Kelp in Soap

[melonie]

Hi Everyone,

Has anybody used kelp as a colorant in soaps? I just came across a recipe on this site that used kelp. Where would I go to buy kelp? Would I have to grind it up into powder form? Is this the same as Nori that people use to make sushi with? I'm very interested to know . Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Have a fantastic day,

Melonie

 

[reallyrita]

Hi, Meloni: I believe that Nori and kelp may be the same thing.I made a soap with it last summer. I just took a sheet of it and tore it up in small bits with my fingers. It sort of crumbles. I only used about a rounded tsp. in a one lb. batch of soap. I have one bar left and it has just now turned brown. The nori, that is, not the whole soap. The pieces did not discolor the surrounding soap. I do not think it added much to the soap except for looks.It was not exfoliating but then I did not add much.
have fun....

 

[surf girl]

I know others have used dried kelp. As I recall, it turned brown and, in some cases, gave the soap an undesirable smell.

I used fresh kelp from my local beach in one batch and it was hilarious. This was my swap soap, which turned out really well to my immense relief. Why I experiment with new stuff when the final product matters, I don't know. Anyhow, when I tried blenderizing a strand of the kelp and it didn't go so well, so I had the brilliant idea of adding some of my oil to it. It ended up being this weird gelatinous goo. ACK! It made for a pretty nice soap, ultimately. I don't know how much the kelp contributed, but it was very funny stuff to work with.

 

[reallyrita]

I should have added that I did not use the Nori to color the whole soap. I just used little crumbled pieces of it as a decorative feature in the soap. The flakes are super light of course, and they did not sink to the bottom of the mold but stayed nicely dispersed throughout and the color has held for nearly 8 months. In the one bar I have left, it looks as if the nori is slightly turning brown...nothing disgusting looking. I don't know about powdered nori...might be hard to incorporate and might give you specks.

 

[reallyrita]

Oh gosh, me again. I scented my soap with an FO at 1 ounce per lb. and I have never smelled any hint of fishy....but I used such a small amount of nori and it was dried nori.

 

[melonie]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for all of the information. Great stuff! So, Nori would work to give soaps a green color. I'll give it a try. I think it's interesting. Thanks again for your input.

Enjoy your day,

Melonie

 

[AshleyR]

I used fresh kelp from my local beach in one batch and it was hilarious. This was my swap soap, which turned out really well to my immense relief. Why I experiment with new stuff when the final product matters, I don't know. Anyhow, when I tried blenderizing a strand of the kelp and it didn't go so well, so I had the brilliant idea of adding some of my oil to it. It ended up being this weird gelatinous goo. ACK!

LOL, I will try not to think of that when I use your soap surf girl! Haha.

 

[surf girl]

I know It's kind of funny when you describe things as they are. "Gelatinous goo" is not quite as sexy as "sea kelp". And "worm cocoons" :shock: sounds nowhere near as nice as "silk". I wonder if the gelatinous goo doesn't add something a little slippery/creamy to the soap - I've made a few batches of the same recipe without the kelp, and it's slightly different.

 

[surf girl]

Oh, and I didn't comment on the colorant effect. The kelp was used in the portion of the soap that is off-white, and it didn't much affect the colour as far as I can tell. In the little round bits I made that didn't gel, it's more of a very pale green.

This is it:
.

 

[Lindy]

I used dried kelp in a soap quite a while ago and the soap smelled like fish - I ended up throwing it out....ick