botanicals in HP?

[Obsidian]

I like the look of finely ground botanicals in CP but I don't like the brown halos that develop over time. Will HP help prevent or at least lessen the halo affect? If not, can anyone recommend a botanical that is dark/black that doesn't bleed?

I'd really like to use ground lavender buds, I like the nearly black specks in a white soap.

 

[green soap]

Cocoa powder? can make very nice pencil lines.

poppy seeds? good for scrub soaps.

Technically charcoals are botanical too since most are made from bamboo.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I use ground poppy seeds usually. If the soap is very wet, even hp, there will be some haloing with a brown of various shades. But if your hp is fairly dry you'll be okay

 

[Obsidian]

I'm looking for something smaller then poppy seeds. I wonder about vanilla seeds or some other very tiny seeds?

 

[cmzaha]

I do not get halo's with fine ground coffee or vanilla seeds.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I'm looking for something smaller then poppy seeds. I wonder about vanilla seeds or some other very tiny seeds?

Ah, I forgot to say that I used ground poppy seeds, which are nice and small.

 

[green soap]

I also feel poppy seeds are rather large, even though they have a lot of fans amongst my soap users. I was going to look into teff and amaranth (whole grains, not flour). They both come in light and dark version.

 

[Obsidian]

I decided to do a test batch, ran around outside grabbing whatever looked interesting and tossed in in the pot. Moss rose seeds are just about the perfect size, yellow hawkweed makes a great replacement for calendula and purple lobelia flowers turn yellow. The soap is quite yellow colored, probably from the hawkweed but it could just be a combo of everything.

I think I need to try the vanilla seeds, they look small enough to not really be scratchy. I quite dislike exfoliation in most soap even though I like the speckled looks.

 

[Seawolfe]

I did the ground up in the HP lavender below (one of my very first soaps) and it never did that halo. The lavender was very well dried (even put it in my dehydrator), ground in the coffee grinder, then I sifted out the chunks for the body and the fine stuff for the line. I mixed the chunks with the EO and added on the cool down before stuffing in the mold.
This was very much a newbie soap, but it worked well.

 

[Obsidian]

Thank you Seawolf, that is beautiful and very much what I have in mind.

 

[Seawolfe]

It will never slice pretty, but its a lovely soap to use.