Green Tea Extract

[SPowers]

Has anyone used this ingredient? I bought some and was going to use it in a recipe but when I opened it, I was surprised how dark it was. Since I had a white batter I decided against using it for fear it would darken the batter.

Would anyone who has used it please give me your thoughts on this... thanks!

 

[Anstarx]

I haven't use green tea extract but green tea itself and the powder form. Green tea will oxidize when made into soap and turns a brown color upon exposing to air for some hours. If you are only using a little you may be able to use some TD to lighten the batter up.

 

[SPowers]

Thanks... I'll save it for a darker coloured soap.

 

[kearsten99]

Can you just put the green tea powder is already diluted liquid soap? or put the tea in a cheese cloth and let it sit in the diluted liquid soap? Would that work?

 

[DeeAnna]

Powders in liquid soap are likely to settle out. It's best to use infusions.

But bear in mind if you add "bug food" to diluted liquid soap, you're increasing the chance of microbial growth in your soap. Powdered tea and a tea infusion would both qualify as bug food.

 

[kearsten99]

Powders in liquid soap are likely to settle out. It's best to use infusions.

But bear in mind if you add "bug food" to diluted liquid soap, you're increasing the chance of microbial growth in your soap. Powdered tea and a tea infusion would both qualify as bug food.

Im asking for my friend lol she wants to know if she can dilute a portion her soap with green tea infused water and use liquid germ plus to preserve it. I told her the ph requirement for LGP is I believe an 8 with her soap being at a 10 it could be non effective. Correct?

 

[DeeAnna]

The official max pH of liquid germall plus is 8, that's correct, but it's effective at a pH up to 10 according to cosmetic chemists at Making Skincare and Cosmetics Corner.

But I'm not sure your friend is really seeing the big picture here.

Using a good preservative is only one part of a whole system for keeping a product safe and sanitary. The other parts include (1) following sanitary manufacturing methods so a product starts out as clean as possible, (2) minimizing ingredients that are a food source for microbes so any microbes that are present don't have food to encourage their growth, and (3) using a preservative as a final layer of insurance against uncontrolled microbial growth.

If you ignore any one of these three elements, you're asking for trouble. The best preservative will quickly burn out if the product starts out with a high microbial count up front or if there is enough food added to the product to permit rapid microbial growth.

It's really not a wise decision to dilute with tea and count on a preservative to prevent problems. That's true whether you use liquid germall plus or count on just the high pH of soap to function as the preservative.

 

[Mr. GoodBob]

I am just about to attempt a green tea bar soap. I bought a liquid green tea extract on Amazon to include but I'm second guessing myself now. Has anyone used this stuff before? @DeeAnna I also just read through a thread you contributed to a few years ago on whether or not the skin/health benefits of certain oils survive the saponification process (thank you btw, very informative) and now I'm wondering if any of the benefits of this extract would survive anyway . Any thoughts?

Also...first post! this forum has been incredibly informative. I feel like I'm an apprentice collecting bits of hard earned wisdom from 10th level soaping wizards.

 

[artemis]

I bought a liquid green tea extract on Amazon to include but I'm second guessing myself now. ...now I'm wondering if any of the benefits of this extract would survive anyway . Any thoughts?

Most of us think that you can't guarantee anything "beneficial" will survive the lye monster (EOs, extracts, infusions). Even if it did, the soap is only on your skin for a few seconds before getting rinsed off.

The reason to use it would be 1) it's fun to experiment with ingredients and 2) it looks good on the label. "Now made with green tea extract!"

Also...first post! this forum has been incredibly informative. I feel like I'm an apprentice collecting bits of hard earned wisdom from 10th level soaping wizards.

Why not head over to the introduction forum and tell us a little about yourself? Not sure which level of wizard I qualify for...

 

[DeeAnna]

My opinion hasn't changed -- @artemis put it perfectly. There's no way to know if the special properties of an ingredient can survive saponification without a well stocked chem lab and the staff and budget to run it.

And another thing -- you'd also have to prove these benefits, if they do survive, are truly beneficial when added to soap, given how soap is normally used.

Those are tall hurdles to jump, and I'm truly skeptical that many ingredients would be successful.

 

[earlene]

Please notice that the first ingredient in that product is glycerol (glycerin); next is water; last is green tea leaf extract (Camillia Sinensas Leaf Extract). So if you add this to bar soap, it will be soft because of the high percentage of glycerin. I have ended up with soft bar soap by adding too much (in reality, just a small amount) of glycerin and the soap never does harden, because glycerin does not evaporate. You'd be better off purchasing De-hydrated green tea leaf and adding that to your soap.

But, even if you make your soap via Hot Process and add the ingredient AFTER the cook, you still only have a wash-off product, that will not have enough time to impart any beneficial ingredient below the surface of the skin.

Most people do NOT massage soap into their skin and leave it on like a LOTION. Most people wash and rinse it all off immediately. Nothing can soak into the skin in the normal method of washing with soap.

 

[Mr. GoodBob]

Please notice that the first ingredient in that product is glycerol (glycerin); next is water; last is green tea leaf extract (Camillia Sinensas Leaf Extract). So if you add this to bar soap, it will be soft because of the high percentage of glycerin. I have ended up with soft bar soap by adding too much (in reality, just a small amount) of glycerin and the soap never does harden, because glycerin does not evaporate. You'd be better off purchasing De-hydrated green tea leaf and adding that to your soap.

But, even if you make your soap via Hot Process and add the ingredient AFTER the cook, you still only have a wash-off product, that will not have enough time to impart any beneficial ingredient below the surface of the skin.

Most people do NOT massage soap into their skin and leave it on like a LOTION. Most people wash and rinse it all off immediately. Nothing can soak into the skin in the normal method of washing with soap.

Thank you for the advice! I think I'll skip this in the bar soap and maybe do something else with it in the future.