Teach Soap

I was going for a green-gray color in the "Rosemary-Tea Tree Man Soap" recipe for my husband. I added 2% (of total batch weight) bentonite clay and 2% (of total batch weight) powdered rosemary--the total batch weight was 3.5 lbs, so I added 48 grams (.106 oz) of each. I also added 2 tsp. each rosemary essential oil and tea tree essential oil. The soap is so dark it is almost black. (The fats used in the soap were lard, olive oil, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, and castor oil; I dissolved 4 tsp. sugar into the water prior to adding the lard; 5% superfat).

--Any advice on how to get a lighter color?
--Will I still get the exfoilating quality of the rosemary powder and the properties of the clay if I use less?
--Was I supposed to calculate percentage (2%) based on the weight of the oils, not the total weight?

Thanks!

2% is too much. Normally people use up to 1 TBS of clay or powder per lb. of soap. For 3.5 lbs. 2 tsp. of sugar should have been sufficient.

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

Ok. I bought both powders from Wholesale Supplies Plus. On their directions, they recommend 3% for the clay (I used less) and 1-3% for the rosemary powder. Guess this is WRONG.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

Is is usable as just a daaarrk green/black soap? It is just for my husband to use; I am not selling it.

If I do decide to rebatch it, can I swirl a base soap at trace with bits of this, or this melted? Or do I need to let the other batch set up and then rebatch both, swirling them together?

If it doesn't bleed, I would use it as is. Or you can shred it and add it to another uncolored batch.

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

When cut and trimmed into bars, the soap is fine--darker than I expected, certainly, but some people go out of their way to get a dark color. I tried a scrap with gloves on and the lather is white. Yippee! So, dear husband will be washing with black soap. I did rebatch all the scraps from the trimming with two cut-up white basic soap bars. They had cured three weeks and so didn't melt with the scraps, so I have a few dark bars now with white chunks in them--they look pretty good, if you like dark soap.

Sounds like you will be fine then.

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

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Four Seasons Fine Handcrafted Soaps
& Specialties, Inc.
Laugh, Love, Live!

My Deluxe Vanilla soap looks like a bar of dark chocolate... but it smells great! LOL

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