Coconut FO turned soap brown - any way to avoid this?

[Curious]

Hello All,

So my second batch of soap was made using a simple recipe of olive oil, palm oil & shea butter - along with distilled water & lye. I used Coconut Fragrance Oil with no colorant, however, my soap turned brown. Afterward, I realized that the FO contained vanillin which apparently was the source of the color change. Is there any way to avoid or counteract this color change in future batches? Any advise is greatly appreciated!

 

[BattleGnome]

Unfortutely vanillin is pretty strong. Your best bet is finding a fragrance without it. Check reviews and ingredient lists when you purchase to be sure.

Hints that can help (but don’t always work):
- vanilla color stabilizer. Some seem to work, some don’t. I don’t have personal experience to offer but there are others on the forum who use it. There seems to be a shelf life on it though, I think I’ve seen someone comment that her stabilizer wore off after 2 years.
- titanium dioxide. May or may not work depending on useage and vanillin amounts. Mica may also help. This “covers” the discoloration if it works
- avoid gel. Soap cool, freeze your loaf, keep curing soap covered by a cloth

I’ve never cared to avoid discoloration so these are just suggestions from others asking similar questions. I think there was a thread ages ago about the “perfect coconut” it may have more suggestions for finding the scent you want

 

[Curious]

Thank you BattleGnome for your response & suggestions

I'm definitely checking to ensure any future fragrances do not contain vanillin. In the meantime, I'll look into vanilla color stabilizer & titanium dioxide and I never considered freezing the batch - I'll have to look into & read more about that. Thanks again!

 

[dibbles]

@Curious if you want to try a vanilla color stabilizer, I recommend the one from Bitter Creek https://cart.candlesupply.com/Vanilla-Stabilizer-for-soap-pr-20326.html

Here is the thread for the coconut FO tests https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/my-quest-for-coconut.52323/

 

[Curious]

Thanks so much Dibbles I will certainly check out the links

 

[dibbles]

Thanks so much Dibbles I will certainly check out the links

For what it's worth, the coconut FO I like the best is Caribbean Coconut from WSP. It discolors to lighter tan, behaves pretty well and sticks. Vanilla stabilizer keeps it white. And by the way - if you do decide to try the vanilla stabilizer, mix it into your oils, not your FO.

 

[Curious]

Wonderful! Thanks so much for the add'l info!

 

[linne1gi]

Hello All,

So my second batch of soap was made using a simple recipe of olive oil, palm oil & shea butter - along with distilled water & lye. I used Coconut Fragrance Oil with no colorant, however, my soap turned brown. Afterward, I realized that the FO contained vanillin which apparently was the source of the color change. Is there any way to avoid or counteract this color change in future batches? Any advise is greatly appreciated!

I have 2 coconut fragrance oils from Bescented. One is Tropical Coconut which discolored to a light brown. The other is Coconut Crazy which doesn’t discolor at all. They smell very similar. Hope this helps you.

 

[Curious]

Hi linne1gi! thanks for the info, I'm taking notes because this is good info to know.

 

[linne1gi]

Neither fragrance rices or accelerates either. Good luck