This charcoal soap is a huge mistake, right?

Mark the Box Guy · Jun 16, 2013

Now that I have six batches of soap under my belt (including a shampoo and shave soap) I figure that it's time for colour, and as much as I enjoy everyone's beautiful swirls and micas and so and so, those colours really aren't my style, so I went with black. Jet Black. Elvis Black. So I grabbed some activated charcoal and added two teaspoons to a kilo of basic soap.

I lined one of Nicole's purple boxes ("I was going to decorate that one for the website!"), mixed, and poured ("Mark, that looks beautiful!"). Then the apocalyptic question came.

"Honey, is that going to leave black charcoal all over the shower and sink?" she asked.

"Of course not," I lied.

Where on the scale of "Honey, I love this soap" to "Every day I have to clean that up you'll be sleeping on the sofa," will this experiment be?

kazmi · Jun 16, 2013

LOL I don't think you'll have to sleep on the soft. I think the max is 1 Tblsp PPO but others with more experience can chime in.

BTW I LOVE the box!

three_little_fishes · Jun 16, 2013

I really wonder if the charcoal coming out of the bar has to do with what oils are used. I made a swirled bar with it and it does still leave some black on my hands. Yet, I've seen other charcoal bars that are completely black and the lather is nothing other than some beautiful bubbles.

newbie · Jun 16, 2013

I have some black bars that give a slightly gray lather and others that lather white. I think the amount you used should cause no problems and it doesn't leave charcoal all over the sink or shower, unless you let it sit in a wet spot. You should be comfortably in bed while using this soap, barring other reasons, of course.

dagmar88 · Jun 16, 2013

kazmi said:
LOL I don't think you'll have to sleep on the soft. I think the max is 1 Tblsp PPO but others with more experience can chime in.

BTW I LOVE the box!

;-) TS actually used a little less.

MrKleen · Jun 16, 2013

Why is 1 Tbsp per pound the max? I put some in at trace, it looked dark and lovely but when it became soap it was a rather dull gray once. What can I use to give it a dark richer black?

Donna · Jun 16, 2013

I've used charcoal in several of my soaps. I've never had problems with the soap causing a black mess or dark bubbles.
One word of caution, you may want to use a dark wash cloth. It will leave some color on a white cloth, but it isn't permanent and will wash out.
As newbie mentioned, I would put it in a dry spot after using it.
I'm sure it will be fine!

AngelMomma · Jun 16, 2013

I don't think you will sleep on the sofa either. But don't rush to use it before a good 6 week cure. Sometimes I have had bars that may have had a bit of colored lather at a couple of weeks in.......but after a good long cure there was nothing but nice white bubbles.

AngelMomma · Jun 16, 2013

MrKleen said:
Why is 1 Tbsp per pound the max? I put some in at trace, it looked dark and lovely but when it became soap it was a rather dull gray once. What can I use to give it a dark richer black?

I use the charcoal then add some black oxide as well. I have had good luck getting a nice dark black that way.

Mark the Box Guy · Jul 3, 2013

You'll all be happy to know that the lather is white, there is no black residue around the sink, and that I'm not banished to the couch after a good hand wash. It's a damn fine soap.

kazmi · Jul 3, 2013

Yeah, success!! Now you can experiement with gray, or deep blue. Did you ever post pics of your Elvis soap cut?

Mark the Box Guy · Jul 3, 2013

kazmi said:
Yeah, success!! Now you can experiement with gray, or deep blue. Did you ever post pics of your Elvis soap cut?

I haven't yet... I can't find my camera battery charger! Drats!

AngelMomma · Jul 3, 2013

Mark the Box Guy said:
You'll all be happy to know that the lather is white, there is no black residue around the sink, and that I'm not banished to the couch after a good hand wash. It's a damn fine soap.

Cool! I bet it will be great for washing greasy or onion smelling digits :sick:

Atihcnoc · Aug 18, 2013

Mark the Box Guy said:
You'll all be happy to know that the lather is white, there is no black residue around the sink, and that I'm not banished to the couch after a good hand wash. It's a damn fine soap.

How many weeks after, did you try the soap? I just try mine (2 days old) and had very nice lather but light gray, I add half teaspoon of charcoal to one pound of soap. It looks black with more clear in the middle, maybe gelification? I was tested this soap in a round form.

Love the box you used!

Mark the Box Guy · Aug 18, 2013

It took more than a month before the lather was white... but it still makes a huge black ugly mess in the soap dish. Frankly, I won't be making this one again

Those boxes are pretty cool, eh?

Robert · Aug 18, 2013

three_little_fishes said:
I really wonder if the charcoal coming out of the bar has to do with what oils are used. I made a swirled bar with it and it does still leave some black on my hands. Yet, I've seen other charcoal bars that are completely black and the lather is nothing other than some beautiful bubbles.

I suspect it has more to do with how much lampblack the charcoal contains. There's a lot of range of material that can be charcoal. You want the sooty volatile stuff very cooked off if you don't want it to stain.

Atihcnoc · Aug 18, 2013

Thank you Mark, here it is my soap, as you can see the drops are gray and the bubbles a little bit. Normally I like to try the soaps 48 hours after, just to check the quality of the soap. In this case my husband loved, he told me that cleans amazingly and he doesn't care about the bubbles or drops because you normally rinsed your hands and body very well (we just try it in the hands for now, the soap need to rest) but we just use white towels and the soap do not left any color in it.

Love those boxes and it is a good idea to be used for making soap as well!!

Thank you for the idea.

This charcoal soap is a huge mistake, right?

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