First time adding fragrance and natural color, would love some advice!

[Patty88]

Hi all!

I've been itching to branch out and add a bit of fragrance and color to my 2nd batch of soap... but I'm a bit timid and would love some advice.

This was my first recipe I made a couple weeks ago and it went well. I want to tweak this as I already have the ingredients. This is Soap Queen's "Back to Basics" soap recipe (5% superfat).

8 oz. Coconut Oil (24%)
15 oz. Olive Oil (44%)
11 oz. Palm Oil (32%)
4.8 oz. Lye
11.2 oz. Distilled Water

Alright, now for my questions. I want to try some lavender oil 40/42 and powdered alkanet root this time to give it a nice odor and purple color, respectively.

Lavender oil 40/42 - Once a thin to medium trace has been achieved, can I just dump in my pre-measured lavender oil and mix by hand then pour into the mold? I have been reading about people using a "carrier oil" and mixing it in olive oil, then into the batter for best results. Won't this affect the superfat level in my final batch or is the amount (tbsps) going to be negligible? I've also seen people adding it in with the base oils and mixing it in with the lye right off the bat, others have said this may affect the fragrance as it might not survive the initial saponification phase. I'm stuck.

Alkanet root - quick sanity check. I found a guide on Soapqueen saying to infuse 1 tbsp alkanet root in 5 oz olive oil, and to have the infused oil be 15% PPO of the recipe for a nice purple color. Since I'm working with 34oz of oils in my recipe and 15% of that is 5.1 oz, I would then just use 5oz of infused olive oil and 10oz of regular olive oil in the above recipe, right? Then carry on with the rest of the ingredients as normal?

And finally... once the soap has been poured into the mold, can I leave it out in my (unheated) garage until it is ready to unmold and cut? I can't seem to find much info on this. With my first batch, I brought it down to the basement but I'd rather keep everything outside if I can help it. Will cold temperatures affect saponification at all? It's supposed to be in the 20s and 30s this week. I want to avoid gel phase and I want an opaque bar, if it matters.

Thanks so much! I really appreciate the pointers.

 

[shunt2011]

Your recipe is okay but I would switch the palm and olive then run it through a lye calculator. That’s too big a batch for a beginner also. Putting it outside will slow saponification so it will take longer to get out of the mold. I prefer to gel mine.

I add my EO and FO to my oils. Mainly so I don’t forget it and I can work with it easier. You can also add it at trace.

Can’t help you one the alkanet as I’ve never used it though I’ve heard it can be finicky. Anywhere from purple to grey.

 

[penelopejane]

Gosh that’s a large batch for your second soap.
I add my straight FO to my oils.
Yes extra oil will effect the recipe. M

I wouldn’t put my soap outside.

 

[ShannonAll]

The first couple of times I used an alkanet infision I used it at 15% of the total olive oil. The color ranged from green gray to gray. As an experiment, I tried it at 15% of the total oils and the color was a really nice deep purple. It did not color the bubbles or bleed onto my wash rag. I also tried 15% total oils and a teaspoon of powder added to the lye. I liked this color the best but it did speckle the soap. I like speckles though. Again, it didn't color the bubbles or bleed color. Good luck!

 

[dibbles]

I wouldn't put the soap outside if it is that cold either but, like Shunt, I prefer to gel my soaps. I think you have the alkanet root figured correctly and since it is a one color batch add that to the oils up front when you are weighing everything. I usually add my EO/FO to the batter when it is emulsified, or nearly there. Lavender EO behaves well, so you can add it at the beginning or at emulsification. You don't need to dilute it in a carrier oil.

 

[atiz]

I find alkanet to be one of the more finicky natural colorants. First time I used it in a castile soap (about 10% of oil weight), which turned a green-gray. My salt bars (also about 10%) first became blue (kind of periwinkle), then turned into pinkish purple, which is graying out more and more with time.
I had much more consistent results with madder root.

 

[Dawni]

I found this page to be more informative than others regarding purple natural colorants, including alkanet. I have it bookmarked because she talks about ratanjot, which is similar, and what I have. Can't find alkanet where I am.

Anyway, yes you got it right but you can use more or less of the infused oil. Depending on how strong your infusion is, purple isn't always a guarantee. Plant colorants are finicky. My ratanjot is still blue even after a week lol and in this page, she got pink lol and here it got so dark to almost black.

But it's always fun to experiment. I'd suggest as small a batch as your scale can measure accurately, enough to submerge your stick blender, so if it doesn't turn out how you want there will be minimal waste and you can always try again.

I normally HP but most who try and not gel soap cool and keep it cool after molding too. So depends on the temps you have where you are, it could still gel. Some stick it in the fridge or freezer.

If you do a search you'll find loads of threads, some just recent, about not gelling soap. Here's just one. Good luck!