Coffee soap leaving brown streaks?

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Viore

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I made a soap replacing all the water with 3x brewed coffee, frozen into cubes. I used 40% tallow, 35% olive oil, 20% coconut oil, and 5% canola oil. At trace, I added 1 tablespoon of coffee grounds (wet), and 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder.

The soap has been curing for 4 weeks, and today when I used it I noticed it left brown streaks on my skin! The lather was a little bit brown but it seemed to fade to white after a bit of use. Do you think the coffee made the streaks, or the cocoa powder?

I did noticed that the ice cube tray was stained brown from the coffee.
 
How big was the batch? I am willing to bet that it is the cocoa leaving the streaks. Over use of any additive, micas, oxides, etc included can colour the lather and make for staining on face clothes too. In the past I've made many batches of coffee soap and have never had any coloured lather or residue on my skin.
 
I would guess its from the coco powder. I make coffee soap with no extra color and even though the lather is quite brown, it doesn't color my skin and I'm pasty white.

Did you add your powder dry? If so, then its likely you have little clumps in your bars and they are getting wet and making the streaks. Powders work so much better if you wet them first, add enough water to make a thick slurry and make sure to break up any clumps.
 
It was a 2 lb batch, and yes I added the cocoa powder dry. Thank you for your help! I'm relieved that it wasn't the coffee. I'll have to make another batch soon and make a slurry with the cocoa powder.
 
I advise you to use less cocoa when you make your next batch too. I wouldn't venture much more than a tsp ppo. This is my policy with any colourant.
 
Yup, its the cocoa powder..had that happen with some of mine the first time I used it..I'd go with above and no more than 1 tsp ppo
 
In reality, if you use liquid coffee and the grounds, the soap will turn quite dark on their own. Coco really isn't needed, especially if you pair a discoloring FO with it, I like using dark chocolate or vanilla.
 
I must have read a forum post wrong, I really thought it was a tablespoon! :oops:

I was trying to get a chocolatey scent and not use a FO, but now I think I'll find a FO that's chocolatey smelling and just use that. No problem if it discolors as the coffee makes it nearly black anyway!
 
I must have read a forum post wrong, I really thought it was a tablespoon! :oops:

I was trying to get a chocolatey scent and not use a FO, but now I think I'll find a FO that's chocolatey smelling and just use that. No problem if it discolors as the coffee makes it nearly black anyway!

Unfortunately you won't get a carry over of the scent from cocoa powder. I use it in several of my soaps and it can transfer onto a wash cloth or scrubbie. However, the good news is it doesn't stain anything.
 
brambleberry has a fabulous FO called dark rich chocolate. Its a heavy, sweet chocolate with a fair amount a vanilla. It discolors to a very dark brown and mixes wonderfully with orange EO. Its my absolute favorite "foodie" scent.
 
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