Natural Soap Colourants

Natural Soap Colorants

Natural soap colourants are a fantastic way to create beautiful, colourful soaps without synthetic dyes. These natural ingredients add colour and often offer additional skin benefits. Here’s an in-depth look at various natural colourants you can use in your soap-making process.

Types of Natural Soap Colorants

1. Spices:
   • Turmeric: Known for its vivid yellow to orange colour, turmeric also has anti-inflammatory properties, which make it beneficial for the skin​.
   • Paprika: This spice is orange and can be used for its colour and its mild exfoliating properties​.
   • Curry Powder: This mixture of spices gives the soap a deep yellow to orange colour. It includes curry leaves, coriander, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, and chilli peppers.​

1. Herbs and Flowers:
   • Nettle Leaf: This herb imparts a light to dark green colour and has anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal properties, making it an excellent choice for soothing skin​.
   • Calendula Petals: are recognized for their anti-inflammatory and healing properties. When added to soap, they turn yellow to golden-orange.
   • Chamomile: Chamomile flowers provide a beige to yellow colour and are excellent for calming irritated skin​.
   • Rose Petal Powder: Adds shades of pink to red and is high in vitamin C and antioxidants, offering beauty and benefits to your soap​.
2. Clays:
   • French Green Clay: Offers a soft green colour and is well-known for its deep detoxification properties​.
   • French Pink Clay: Provides a range of colours from soft pink to brick red and helps improve skin elasticity.
   • Cambrian Blue Clay: Gives shades of blue and effectively detoxifies the skin.
   • Fuller’s Earth Clay: This clay adds a light brown colour and is excellent for reducing oiliness on the skin.
3. Roots and Powders:
   • Madder Root: Offers a spectrum from pink to burgundy. It can be used by infusing in oils or added directly to the lye solution​.
   • Alkanet Root: Known for producing colours from dark plum purple to pale pinks, best used by infusing in oils.
   • Annatto Seeds: These seeds can produce a range of colours from pale yellow to deep orange, depending on the concentration and method used.
   • Activated Charcoal: Ideal for creating a black colour in soap, activated charcoal also helps with oily skin.
4. Other Natural Ingredients:
   • Honey: Adding honey to your lye solution can give it a natural golden brown colour. The heat from the lye solution caramelizes the honey, giving the soap a rich fudge brown tint and a delightful aroma.
   • Cocoa Powder: Provides a brown colour and serves as a natural exfoliant​.
   • Beet Root: While beetroot can yield warm to dull brown colours, it does not colour CP/HP soap red. It is best used in its powdered form, juice, or infused in oils​.

Tips for Using Natural Colorants

• Infusion: Using herbs and flowers in oils is a great way to incorporate colour and beneficial properties into your soap. This method helps achieve a more even distribution of colour.
• Adding at Trace: Many colourants can be added at the trace stage to ensure vibrant and consistent colours.
• Gel Phase: Insulating your soap to go through the gel phase can help make the colours more vibrant and stable.

Storage and Preservation

Natural colours tend to fade over time. To prevent this, store your soap in a dry, calm, and well-ventilated place away from direct sunlight. This helps maintain the vibrancy of the colours for a more extended period​.

Experimentation

Every natural colourant behaves differently in soap, so it’s essential to experiment with small batches to determine the best technique and amount to achieve your desired colour. Keep detailed notes of your experiments to replicate successful batches and adjust as needed​.

Conclusion

Using natural soap colourants in soap making is a rewarding and creative process. You can achieve a wide range of beautiful, natural colours in your handmade soaps with some experimentation and patience. Enjoy the process, and happy soaping!