Natural colorant (Spirulina) fading. Suggestions?

[Thistleberryhill]

So I love love love everything about this soap except that it fades pretty quickly.
It's a Lemongrass and Litsea Soap with a touch of Cedarwood, Organic Cucumber, VT Goats Milk and Spirulina swirls. I will try to upload pics here so you can see a side by side comparison but it's the same exact soap, the beige one was made on January 5, 2015 and the brightly swirled one was made yesterday and cut today. Wondering if I went really heavy on the Spirulina if it would have any chance of sticking? Even the cucumber color has faded out.

 

[dixiedragon]

I've got some Spirulina soap I made in November and it's still green. I will snap a pic when I get home. I did go pretty heavy on the green.

This batch is the only time I have used spirulina. I had a lye mishap - a significant portion of the lye did not dissolve and formed a cake at the bottom of the picture. I did not realize this until I had poured in the lye water. I added a bit more like to some water and added that to the soap, but it still had a very high superfat. It is still oily feeling and I'm going to shred it for confetti soap soon. I am wondering if the low amount of lye preserved the color?

BTW, I got my spirulina from Nature's Garden.

 

[Thistleberryhill]

This Spirulina is from WSP I wonder if I need to really double up? But even the cucumber color is faded. This is in a little front room that I put material over the windows so it's not in direct light. Wondering if I need to close the door to my little soap room so it gets zero light as in the day it gets indirect light from the adjoining room. But I like having the door open because it smells so nice and well....soap to look at

 

[Obsidian]

My spirulina soap stays green if I store it in the dark. To see how fast light really fades the color, put one of your fresh bars in a sunny spot for a few hours then compare the difference.
All the natural green colorants I've tried fade, maybe a green clay would stick better but its not a vivid green.

 

[Thistleberryhill]

Ok off to find a box. Will that circulate enough air while they are curing or should I poke holes in the box? I have an order to ship out 30 of these and want to send them with color.

 

[newbie]

The problem is that even if you store it in the dark to keep it green for you, the person who receives it is not likely to do that and they will be looking at your soap fading in front of their eyes. Some people might not be too keen on that because they will also assume something about the quality of your soap itself is fading away as well. I would send out the beige batch so there are no disappointments and not sell the green ones until you figure it out. Just thinking as a customer!