Green colourant?

[KiwiMoose]

Hello fellow soapers,

I'm looking for a natural green colourant that doesn't cost the earth (ha!) Something along the lines of spirulina or matcha but without the hefty price tag.

What I want to do is make a layered soap, with a dark green along the bottom, and a light green on top. I'm happy to use a mica for the pale green part, but want very dark, solid green for the base.

Any ideas?

TIA

 

[JuliaNegusuk]

I use green tea wax. It is expensive to buy but you only need a very small amount to get a good green colour, and it also seems to last better than other green colourants I've tried. However, I only make soap in small quantities. I use about half a gram to 600 grams of oils which gives me a medium green colour. Double that would be quite dark I think. In the UK's Soap Kitchen it is £2.88 for 10 grams.

 

[Lin19687]

I buy ALL my Micas from Mica and More.
it is a Buy in club (free to join).
You buy what you want with in the 1st week of the Month... she buys the order and ships it out to you on the 24th of that month.
http://micasandmore.com/product-category/greens/
I have Golden, Blackish, Pear, Hunter.... I also have a Turquoise one too (it's in the blue section.
GREAT prices ! I usually get the 2 oz, about $5

She has a FB page too if you want to see how the colors look in soap. We all posted pics of what we did... well others did I didn't.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/889917644394400/

 

[earlene]

International shipping is set at $35.00 with Steph's Micas & More, although if it is actually less, the buyer gets a refund. But local vendors would probably make more sense.

KiwiMoose, are you open to oxides? Chromium green oxide is considered a natural pigment.

You can darken green by mixing it with black or brown. It would take a bit of trial & error to get the shades you want, but it can work.

Here is a link that might be of interest if you haven't seen it before:
https://lovelygreens.com/how-to-naturally-color-handmade-soap/

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Just yesterday I saw a pretty green color in soap at the drugstore. It’s from the “Shea Moisture” company, which has grown like crazy in the US in the last decade. Link below. The ingredient list includes iron oxide, but I couldn’t find any green iron oxides for soaps in a quick search, although I did find some for coloring concrete! FWIW, their listing of ingredients is rather creative.

https://www.riteaid.com/shop/shea-m...MInN3M-qO54gIVFavsCh20jg4yEAQYASABEgI-ePD_BwE

 

[Obsidian]

Any botanicals you use will fade. Oxides or mica really is your best bet.

I use a lot of green oxide. I have two different shades, one is more mossy while one is more grassy.

I use black oxide to deepen colors, charcoal works well too but I hate how messy it is.

 

[earlene]

Just yesterday I saw a pretty green color in soap at the drugstore. It’s from the “Shea Moisture” company, which has grown like crazy in the US in the last decade. Link below. The ingredient list includes iron oxide, but I couldn’t find any green iron oxides for soaps in a quick search, although I did find some for coloring concrete! FWIW, their listing of ingredients is rather creative.

https://www.riteaid.com/shop/shea-m...MInN3M-qO54gIVFavsCh20jg4yEAQYASABEgI-ePD_BwE

Mobjack, in the US you can purchase chromium green oxide from these vendors and probably several others: BrambleBerry, Mad Micas, TKB, SaveOnCitric.

In fact, according to this from Nurture Soaps, "Most soap stable green micas are colored with chromium oxide green." (link) This bears out to be true when I look at the green micas that list INCI names. Example: http://micasandmore.com/product-category/greens/

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Unfortunately, it isn't easy getting green! Unless you're going for olive green. Most natural colorants, i.e., parsley, cucumber skin, olive leaf powder, comfrey leaf, bay leaf, etc., result in various shade of olive green. If you like the green of the bar Mobjack linked above:

...it should be fairly easy to duplicate. Ingredients: Olive Oil, African Shea ButterCertified Organic, Avocado Butter, Green Tea Leaf, Soaps of Coconut & Palm, Vegetable Glycerin, Essential Oil Blend, Vitamin E, Palm Oil, Iron Oxide

I would use avocado pulp, dried parsley and or cucumber/skin infused in olive oil or HO sunflower oil, and activated charcoal to darken.

ETA: Crayola Crayons might be the best option to get the color you want without going to a lot of expense.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Mobjack, in the US you can purchase chromium green oxide from these vendors and probably several others: BrambleBerry, Mad Micas, TKB, SaveOnCitric.

In fact, according to this from Nurture Soaps, "Most soap stable green micas are colored with chromium oxide green." (link) This bears out to be true when I look at the green micas that list INCI names. Example: http://micasandmore.com/product-category/greens/

@earlene. I noticed that there are vendors for Chromium oxide, but the ingredient for the commercial soap is listed as Iron oxide and chromium oxide and iron oxide are not the same thing. I thought it was interesting because the only green iron oxide I found in my search was for coloring concrete. That was at a concrete contractor site. The green oxide at a more reliable concrete pigment site is chromium oxide: https://www.earthpigments.com/viridian-pigment/

I guess I’m still wondering what’s leading to the nice green color in the commercial soap. Perhaps it’s mislabeled and chromium oxide should be listed instead of iron oxide? The avocado butter I’ve seen is white and the green tea will turn brown, won’t it?

I’m trying to stick with “natural” colorants for now and find the Lovely Greens resource Earlene linked above to be very useful. She lists a bunch of options for getting green including avocado purée and cucumber skins that Zany suggested.

More inspiration...Just what I need... Everyone I know has handmade soap in their future. Little do they know...

@KiwiMoose Can’t wait to see your soap

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Green clay makes a nice soft green in soap. Maybe if you only need a little, one of your suppliers would send you a sample? I got a sample when I ordered EOs from Camden-Grey here in the US.

 

[earlene]

Some of those botanicals that produce a nice green don't remain green over time. That's the trouble with many of the botanicals for coloring soap. Spinach is an example. When I made it, I had a lovely little swirl, but over time it was solid beige color.

I don't know about the difference between chromium oxide green and oxide green - could it simply be terminology?
Mobjack, I thought you might appreciate # 6 in this link: https://basstechintl.com/blog/chemical/5-interesting-facts-green-chrome-oxide/

KiwiMoose, do you have to follow EU standards? If yes, you may find this useful: https://cosmeticobs.com/en/cosmetic-ingredient/ci-77288-577/

 

[Mobjack Bay]

That looks like a fun party trick, Earlene. And, then we can use the chromium oxide to make soap!

The INCI is chromium oxide, but I see variations:
Green chromium oxide at Bramble Berry
Chromium oxide green pigment at Mad Mica

And then there is “hydrated chromium oxide” at BB which has a different INCI and is a very pretty color.

Thinking about INCI made me think about searching for the INCI for “green iron oxide” and I found this!
http://www.organic-creations.com/powder-colorants/363-green-iron-oxide-colorant-powder

 

[earlene]

Thank you for that link, Mobjack. I wondered about how safe it is even if it is approved for use in the EU. And I do trust the EU regs for safe use of cosmetic ingredients far more than I do the US regs. We don't hardly restrict anything as compared to the EU! I have to admit, I believe it's better to err on the side of caution, which is why I say that. But for a wash-off product, I suspect it's safe enough.

KiwiMoose, I really do look forward to seeing what you come up with for your green layered or green ombre soap!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

More on iron and chromium oxides meeting the EU regs here:
https://cosmeticsinfo.org/ingredient/chromium-oxide-greens-0
https://cosmeticsinfo.org/ingredient/iron-oxides-0

I learned something interesting about the purity of lab synthesized vs. “natural” iron oxide. Don’t bother with the wiki link unless you really like chemistry
“When used in cosmetics, Iron Oxides are considered ideal because they are non-toxic, non-bleeding and moisture resistant. This makes them a great additive to cosmetic products such as eye shadows, blushes and lipsticks. Iron oxides graded safe for cosmetic use are produced synthetically in order to avoid the inclusion of ferrous or ferric oxides, and impurities normally found in naturally occurring iron oxides (Wikipedia).
https://www.truthinaging.com/ingredients/iron-oxides

In looking into how the various clays, micas, are mined or synthesized at an earlier point in my soapy research, I also came across at least one article about how mining for minerals in South America is leading to significant deforestation. No matter what we do, we have a foot print! Considering both the impurities of mined minerals and the deforestation issues pushes me a little closer to trying some synthetic oxides. The colors sure are beautiful. It also would be nice to have the colors stick rather than turn brown over time.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Gosh everyone, thank you so much for your interesting contributions. I can get oxides here too and I have also added a little charcoal in the past to get a darker shade of green.
In the meantime, I did find a spirulina powder that was not too expensive ( only $10 with free postage) so I forked out for that, being half the price that I'd seen elsewhere.
So tell me - will the spirulina go brown too over time?

 

[Obsidian]

Spirulina will go a browny yellow over time. Mine completely faded to a olive color after 6 months or so. It started as a beautiful deep grass green.
If you store it in the dark, it will fade slower.

I did a test once, put a fresh bar outside in the sun, it was yellow by the end of the day.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Spirulina will go a browny yellow over time. Mine completely faded to a olive color after 6 months or so. It started as a beautiful deep grass green.
If you store it in the dark, it will fade slower.

I did a test once, put a fresh bar outside in the sun, it was yellow by the end of the day.

Oh no! Might have to supplement with extra mica and charcoal then

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Everyone I know has handmade soap in their future. Little do they know...

 

[KiwiMoose]

Is the spirulina stinky does anyone know?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Is the spirulina stinky does anyone know?

Look at post #43, here: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/my-kelp-soap-stinks.47652/page-3#post-770091