfectly with everything I love about traditional soapmaking.
Salt soap keeps the soapmaker on her toes
The first difficulty comes before the soap has even left its mould.
Regular handmade soap is usually poured into a loaf mould, left to firm up and then cut into individual bars. Salt soap is far less forgiving because the salt causes it to become hard incredibly quickly.
It has to be watched carefully and cut at exactly the right time. Try to cut it too soon and it may still be too soft. Leave it slightly too long and, instead of slicing neatly, the loaf can become brittle and crumble or break apart.
There can be a surprisingly small window between “not ready yet” and “you have missed your chance”.
Some soapmakers avoid this by using individual moulds, but those bring their own practical considerations when you are producing larger quantities. Either way, salt soap requires a little more attention and planning than an ordinary batch.
That part is manageable. It keeps the soapmaker on her toes, but we are used to products having their own personalities.
The bigger problem begins once the bars are cured and ready to sell.
Then there is the Irish weather
Ireland is damp. I don’t think that will come as a surprise to anyone.
Handmade soap naturally contains glycerine, which attracts moisture from the surrounding air. In humid conditions, moisture can collect on the surface of the soap and create what soapmakers usually call “sweating”.
Salt bars can be particularly troublesome. They may develop little beads of moisture on the surface or begin to feel damp or sticky. There may be absolutely nothing wrong with the soap itself, but it doesn’t necessarily look that way to the person opening it.
That makes salt bars difficult to store in quantity, difficult to keep looking beautiful in their packaging and, most importantly, difficult to ship with confidence.
A salt bar might leave the workshop looking perfect, spend a day or two moving through damp Irish weather and arrive with a customer looking quite different. The wrapper may become marked, the label may absorb some of that moisture and the surface of the bar may feel damp.
The soap could still be perfectly usable, but the first impression would not be what I intended.
When somebody orders from Janni Bars, I want opening the parcel to feel exciting. I don’t want them wondering why their new soap appears wet or worrying that something has gone wrong with it.
Storage is another challenge
It would be easier if I were making a few salt bars for myself or selling a small batch directly from the workshop. I could keep a close eye on them and explain their quirks to each person buying one.
Producing a permanent range is different.
I need to hold enough stock to fulfil website and wholesale orders. Finished bars may need to be stored for weeks or months before they reach their final home. Packaging has to stay clean, dry and attractive throughout that time.
The product also has to work for our shops. A retailer might display a bar for several weeks, and Irish shops can be warm, cold, dry and damp—sometimes all in the same day. I don’t want a shop dealing with marked wrappers or bars that no longer look their best on the shelf.
I could use more protective packaging, but wrapping everything in plastic to deal with the moisture would defeat much of the purpose of making a simple, low-waste bar in the first place.
A lovely product still has to be practical
When I decide whether something should become part of the permanent Janni Bars range, it isn’t enough for me to simply love the product.
I need to know that I can make it consistently, store it safely, package it properly and send it around Ireland—and further afield—without worrying about the condition it will be in when the customer opens the parcel.
It also has to make sense alongside everything else we produce. Every new product needs ingredients, curing space, storage space, packaging and time. If a product requires unusually careful handling and still might not arrive looking its best, it becomes difficult to justify as part of the everyday range.
That doesn’t mean salt soap is a bad product. Far from it. Sometimes a beautiful handmade product simply isn’t suited to being stored and shipped all year round—especially from a workshop in the middle of damp and changeable Ireland.
But then the weather made me do a thing…
We have had the right conditions, I had salt soaps on my mind, and before I knew it, I had made a few small batches.
This isn’t the first time I’ve made salt soaps. Some of my long-standing customers may even remember them from years ago, and I’m hoping there are a few people who will be very happy to see them make a return.
The difference is that I now know salt soap works best for Janni Bars as an occasional limited edition. I can make it when the circumstances are right, keep the quantities manageable and release it while the bars are looking their absolute best.
What I can’t do is promise to keep it permanently in stock or make it throughout every season of the Irish year. Once this batch is gone, I genuinely don’t know when the conditions—or the mood—will persuade me to make another one.
So yes, after spending most of this blog explaining why I don’t make salt soap, I have a little surprise:
A very limited batch of Janni Bars salt soaps launches today.
They have the wonderfully hard bar, smooth feel and dense, creamy lather that made me fall in love with salt soap in the first place. I’m delighted to have them back, even if only briefly.
If you’re one of the customers who remembers our old salt soaps, now is your chance to get your hands on one again. If you’ve never tried a salt soap before, this is your opportunity to discover what makes these slightly awkward, completely lovely bars so special.
They’re available only while this small batch lasts—and when they’re gone, they’re gone.
At least until the Irish weather makes me do another thing.