A few days ago a friend challenged me to produce a perfectly white soap. They told me my soap leaves too much dark colored soap scum in their white bathroom and soapdish. I've been making cold processed soap for 5 years. And till now I've been using often fine cinnamon or cocoa powder to help the retention and absorption of the EOs in the soap. My last batch was really great, a masterpiece (I thought..) but it got some bad reviews due to it's deep dark color. Since then I've purchased white white kaolin powder to replace the cacao powder but I am curious what base oils to try so I don't get yellowing or greenish tint?? Normally I use Olive oil and Coconut oil plus a portion of vegetable oil.(.very clear white). The olive oil can't make white soap sadly.. Have any ideas? Thanks guys!
How do you make a perfectly white soap? I've been challenged..
- Thread starter Labdanum
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Lard will make a really white bar, I use 50% in my base recipe. White clay doesn't do much for color, titanium dioxide is better
https://lovelygreens.com/eco-friendly-cold-process-soap-recipe-instructions/
This is my main basic recipe. It is said that EVOO will tint green, however regular OO does not. I've found this to be the case, however I wouldn't call my soap perfectly white. Does have a hint of off white in there.
A pic, which I'm honestly surprised is pretty darn white:
This is my main basic recipe. It is said that EVOO will tint green, however regular OO does not. I've found this to be the case, however I wouldn't call my soap perfectly white. Does have a hint of off white in there.
A pic, which I'm honestly surprised is pretty darn white:
I agree that kaolin won't make much difference, but it is nice in soap. Titanium dioxide will make white. My soaps with lard, coconut, (regular, not extra virgin) olive oil, sunflower oil and castor oil is pretty white and I don't use TD. It's not snow white, but is a creamy white.
My absolute whitest soap was a salt bar made mostly with coconut oil. If you're interested (I love salt bars!) the forum has lots of interesting threads about making them; this one contains several recipes: Help with Salt Bar recipe
I only managed true white soap once. And I still don't know how I did it.
My regular recipe has soy wax, coconut oil and shea butter that are all white - these total 50% of my recipe. The other 50% is OO (refined, light) RBO (very yellow/golden) avocado oil (about the same as the OO) and castor oil (quite light). I use aloe concentrate or fresh aloe juice as the water which always makes a yellow lye solution. Here is a batch I made recently with no added colourants/clays or the like:
And here is a batch of Zany's No Slime Castile (10% CO, 85% OO - refined, light, 5% castor oil) with no colorants of any kind:
I have never seen OO give off such a gorgeous white before. I'm going to have to try this and see what happens.
This is so very pretty Kiwi.
I use TD always for my whites. In order to get it brilliant white - you do have to SB it quickly to completely mix it in. I use water soluble and have it in a squirt bottle to use.
I think the OP's problem is less about their soap not being pure WHITE and more about the soap having a heavy dose of additives that add color. I think if you load up a soap with titanium dioxide or kaolin or other white colorant, that can cause problems too. The solution is to use more reasonable amounts of colored additives ... or none at all. The old adage of "more is not necessarily better" applies here.
I know there's this persistent idea in the soap making community that adding powders (clay, starches, etc.) will "anchor" a scent, meaning the scent will last longer. Unfortunately, most of the experienced soap makers who say they have tried this also pretty uniformly say it doesn't work. And everything I know about the chemical processes of adsorption and absorption agree with their findings -- adding an "anchor" really won't have much if any effect on longevity of a fragrance.
The real key to having a longer lasting scent in soap is to use fragrances that last longer in soap. Even perfumers know some scents are short lived and others are longer lived -- why are we soap makers expecting "top notes" such as orange to last for months when perfumers have long known otherwise?
I know there's this persistent idea in the soap making community that adding powders (clay, starches, etc.) will "anchor" a scent, meaning the scent will last longer. Unfortunately, most of the experienced soap makers who say they have tried this also pretty uniformly say it doesn't work. And everything I know about the chemical processes of adsorption and absorption agree with their findings -- adding an "anchor" really won't have much if any effect on longevity of a fragrance.
The real key to having a longer lasting scent in soap is to use fragrances that last longer in soap. Even perfumers know some scents are short lived and others are longer lived -- why are we soap makers expecting "top notes" such as orange to last for months when perfumers have long known otherwise?
I did a test recently to see what additives could make a soap more white. I used this Earl gray recipe and added 1 tsp of kaolin, 1/2 tsp TD, and 1 tsp pumice power (and 1 control soap) to around 300 g of soap batter:
The circular one had no additives. The little black bits are tea leaves, which I included to see if they would bleed into the soap, which they sort of do, but anyway, the result was that only TD made the soap substantially whiter, and I don’t really like the color; it’s almost a sickly-white. The kaolin made the soap marginally lighter, and maybe more would have a stronger effect, but I recently learned that it can have the opposite effect, making the tint of the oils even stronger:
The bottom layer had no clay, and each layer on top had 1, 2 and 4 tbsp per 300g of oil. I suspect it might be due to the clay absorbing a lot of the water.
So if you really want white soap, I’d recommend light oils. My favorite is 100% coconut oil with 20% superfat, which is an almost translucent white:
The photo is yellower than the soap, because of the wood.
The circular one had no additives. The little black bits are tea leaves, which I included to see if they would bleed into the soap, which they sort of do, but anyway, the result was that only TD made the soap substantially whiter, and I don’t really like the color; it’s almost a sickly-white. The kaolin made the soap marginally lighter, and maybe more would have a stronger effect, but I recently learned that it can have the opposite effect, making the tint of the oils even stronger:
The bottom layer had no clay, and each layer on top had 1, 2 and 4 tbsp per 300g of oil. I suspect it might be due to the clay absorbing a lot of the water.
So if you really want white soap, I’d recommend light oils. My favorite is 100% coconut oil with 20% superfat, which is an almost translucent white:
The photo is yellower than the soap, because of the wood.
Zany_in_CO
Saponifier
I make mostly "Plain Jane" soaps. In addition to Zany's No Slime Castile that @KiwiMoose mentioned, here are some of my favorite soaps that produce a white bar. Be sure to use Pure or Grade A Olive Oil (NOT EVOO) and whatever fragrance you use doesn't add any color to the finished look.
The Basic Trinity of Oils formula is the one I see most often in popular handcrafted soap you can buy online like Dr. Squatch. Good for all skin types. Good lather. Rinses off quickly leaving that "clean" feeling.
Hubby's favorite was Zany's Palm Olive Soap -- good body and shampoo bar for silvery hair. It made his hair shiny with NO dingy yellow.
85% Lard soap with 10% Coconut, 5% Castor (unscented) is a favorite with a geezer pal that I make it for. It reminds him of his Grandma's soap he used when he was a child.
I love WHITE KAOLIN CLAY (China clay) and use it in many of my recipes. I find it adds gentle exfoliation, boosts lather & cleansing action, helps to "stick" fragrance (maybe?), as well as laying down a foundation for adding colorants (No TD necessary).
HAPPY SOAPING!
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Looks REALLY nice btw!!! Looking at the recipe..https://lovelygreens.com/eco-friendly-cold-process-soap-recipe-instructions/
This is my main basic recipe. It is said that EVOO will tint green, however regular OO does not. I've found this to be the case, however I wouldn't call my soap perfectly white. Does have a hint of off white in there.
A pic, which I'm honestly surprised is pretty darn white:
I guess it must be all the right ingredients..
Oh yeah! I tried that one, just made it light blue so forgot that it would otherwise be white
It’s really good, cleans well with a nice lather and gentle on the hands. Just had a bit of a flexible core, which was kind of odd, but still lasted a while.
