Cucumber

[amanda131]

So I got some Cucumber Melon FO and was thinking about actually putting in some cucumber pieces or slices from a veggie peeler. Is this a good or bad idea? Will the cucumber go bad? Turn Black? People put berries and stuff in their soap, it's the same thing right?? Or am I going too far??

 

[IanT]

So I got some Cucumber Melon FO and was thinking about actually putting in some cucumber pieces or slices from a veggie peeler. Is this a good or bad idea? Will the cucumber go bad? Turn Black? People put berries and stuff in their soap, it's the same thing right?? Or am I going too far??

Id say the only way it wouldnt go bad is if you put it into a food dehydrator and dried it up before adding.... then you could add nice little strips or chunks and whatnot and i dont think theyd go bad....

If you add them wet I can say itll mess your soap up....itll leave empty pockets of nasty goo inside the soap bars... Yummmmmmmm......

 

[artisan soaps]

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[Fairydittle]

I have made cucumber soap. Use your food processor to process your cucumber peel. I peeled it a little thick, when you process it, it will be watery because a cucumber has a lot of water in it. Discount your water and substitute some of the cucumber. Just be sure to process it well.

I added jojoba oil and shea butter and I added a little french clay for color. I did not scent it. It is a nice green color. I really like the feel of the soap, it will be good this winter when my skin gets dry. You would never know that cucumber was added to it. There were a few bits of cucumber that turned a little yellow and that was probably from the lye cooking it.

Go ahead and try it!

 

[Guest]

Cucumber is very nice in soap.

 

[amanda131]

I love your guys' info!!! Thanks so much! I'm totally doing it when I use my FO. But up first is Pumpkin Spice in my new molds!

 

[amanda131]

So to add to this------if I"m making pumpkin spice soap can I add some caned pumpkin and turn it orange?? Do I adjust my water like the cucumber?? I'm so into this now!

 

[IanT]

So to add to this------if I"m making pumpkin spice soap can I add some caned pumpkin and turn it orange?? Do I adjust my water like the cucumber?? I'm so into this now!

it may discolour to brown with the lye reaction and all but its worth a shot!

 

[Guest]

Baby food carrots will make soap orange , mine has stayed orange for 6 months now . I haven't ever tried pumpkin .

Kitn

 

[amanda131]

Kitn--how much did you put in per pound of oils?? I usually do a 2lb batch....

 

[jarvan]

Amanda which Cucumber melon FO did you get? I need to get a good one. I don't want anything fake smelling. I know...they are FOs, not the real thing, but some FOs are better than others.

 

[amanda131]

They are called LorAnnOils. I get them at a little shop. They are in one ounce bottles. I've used quite a few of them. The peaches and cream is delish! The pineapple Mango is great. I really like their Vanilla Sugar too. I just bought but have yet to use the Cucumber Melon, Pumpkin Spice, and Pound Cake! The pound cake smells AMAZING in the bottle, honestly I want to drink it!!!!!!!!!

 

[Guest]

replace some of the water portion with juiced cucumber... blender... to that add additional cucumber peel to make a green colour to your soap... more peel more green... do not add too much pumpkin puree... I would take the added pumpkin away from my water weight and bear in mind that if you reduce the water the lye % goes higher... never use more than 40% lye... not safe... I play around with soapcalc and then come up with how much water i can take away and still have a safe lye% and takes the difference between the original recommended water weight and my adjusted water weight to find how much organics to add to my soap... sorry if it doesn't make sense to you but I somehow figure this out everytime... works for me so far... if you add too much pumpkin your soap can spoil... act within reason... hope this helps... hehe! hmmmm I wanna try avocado puree... also banana.... so many things to try... here in Taiwan we have winter melon gourds... bitter mellon gourds... and I wanna try eggplant... I read something online saying it might work for some skin cancers... i am curious and don't make any claims...

 

[Guest]

cucumber soap rocks...

I made cucumber oatmeal and it was my best soap yet... I loved it... haven't made it again though... maybe i should try it again but there are so many other things I always wanna try... I have my basic... secret oil combination to which i add all my other goodies in different soaps... but those other additives are endless... i never get to make the same soap twice it seems...[/b]

 

[artisan soaps]

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[IrishLass]

So I got some Cucumber Melon FO and was thinking about actually putting in some cucumber pieces or slices from a veggie peeler. Is this a good or bad idea? Will the cucumber go bad? Turn Black? People put berries and stuff in their soap, it's the same thing right?? Or am I going too far??

In reading the soaping wisdom of the many soapers who have gone before me and tried chunks/slices of food in their soap, I've learned that puree in CP soap is good, but chunks are bad news. The pieces of food need to be minute enough for the lye to saturate them through and through as much as possible, or else they'll go moldy over time.

I love using cucumber, carrots, avocado, and tomato in my soap, but I always make sure to puree them well before adding. For purees, I usually add about 1 tbsp ppo, and for juices I'll go so far as to add 100% of my total liquid amount as juice, but mostly 50% because I hate mixing anything but water with my lye.

IrishLass

 

[Guest]

I made a cucumber soap last week and used cucumber puree (skin and all) as 100% of my water, and also added fresh parsley to the puree to give it a really green look. I'm not that impressed. Maybe I didn't put enough cucumber scent into the soap, but it seems to have a strong vegetable smell, not necessarily that fresh cucumber scent.

I want to try it again, but not use puree as the entire water amount, maybe just half.

 

[amanda131]

I did about half, and at first it was VERY vegetable-y. But it's gotten more of the cucumber melon scent back! I didn't put the cucumber puree in untill trace when I put my scent in. I was afraid to put it in with my lye and water. I don't know what I thought would happen but I was sure it wouldn't be good!!!

 

[Sunkawakan]

I read, somewhere, to use powdered benzoin when adding fruits or vegtables to soap. If I remember correctly though it was used in hand milled soaps, so I'm not sure if you could use with cp or cphp methods.

I'm curious, does anyone know anything about powdered benzoin? I think its a preservative but not sure. Has anyone used in their soaps? Any information would be helpful.