Teach Soap

Does putting in your colorant and fo in HP before it has cooked cause discoloration? I dissolved brown oxide with my castor oil and it was a very dark brown. I wasn't sure how much to use but put it in with my one-pound batch of oils before the LW annd it was still so dark I worried that I used too much Br.Ox. and didnt want it to bleed out and make brown lather so I decided to double my oils and recalculated the lye/water. Put all in crock pot. After it reached trace, added my Sensuous Sandalwood sample from BB - forgetting until just then that in the past I've added the FO after HP has cooked - I was hoping it would be okay! After cooking to neutral the color was kind of a silvery gray - no longer brown!! I glopped it into my molds and left it overnight. It is definately gray - almost purple!! Was this because I cooked the FO and colorant? Should I have waited to add the brown oxide after cooking or dissolved it in something other than my castor oil?
Thanks for your advice!
Sherri

You should have waited with adding the brown oxide and fo. It's best to add them at the very last minut since many colorants like oxide & micas can morph from the heat and heating up fo's tend to burn off the scent.

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Genny

I've never used brown oxide, I like cocoa powder, but colors usually do change a bit when added before the cook. I always take the soap out of the crock pot and let it cool just a bit before adding fragrance so it doesn't burn off, then mold it. I'm sure it's a possibility that adding both those in during cook caused a morph.

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Laura<3

Yes, thank you, I thought that was my mistake, too. I had forgotten to wait! Oh well, I think some of the scent stayed - we'll see what happens over time. Making the mistake seems to be the best way to remember for next time! Is there a colorant that does last through a cook or should they all be added at the end? I suppose cocoa powder would last - I'll have to try that next!!
Sherri

Interesting question, as I just saw HP done "in person" for the first time this afternoon! A friend who does HP came over and she did HP while I did CP. Fun! But she is new to colorants and mentioned that she read somewhere that you can add your colorant to the lye water for HP. Should I warn her that this may be a potential problem? I guess it is best to add after cooking it, right?

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Carrie
Wife to my Best Friend and Homeschool mom to 7 beautiful gifts

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Genny