I think I’ve over-complicated my soap

[DWinMadison]

I seem to be struggling to get the desired colors in my soap, and I’m beginning to understand why so many professional sappers just make good, simple soap without all the fancy colors,and swirls. My last few master batches of oil have included some really nice ingredients like jojoba and hemp seed oil, but the colors keep ending up a little wonky. There’s that plus the fact that I’ve gone from all EOs to FOs to keep the price down. I like several of the FOs choices I’ve made, but they seem to be prone to discolor...i.e. most of it tends to go tan/brown, and of course, that changes all of your colors slightly...especially blues which tend to go green. I think I should go back to good ol’ coconut, palm, olive, lard and castor and save the esoteric oils for shampoo and shave bars, which was the original intent. What do y’all think?

 

[lsg]

I don't use exotic oils for soap because it is a rinse-off product. I used to experiment with colors and swirling techniques, but I now mostly make plain soap with a blend of EOs or a good FO.

 

[dibbles]

If these soaps are the ones you want to sell, and you want a 'special' ingredient for label appeal. It could be aloe for some or all of the lye solution, which won't cause issues with acceleration or change the color. It could be coconut milk for part of the lye solution added to the oils. A bit of shea or coco butter or sweet almond oil won't affect your batter color. I love avocado as well, and at 10% doesn't seem to affect the color much. Or silk. All that said, there is nothing wrong with going back to your recipe with more common oils either.

There are lots of nice FOs that don't affect the color. I try to read reviews and choose the ones that don't. I also have a few I will put up with that do discolor because I like them enough to work around it. It is a process though, and I do usually start with a small amount to test, then order a bigger bottle if it is a FO that behaves reasonably well and sticks, doesn't discolor more than to ivory or a very light tan and I like the scent enough to want more.