Most of the time I make soaps that are very natural colored, they turn out off white or brown of some sort. I thought maybe I would try to put some color in this batch of handmade soap. I wanted to keep it natural so I decided to make Cucumber Melon soap and add some cucumber puree to make it green.
I made a small batch just to see how it went.
Cucumber Melon Cold Processed Soap
6oz Vegetable Shortening (I use generic, make sure it is soybean and cottonseed oil. If it has palm in it you will need to run it through the soapmaking calculator again)
6oz Coconut Oil
4oz Shea Butter
5oz Palm Oil
2oz Castor Oil
1oz Sweet Almond Oil
8oz Cucumber puree and water
3.4 oz lye
Use basic soapmaking procedure.
I cut up the cucumber and blended it in my blender until it was liquified, then added enough water to make 8 oz. I could not believe how green the puree was. I was expecting it to be pale green, but it was very bright.
When I added the lye to the cucumber puree it didnt change color at all. It stayed bright green, and smelled horrible. Thankfully the odor didn't last long.
After melting the oils and getting them to the proper temperature ( I like to mix around 100 degrees), I mixed the lye and cucumber mixture into my oils.
Unfortunately, my trusty stick blender failed me.. I havn't stirred soap in like 9 years, but wasnt so bad, the soap traced in like 5 minutes.
To my suprise the soap remained a very bright green.
I added 1 once of Cucumber Melon fragrance oil and poured it all into a mold.
I cant wait to unmold it tomorrow and see if that bright green color has remained.
Making handmade soap is so much fun!
I wonder what other things I have in my kitchen that I can use to color soap. Maybe baby food would work, strained carrots?
Any ideas?
I really enjoyed reading this post, big fan. Keep up the good work andplease tell me when can you publish more articles or where can I read more on the subject?
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