Teach Soap

I recently made the mistake of mixing lavendar buds into my batch of CP bastile soap. In two days it all looked like mouse poop, so I'm thinking that I will probably felt these bars. I would like to make some soap with dried lavendar buds and/or rose buds ON TOP, rather than in the bar. Does anyone know if the color will hold if I use the botanicals in this way?

Also, I want to make a facial bar with avocado oil and a superfat of 10% or more but I'm worried about the potential for rancidity. How likely is this? I was thinking of putting some vitamin E in there due to it's skin benefits and also as a preservative to protect against the rancidity. Any ideas of how much I should add?

Calendula petals are the only botanical that won't go brown in/on your soap. The rose petals/lavender buds will discolor even if they are only on top. The vitamin E is an antioxidant (though not a preservative) so it will help prevent rancidity of your oils. Avocado oil is rich in vitamin E already. I don't remember for sure but I believe the vitamin E usage rate is 1%.

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Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!

Lavender or rose petals will turn brown over time. Vitamin E is an anti-oxidant, not a preservative. I doubt it would survive the high pH of lye. I suggest that you add vitamin E or ROE (rosemary oleoresin extract) to your oils as soon as you purchase them instead. 10% superfat should be fine. Calculate all your oils and butters right up front through a lye calculator. Mix them all up front. There is an old wife's tale online and in books that advocates adding a certain oil or butter at trace. Lye at trace is still very active and it will take whatever it wants. There is no guarantee that any oil or butter added at trace will end up as your superfat.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Great! That's what I needed to know! Thanks for answering my questions.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

On a semi-related topic: I got The Complete Soapmaker from the library to see if it was worth owning, and was surprised to find that a great deal of the book dealt with re-batching with soap made from the basic recipes she provides, and they frequently included some type of fruit, vegetable, or herb, with powered benzoin as a preservative. I don't know why I found it a surprising idea but until then, I had only seen recipes where those types of ingredients were added during the original process. I was under the impression that when done the traditional way, the smell and color of most stuff gets lost in the process. I'm not sure how I personally feel about the idea of food in my soap, but I do know some people who would get a kick out of it.

My intention for soaping was to give it as gifts, and it seems as if everyone likes a different fragrance, so the idea of re-batching to personalize the scent, or to add delicate ingredients is intriguing. But she's basically just cooking some shredded soap with perishable foods and even with the benzoin, I can't see how that can end well. I'm curious to know if any of you have tried doing it her way. And how it worked out if you did.

Any herbal material, fruit or vegetables need to interact with lye, so they don't go moldy. Benzoin is a known sensitizer. I would not add either to a rebatch. Most herbs won't add any scent and the color will oxidize and turns some shades of brown. The exception would be calendula which keeps it yellow color.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Quite frankly, I found the idea of putting pureed fruits or vegtables in a re-batch a little bit disgusting but since I'm new to this, I had to ask. Thanks for the input, I don't want to spend a small fortune on a ton of books for the level of soaping that I intend to do so I've been working my way through every soap making book I can get from the library and I'm really leaning towards Alissa Grosso's "Everything" book as a must-have.