fresh herbs

[Jessrof]

Can I use fresh herbs in soap? I know I can do infusions but can i just use chopped herbs to give my soap a unique quality? I am thinking cilantro with a light lime fragrance specifically...

 

[lizflowers42]

Fresh herbs will mold You could try to dry them first though. Most likely they will turn brown in your soap. I learned this with lavender buds. Looked like mouse poo!

 

[kazmi]

I found out (the hard way) that lavendar buds look nice until you get the bar of soap wet. Pretty purple turns to mouse poo so don't put any on top of your soap. But if you grind them up first, add a little ground oatmeal and use either a colorant or a FO that will turn the soap brown (I used Oatmeal & Honey with a little Lavendar FO - smells great together!) it looks great as an exfoliating bar even after getting wet.

 

[Rachelmf]

I put some fresh basil in my second batch of soap in August or September. I used stems and leaves and put it in the food processor to chop it up first. The leaves chopped better than the stems. There weren't any disastrous effects, but it's not that special either. The basil turned brown and it's slightly scratchy. It seems to have a faint herbal scent, but it could be my imagination.

 

[Jessrof]

Thanks everyone! I am just looking for that extra oomph. KWIM?

 

[kazmi]

Jessrof that what I was looking for too. I have some dried rosemary that I was gonna try but only after putting in a coffee grinder first to get it really ground down. I may add it to the water/lye to see if that softens it a little. I'll probably experiment first though so I don't end up with a large batch that I don't like.