# Beginner- anyone tried sea moss soap?



## Emmeline (Jan 20, 2020)

Hey all I’m new here and loved reading through some of these threads! I wish I came across this forum before. I made my first batch of pine tar soap today with neem and now I’m just waiting for it to cure 

I was wondering if anybody has made a sea moss soap? I have prepared it into a gel, but it can still be melted into liquid form...I’m just unsure how much to use and  how to add that to soapcalc. Was thinking it could possibly be similar to aloe as it’s almost like the same texture but I’m clueless. Would appreciate any feedback! Happy soaping


----------



## KiwiMoose (Jan 20, 2020)

Sounds like you could just use it as the water part of your soap.  That's what i do with aloe juice.


----------



## Mobjack Bay (Jan 20, 2020)

Sea moss is rich is carrageenan and is added to other food products to thicken them.  I’ve used aloe gel with carrageenan in it as a replacement for half of the water in my soap.  The gel would probably be fine as a full replacement, but I can’t say since I haven’t tried it. If it’s gel/semi solid, you are going to need to get it to a liquid state.  You could easily do a test run using it to replace half of the water in your recipe by using the “split method” where you mix your lye with an equal weight of water (or a little more water then Lye; by weight) and then use the other liquid as a replacement for the balance of the water weight called for in the recipe.  The replacement liquid can be stick blended into the oils before you add the lye solution to the oils.  If you decide to add the lye directly to the liquified sea moss gel, use a large container.  Some replacement liquids can cause volcano-ing.  Alternative liquids can also get very smelly, change colors or get gloppy when lye is added. You may need to experiment a bit with small batches until you find the best method.


----------



## Emmeline (Jan 21, 2020)

Thank you both for your replies. I will try it out and let you know how it goes!


----------



## Raquel2587 (Apr 12, 2020)

Emmeline said:


> Thank you both for your replies. I will try it out and let you know how it goes!


 Hi! Did you ever try the sea moss soap? I’m looking to try it out soon!


----------



## sylviascruggscolbert (Aug 26, 2020)

I warmed the sea moss in water then blended it and made frozen ice cubes to use in lye.  Once I combined the lye and oils, it set up QUICKLY.  That was my first batch.
  Second batch I made sure the lye and oils were around 90 Degrees, I used less ice cubes and I did a light trace before adding essential oils and other ingredients.  It set up quickly but not as quick.  I'm going to try it again with a little less Sea moss ice cubes and see if that helps.


----------



## Jean1987 (Aug 26, 2020)

sylviascruggscolbert said:


> I warmed the sea moss in water then blended it and made frozen ice cubes to use in lye.  Once I combined the lye and oils, it set up QUICKLY.  That was my first batch.
> Second batch I made sure the lye and oils were around 90 Degrees, I used less ice cubes and I did a light trace before adding essential oils and other ingredients.  It set up quickly but not as quick.  I'm going to try it again with a little less Sea moss ice cubes and see if that helps.



Hi! I am trying to figure out how to incorporate sea moss into a soap as we speak lol however, I am using the melt and pour method. I thought about grinding the sea moss into a powder and incorporating it that way, but that is taking far too long, and it doesn't yield enough after you've done all that work. Since I have the pre made soap base, would you say that making ice cubes with the gel would still work for melt and pour method? What are your thoughts? Thank you!


----------



## GemstonePony (Aug 27, 2020)

Jean1987 said:


> Hi! I am trying to figure out how to incorporate sea moss into a soap as we speak lol however, I am using the melt and pour method. I thought about grinding the sea moss into a powder and incorporating it that way, but that is taking far too long, and it doesn't yield enough after you've done all that work. Since I have the pre made soap base, would you say that making ice cubes with the gel would still work for melt and pour method? What are your thoughts? Thank you!


Because you are working with soap that has already been made, you can't incorporate very much additional liquid without inviting mold. You could probably add powdered seaweed, though. If you want to incorporate more seaweed in liquid or gel form, it would have to be added with the saponification process, i.e. when the oils/butters/fats are mixed with caustic alkali solution to begin to become the alkali salts known as soap.


----------



## Jean1987 (Aug 27, 2020)

GemstonePony said:


> Because you are working with soap that has already been made, you can't incorporate very much additional liquid without inviting mold. You could probably add powdered seaweed, though. If you want to incorporate more seaweed in liquid or gel form, it would have to be added with the saponification process, i.e. when the oils/butters/fats are mixed with caustic alkali solution to begin to become the alkali salts known as soap.



Thank you! I figured that. I did try to incorporate sea moss powder, but it was wither not finely ground enough, or didn't mix smooth enough with the alcohol to incorporate into the base without looking like saw dust  Is alcohol the only thing the powder should or could be mixed with before incorporating with the base? Thank you!


----------



## GemstonePony (Aug 27, 2020)

Jean1987 said:


> Thank you! I figured that. I did try to incorporate sea moss powder, but it was wither not finely ground enough, or didn't mix smooth enough with the alcohol to incorporate into the base without looking like saw dust  Is alcohol the only thing the powder should or could be mixed with before incorporating with the base? Thank you!


When I did melt and pour, I didn't do much with powders. I know a lot of people do add dry ingredients, but you would get more knowledgeable responses by starting your own thread in the melt-and-pour forum.


----------



## Holly Sterling (Jan 19, 2021)

When something is supposed to have a lot of health benefits for the skin and is expensive and/or time-consuming to make, I tend to add it to hot process recipes after the cook just so the ingredient doesn't go to waste, i.e. much less of it gets destroyed by the lye (organic shea butter, argan oil, dragon's blood infused oil or any herb infused oils). Or, I'll add them to a purposeful rebatch. This is out of fear the lye might destroy some of the therapeutic properties. My first thought after learning about sea moss gel would be to add it after a cook - the water will evaporate out, but doing a water reduction in the beginning might mitigate that curing time issue. Does anybody know about adding sea moss gel in this way? I love making mermaid-themed bars and it sounds like a cool ingredient to add to sea-goddess-y soaps.


----------

