May I kneel before your sage like wisdom once more?

[boyago]

So I made this soap and tried my first swirly gig. It was a soap that was really born from boredom. I'm wondering where all this brown came from. I'm suspecting it was the kept and or the effect of the EOs. Here is the recipe and what I did.
H2O 760g
NaOH 275.144

Olive Oil 500g
Rice Bran Oil 500g
Coconut Oil 500g
Cocoa Butter 300g
Castor Oil 200g

The batch was mixed to emulsion and split 1/2 got 2Tbs of Kelp powder the 1/2 got 2Tbs of powdered oatmeal. I also added about 84g of EOs a mix of lavender, frankincense, and ylang ylang. This was thrown in about 1/2 in each 1/2 before mixing. I then poured the oatmeal half into the kelp 1/2 at 6 points then a little swirl in the pot and poured into vert molds.

I thought the kelp would give me green but this soap shows only brown. Just currious if you think it is the kelp that went so brown or maybe the EOs separated and one of them makes more brown??

 

[seven]

I got no idea, but just maybe (if memory serves me right), the frankincense helped to contribute for this? I've only soaped frankin fo (not eo), and i remember the color was quite dark, and there was a warning from the supplier that it'll discolor the soap. I hope i didn't get this mix up with another fo, my memory is a bit pathetic.. And the one time i used it, it was a wine soap, so the dark brown was already there anyway...

 

[Obsidian]

frankincense Eo or FO?

 

[boyago]

frankincense Eo or FO?

All EOs all Essential Depots brand.

 

[mel z]

Hmmmm. Maybe the blue swirl in the picture is your kelp. (Pics don't always show actual color, and it looks blue to me...)

What temp did you throw in the kelp?

What temp with the frankincense? Did you buy that as the tree gum tears and make your own or as an EO or FO?

I think the frank is the brown, and the kelp is the blue/green, and it turned out just like that. YMMV

 

[savonierre]

I think you need to use more kelp to get a true green..

 

[boyago]

Hmmmm. Maybe the blue swirl in the picture is your kelp. (Pics don't always show actual color, and it looks blue to me...)

What temp did you throw in the kelp?

What temp with the frankincense? Did you buy that as the tree gum tears and make your own or as an EO or FO?

I think the frank is the brown, and the kelp is the blue/green, and it turned out just like that. YMMV

That pic must have come through very off for you. It's brown and a very light cream. All temps were just above room temp.

 

[Obsidian]

It looks kinda greenish and brown to me too. It possible the kelp turned brown, I've seen other green plant matter turn like that. I've use powdered spirulina with good results. It was a nice bright green that faded into a softer but still nice green.

 

[boyago]

And then there is this. I always pour a portion into a small yogurt cup. I used to do this to give me a rough idea what was happening in the mold and have a piece of the soap I poke and prod if I was curious about things. I later realized that this didn't really work since the mass and surface areas of the soaps were so different. But have been doing it anyway cause I still like to poke and prod and have a little reference. Anyhoot so I ran across my yogurt cup sample piece and check it out.

I am assuming the soap in the original post reached a full gel and this one did not gel at all. I also knew that the color difference between gel and non was there. But could it bee this much?

***
Not really knowing the ins and outs of the gel v non and color and effect on the soap (I kind of think I know what's going on but am really just making assumptions) I have thrown a piece of this into the oven to see what happens. My oven is pretty crumby so have been switching it on and off for the past hour.

 

[paillo]

Kelp powder in French green clay salt bars turned brown on me. And they're a little scratchy too. They make great gardener's soaps, though...

 

[boyago]

I think you need to use more kelp to get a true green..

How much would you suggest. This was about 2Tbs/kg of the side I used the kelp on.

Kelp powder in French green clay salt bars turned brown on me. And they're a little scratchy too. They make great gardener's soaps, though...

I got mine from Essential Wholesale and it's really fine. Almost moves like liquid. You would definitely feel the salt before this powder.

 

[paillo]

And I stand corrected. Went back and checked my ingredients, and I hadn't used kelp powder, it was green tea extract powder. I'll have to try the kelp!

 

[boyago]

YAY! Experiments... YAY!

Here are the pics. The first pic is the three together. The next pic is the gelled in the mold soap, then the non gelled soap and finally the non gelled then baked soap. The final non gelled and baked soap definitely looks the coolest.
BTW the second and third pics are the same soap from the same poor the third pic is a pic of soap cut from the second, baked and then cut again just enough to shave the surface that became kind of like a dull skin.