Natural colorants

falldowngobump · Jan 10, 2011

I made my basic soap this weekend, and tried my first swirl using cocoa powder as the colorant. It's very pretty! I'm so pleased I didn't screw it up! I wanted to try with something I had on hand before I spent a small fortune on soaping colors. What is your favorite natural colorant?

Zhuliya · Jan 10, 2011

I love the orange-pinky colour I get with paprika, and also the brown-beige I generally get with cinnamon.
I also generally use coffee when I want to get a dark colour, and lately I used an herbal tea instead of water (generally all herbal teas give a slightly darker soap as they turn brown with the lye reaction) and green clay and I got a quite good greenish look, kind of the army green you get on some military-like clothing, and since it is a shaving soap I think it fits.

I've never tried saffron so far, but it's supposed to give a nice yellow colour.

falldowngobump · Jan 10, 2011

The paprika sounds beautiful! It's next on my list to "play around" with. I have several types of herbal teas (I'm a big hot tea drinker) as was wondering how it did in soap. I figured the lye would eat any scent.

Dragonkaz · Jan 10, 2011

I used tumeric in my orange poppy seed soap and it's still looking good at the four week mark. Here's hoping it remains!

falldowngobump · Jan 10, 2011

Ohhhh! That sounds so pretty. My biggest fear is using too much of something and winding up with cocoa colored bubbles! (although my daughter thinks that sounds 'cool'). Are there any natural things that cause skin irritation?

c.a.p. · Jan 10, 2011

I've used alkanet which is so cool. I infuse it with sunflower oil. It's red in the jar, turns grey when the lye/gm mix is added to the oils (strained the oil), is green at the pour, and then over time, it turns lavender/purple.

I've also used clays, turmeric, safflower powder, chloryphyll, indigo, comfrey, activated charcoal, parsley, calendula petals, and madder root. Most with good success. Right now, I'm waiting to see what happens with my soap that I used chloryphyll in. I heard it will turn to brown, but I mixed it with indigo - we'll see.

Good luck. I love experimenting with natural colorants.

falldowngobump · Jan 10, 2011

I'm so glad you chimed in on the thread! They all sound wonderful to try. I'm gonna have to get a second job just to support my soapin experiments! :lol:

Elly · Jan 11, 2011

This is a rebatch colored with annato seed infused oil and cocoa powder, I just love the yellow color, don't know if it will fade.

Microdot · Jan 11, 2011

I haven't really used much in the way of natural colorants yet, but I came across this link that has a lot of suggestions I'd like to try.

http://www.the-soap-dish.com/natural-soap-colorants.htm

Dotty

soapbuddy · Jan 11, 2011

You can find some good info on natural soap colors here> http://www.emporiumnaturals.com/index.p ... u4c6is79f3

Zhuliya · Jan 11, 2011

falldowngobump said:
The paprika sounds beautiful! It's next on my list to "play around" with. I have several types of herbal teas (I'm a big hot tea drinker) as was wondering how it did in soap. I figured the lye would eat any scent.

Yes, it will all fade away, and they will all turn some shade of brown.
If you want to try herbal teas, I strongly recommend you try rebatching, I've just done it with a berries infusion and the smell and colour stayed in the soap, which now has a wonderful texture and colour (and smell!).

falldowngobump · Jan 11, 2011

Beautiful soap Elly! I'm so glad you posted the picture. I checked out the links on natural colorants--wow-I had no idea so many things could be used. Great tip about the herbal tea--I have a crock pot full of "soap leavins" from trimming my soap adventures. My favorite tea is one that can only be found at Christmas time--I buy several boxes to last me all year. The smell of this stuff is so great I just want to stick my whole head in the box and sniff! I can't wait to try it with rebatching! :lol:

see · Jan 11, 2011

i would cross reference a lot of the plant list online b/c a lot of them turn brown or brownish shades of what the sites have listed. From what i have seen online, the ones that are sold by soap suppliers are generally the ones that last but not always. Ex.. ive seen several sites saying hibiscus will turn red. maybe somebody has had this experience but what i get is a slightly pink tan color more tan than pink. its nice but not red. ive seen couple sites say red cabbage and onions turn red, others say brown.

remember to that a lot of the colors you get after 24hrs will turn after a few wks.

ive had great success w/ turmeric, rose hips, cinnamon, nettle, cocoa. it really makes a difference if you use them directly or make a infusion (oil or water).

good luck. just dont expect to get the colors that people get w/ cosmetic minerals and you will appreciate the earthy colors.

peace

Leelalee · Jan 11, 2011

I love using annatto. I infuse some of the ground seeds into a portion of my oil's, it makes the greatest yellow color. I also like using cocoa and want to bust out some charcoal soon.

Zhuliya · Jan 12, 2011

falldowngobump said:
Great tip about the herbal tea--I have a crock pot full of "soap leavins" from trimming my soap adventures. My favorite tea is one that can only be found at Christmas time--I buy several boxes to last me all year. The smell of this stuff is so great I just want to stick my whole head in the box and sniff! I can't wait to try it with rebatching!

This is what I got rebatching with my red berries herbal tea:

And it smells almost exactly like the herbal tea itself!! I love it.

lsg · Jan 12, 2011

I like naturally colored clays. The colors are more muted, but do not fade as with some natural colorants.

falldowngobump · Jan 12, 2011

The red berry soap is beautiful! Wish I could smell it! I would love to try using clays, it's next on my gotta try list.

agriffin · Jan 12, 2011

My favorite natural colorants are indigo and carrots. For carrots I usually just get a jar of carrot baby food. Make sure it says carrots and water only.

Elly · Jan 12, 2011

This is a 3 month old GM soap, top was colored with chlorophyll and spirulina, it has faded badly, has anybody had any success with other greens?, I've read grass clippings give out a nice shade of green if infused in water and added to lye ????

dubnica · Jan 12, 2011

agriffin said:
My favorite natural colorants are indigo and carrots. For carrots I usually just get a jar of carrot baby food. Make sure it says carrots and water only.

Wow that is interesting - that you use baby food. How do you incorporate it in? Do you account for it (reduce water?)

Natural colorants

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