ingredients questions-- OJ? ginger powder? coffee? cocoa po

[rob]

Hello, everyone. I've posted a few questions here before, and i've always received excellent advice. I guess I'm back for some more.

I want to experiment with some additives in my soap. I've been using a 3:1 ratio of olive oil to coconut oil as a "base" soap, and last time, i added some green tea. Weird stuff; as the one lady from down under who champions this sort of recipe said (sorry; forgot her name!), the stuff is brown, but it lathers white. Weird. Found the info by searching.

I also found plenty of info on using coffee and cocoa. I intend to use a little of both in a future batch. Conflicting methods abound on SMF.com, but at least there's info. I like to search before i post, but my searches for the following recipe proved fruitless:

I want to make soap with some orange juice and ginger. I'm thinking the OJ'd be good for the skin, and the ginger will likely improve circulation. Not that i have effed up circulation; i'm just experimenting. Searches for this have been sort of hit-or-miss. I'm not the type who wants to get into FO or EO, and i just bought a crapload of ginger powder for cheap, and i didn't even need much. I'd rather use this than ginger juice, which seems to be more popular, I intend to add a generous pile of ginger powder at trace; I once made some oatmeal soap, and added some tea masala at trace for mild stink, and it worked tolerably well. I'm not too worried if any of the ginger's odor will remain; i just want to make sure it won't mess things up, chemically. It'd be nice if any of the benefits I'm imagining remained intact, too.

As for the OJ, seems like most ppl are using some sweet orange oil, and not to criticize others, but that's the sort of thing that got me into soaping to begin with-- to avoid buying stuff like that, when less-modified stuff is readily available. I was thinking of using OJ instead of water when i make my lye. I'm thinking that this might cause things to go ape-shhh, mixing an acid with a base like that, so i wanted to get some advice/feedback before i tried it.

I thank you all, in advance, for opinions and hints.

-rob

ps- last batch was much easier to cut up than the early ones. i credit this to some superfatting and more careful measurement of ingredients, all of which i learned about right here on this forum. thanks again

 

[rob]

ps again: Sorry for the crazy long post, and this last-minute addendum. Assuming that some soap with OO and CO could be made with OJ as the liquids and with a load of powdered ginger thrown in at trace, what color do y'all reckon it'd be? Like, velveeta?

-rob

 

[NatureandNurture]

I'm by no means an expert, but I wouldn't use OJ as the liquid, because of the acid aspect. It seems to me your lye would be busy reacting with the acidic OJ rather than the oils. However, adding some at the trace would probably work alright. I know some people have added tomato at the trace, and that's an acid too.

 

[rob]

thanks. that makes total sense to me. i guess the question now is, how much at to add at trace?

-rob

 

[Guest]

ps again: Sorry for the crazy long post, and this last-minute addendum. Assuming that some soap with OO and CO could be made with OJ as the liquids and with a load of powdered ginger thrown in at trace, what color do y'all reckon it'd be? Like, velveeta?

-rob

You'll be lucky if you get soap.
If you get soap -- it will be brown (with time).

 

[JenniferSews]

You'll be lucky if you get soap.
If you get soap -- it will be brown (with time).

I don't know for sure, but I tend to agree with this. I would be afraid the remaining lye would turn the OJ brown right away, or the acid in it would neutralize it and it would mess up the reaction. Maybe try it with a small batch and see what happens? You could be pleasantly surprised.

 

[rob]

You'll be lucky if you get soap.
If you get soap -- it will be brown (with time).

Really?
OK, so anytime that folks make orange soap, they're just using FO or something? I know ppl make soap with tomatoes, which are quite acidic. And, tomato soap tends to be orange. An ideas of other was to use orange? mabe grate some zest up, and add it at trace?

thanks for the advice.

-rob