Adding Colors and EO to Liquid Soap

[Lankan]

I've made my 2nd batch of CPLS paste and preparing to dilute, I've not added colors or Essential oils so far. I would like to know your thoughts on the following,

- Can EO be added to the diluted soap directly, do I have to use a emulsifier? I generally try to stay away from adding chemicals which I don't understand the way how those are made.

- In the previous batch I added water soluble detergent colors when stick blending, however it didn't stay evenly distributed in the diluted soap. I'm wondering what should be the correct method to add color & what type of colors to use. I have access to food colors, water soluble detergent colors and oil soluble pigment colors.

 

[msunnerstood]

EO and FO I have added without an emulsifier. Colors are very difficult. No matter what type I have tried, it has either settled to the bottom or separated.

 

[Lankan]

EO and FO I have added without an emulsifier. Colors are very difficult. No matter what type I have tried, it has either settled to the bottom or separated.

The detergent color I added to the last time batch eventually separated. I thought it was due to the absence of emulsifier.

 

[DeeAnna]

Soap itself is an emulsifier, but emulsifiers don't all act alike. Soap is able to emulsify small amounts of fats and other oil-soluble ingredients, but not large amounts. Soap as an emulsifier is best used in an environment where there is lots of water and relatively little fat. Other emulsifiers work better in conditions with lots of fat and not too much water.

Many times, two or more emulsifiers are needed to "bridge the gap" and achieve your goal of emulsifying a particular combination of hydrophilic (water loving) and hydrophobic (water hating) ingredients.

You'll have the best luck with water-soluble dyes. Food colors might be fine, although you should test them on a sample of soap first. Food colors are designed to work well in food, and the alkalinity (high pH) of soap might change some colors.

Pigments -- colorants such as micas and oxides -- will remain solid particles; they do not dissolve. The finer the pigment particles, the longer the pigment will stay mixed in, but the tendency will always be for pigments to eventually settle out.

If your colorant is an oil-soluble dye, it probably won't stay mixed into the soap either unless you also add a separate solubilizer/emulsifier such as Polysorbate 80.

Most scents (EOs and FOs) are hydrophobic, but to varying degrees, and they can be reactive in soap. You should always test scents first to see how they behave -- they can thicken or thin LS, form gelatinous clumps, separate out of the soap, cause cloudiness, or mix in nicely and make no change in the LS. For the ones that separate, you can add Polysorbate to solubilize the scent, but not all fragrances need an emulsifier/solubilizer in my experience.

I don't have any experience with "detergent colors" so I can't say why those are not working well. It's possible Polysorbate could help.

If you want an "as natural as possible" soap, you may want to keep in mind that Polysorbate is a synthetic detergent.

 

[msunnerstood]

I have tried polysorbate 80 in liquid soap and it made the soap cloudy. It almost seemed to stick to only parts of the liquid soap and I had small pieces of thicker soap floating in it

 

[msunnerstood]

I wonder is putting some colors in at trace would work

 

[DeeAnna]

I have tried polysorbate 80 in liquid soap and it made the soap cloudy....

Yes, it will do that if you haven't added enough PS. You've created an emulsion at that point, and by definition emulsions are cloudy. Once you add enough PS, the mixture should become clear. It's only at sufficiently high concentrations that PS is able to act as a solubilizer.

 

[msunnerstood]

Yes, it will do that if you haven't added enough PS. You've created an emulsion at that point, and by definition emulsions are cloudy. Once you add enough PS, the mixture should become clear. It's only at sufficiently high concentrations that PS is able to act as a solubilizer.

Oh! Thank you!

 

[Lankan]

Thanks DeeAnna for the details response

You'll have the best luck with water-soluble dyes. Food colors might be fine, although you should test them on a sample of soap first. Food colors are designed to work well in food, and the alkalinity (high pH) of soap might change some colors.

I don't have any experience with "detergent colors" so I can't say why those are not working well.

I couldn't find any details in the internet when I googled the phrase "detergent colors", I presume, it may be the calling name here for the product. What they told me was pigments are oil soluble colors that are good for bar soaps and detergent colors are water soluble colors that are good for liquid soaps. I'll try both food colors and the "detergent colors" in two test quantities and see.

If you want an "as natural as possible" soap, you may want to keep in mind that Polysorbate is a synthetic detergent.

My whole purpose of doing my own soap is to stay natural as possible. If possible to launch an all natural range of soap products in the future. (I've not gone into see these colors are synthetic or not, I may have to exclude it if it is the case)

 

[Lankan]

Last night I mixed three drops of food coloring E122 Carmoisine red to my already diluted portion of soap (500ml). It disbursed evenly & fast and looks nice. However, when I started about the color only noted that it is a highly water soluble synthetic coal tar coloring approved by EU to use in food but banned in US and few other countries. It's listed as AZO dye in Wikipedia. Anyway I've set aside a small sample to see whether the color deteriorates, separates or settles down. I'm planning to buy some other food colors to test in my liquid soaps.

I've a rose food flavor, will it work like rose FO?

 

[CaraBou]

A natural colorant that fully disperses (and won't settle) in liquid soap is beta carotene. Depending on amount used it can give pale yellow to deep gold. It's available in several forms including gel capsules (nutritional supplements) or already mixed into "popcorn" coconut oil - or you can puree your own carrots to get it. Here's what my finished soap looked like (source was Snappy popcorn coconut oil - I didn't actually add any colorant).

 

[Lankan]

A natural colorant that fully disperses (and won't settle) in liquid soap is beta carotene. Depending on amount used it can give pale yellow to deep gold. It's available in several forms including gel capsules (nutritional supplements) or already mixed into "popcorn" coconut oil - or you can puree your own carrots to get it. Here's what my finished soap looked like (source was Snappy popcorn coconut oil - I didn't actually add any colorant).

View attachment 32410

What about the shelf live. won't it degrade in the high pH environment?. I had an experience that the colour eventually faded away after few months of time. Otherwise this looks nice.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I use food coloring to color LS. McCormick's Neons are great fun ... the formulas on the back of the box make really cool colors, like "stormy blue" to go with BB's Celestial Waters (Cybilla). I add the drops to about 10 mls of water, then add drop by drop to 32 oz. of LS as needed.

As far as shelf life, I've heard about food coloring fading, but around here the soap gets used up before that happens.

For fragrance, I use MMS fragrance calc for the amount needed for the size batch. I add fragrance after the 2-week sequester period. I've found it works best if I warm the LS up before adding scent.

 

[Susie]

I also use food colorant to color liquid soap. I dilute small batches at the time (about enough to last a month), and add color and scent at that time.