Using a discoloring FO

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artemis

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I'm planning on using a discoloring FO in part of my batter as the colorant for that batter. If I am only fragrancing 1/4 of the batter, do I use the amount of FO that is recommended for the whole, or just enough for the part that is being fragranced? Did that make sense?
 
I would use the amount of FO for the amount you are fragrance, because too high of an FO concentration can cause the soap to misbehave. So, if you are making 1 lb of soap and you want to color 1/4, then use the maximum amount for 1/4 lbs of soap.
 
Yup dixiedragon! I've tried that before, and found using several times the amount of FO for soap than the normal maximum leads to all kinds of issues - like that part of the soap never getting hard, weird discoloration, funny patterns grown through it during saponification...

You can go a bit over, but I'd keep it in realistic ranges. If you don't want to discolor all your soap, you can experiment with using an amount within realistic range for your discolor swirls, and another FO(s) for the rest. Blending that way can be interesting...
 
For me the best to do is pour of how many colors I want and dump the full amount in the balance of the batter. My other method is to pour 3 leave one un fragranced and pour a little of each remainder then add the balance to the largest amount of batter. If you are only using enough to fragrance 1/4 of the soap, I would not bother fragrancing at all. But we like strong fragrance as do my customers, and I deal with several very discoloring fo's. If you use the method of varying the fo it is always a surprise when it cures, because you cannot tell with the batter. If you want swirls you can pour off and use bright colors such as yellows, pinks, purples, bright green etc add not fo, and pour the fo in the balance of the batter.
 
I normally use 1oz ppo. For discoloring FOs, I'll chance throwing that into 2/3 of my normal batch and leaving the rest unscented. It's only backfired on me once when had some slight FO seepage noticed during cutting. Since I don't gel, I'm pretty positive it was from overdoing it with my FO/batter ratio. I chunked my soap back in the mold and left it overnight. Most of it reabsorbed so I didn't lose too much scent.

I didn't give any of that batch away - just in case...
 

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