titanium dioxide question

[mbeachysoap]

Received titanium dioxide to add into my CP soap recipe and I am told to "add the titanium dioxide to the oil phase of your formulation" ... so do I add it to the oils before or after I heat them up? Any insight, advice or precautions I should know before I try it?

 

[Twiggy]

Ok, so I’m probably the person who should be quite here as I’ve used it one in my life, but first try in which liquid your TD is dissolving. I had heard that one kind does it in water, one in oils. So try this out first. And blend it well before adding to oils, when you ready to add color, even on light trace I think. On you tube is plenty videos where other soap makers use TD, you can spy a little on them

EDIT: Here you go, Soaping 101, she’s great, you will see exactly when she adds TD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4zxHj3aOy8

 

[Soaps'n'Bubbles]

Hi there, I use Titanium Dioxide in my soap making and I mix it with a little water and add to my soap when it reaches a very light trace. I have ended up with a mottled effect when I have not mixed it thoroughly into the soap mixture, I also make sure that before I pour it into the soap mixture I give it a good stir as when it has been standing it tends to settle on the bottom of my jug.

 

[sistrum]

If your supplier said to add to oil phase then hopefully they are right (mine wasn't) you can take a bit of your liquid oils from your recipe and mix with that then add after oils are melted. Before or after lye is fine or at trace like was said above.

If you supplier was wrong (like mine was) you will get a nice soap with white speckles that you will have to name something cute like "Tropic Snowstorm" if you happened to use a suntan oil scent!

 

[mbeachysoap]

I got it from NG and it is in a powder form and the scent I am using contains vanillan and as we all know anything with vanilla in it turns brown and I want it to stay white. Thanks for the input and I am going to try the mix with a little of the oil from recipe method and add in at trace via sistrums advice. Also headed to that video from Twiggy.. (ha .. just like the model .. showing our age). Thank you all .. I just knew it wasn't going to be that easy lol
@soaps n bubbles .. did you use warm water?

 

[new12soap]

If it is in fact oil soluble or dispersible, you can put it in your oils once they are melted before you add your lye. I measure out my TD and then use a fine mesh strainer to sift it into my oils, then stickblend the heck out of it to completely disperse it, then add lye. Ta-da. Haven't had spots yet.

BTW, TD is a powerful whitener, but your high vanillin FO will still probably discolor your soap at least somewhat.

 

[kazmi]

^^ I agree with what New12soap says about vanilla. Hard to find a balance between too much td and enough to try to whiten soap that "will" darken because of the vanilla content in your FO.

Is your td oil soluble or water soluble? Did your supplier tell you which one? I purchase oil soluble and pre-mixed a bunch of it in a little oil and it's ready to use whenever I need it and has eliminated speckles in my soap. If you have water soluable then premix it with water and keep it in the fridge (or add a preservative).

 

[mbeachysoap]

[FONT=Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Titanium Dioxide Oil Dispersible Powder .. just had to look it up .. so mixing it with water is out, right? .. I really like the idea of having it pre-mixed .. one more question .. what % of vanillin is considered high to where it won't whiten?[/FONT]