Natural colorants for kids soap

[seven]

I have a few lego man and lego brick molds that are too cute to pass on.. so, i'm thinking of making a bastile for kids soap.

i want to make it as natural as possible, w/o artificial colors/scents, what do you think are good candidates for natural colorants?

so far, i think carrot puree and red palm oil would be fine to make a nice yellow. what about turmeric, paprika, parsley, spirulina (oil infused)? do you think it's okay to use herbs for this kind of soap?

any input appreciated

 

[Seawolfe]

Carrot juice or puree makes a nice bright orange - I've seen a lovely orange that was carrot baby food and a bit of paprika infused, I've used carrot juice to good effect. Annatto infusion makes a good bright yellow, and indigo will give you a solid blue. But I'm stumped for natural colorants for a bright primary red, closest I can think is madder root, but its more bricky red, which might be ok.
I think its spirulina that makes a pretty green, but I've never tried it. I've always wanted to try annatto and indigo for a green - that might be an option.

 

[Obsidian]

I've use spirulina powder but not the infusion. It makes a nice bright green but it does fade some with time. Madder root makes a watermelon pink for me, maybe adding some red clay or charcoal would give a decent reddish color.

 

[seven]

thanks guys... i'm more concerned about the safety of those ingredients on a young skin. pretty sure those herbs mentioned above are waaayy better than artificial colorants in commercial children soaps, right?

 

[Obsidian]

I don't see any of those herbs being hard on skin. Anything with more volatile oils like mint or rosemary might be irritating but would have to be used in large amounts.
I'd probably use annatto or red palm for yellow/orange & spirulina for green. The one time I used paprika it made a peach color, pretty but not quite what I wanted. I've not used indigo or alkanet but I'd try them for blues/purples. You might be out of luck for red.

 

[green soap]

The yellows are all from ground calendula petals, greens from indigo and/or calendula, purple from infused alkanet root. Some also use rose clay and bentonite clay.

 

[Saponista]

The spiral one green has a tendency to fade, so I think you would be better off trying a mix of indigo and a natty as suggested above to get that lovely Lego green.

 

[Saponista]

*spirulina* stupid autocorrect

 

[CaraBou]

You might avoid using paprika in a child's soap since it is a member of the chili pepper family and can be an irritant. I have made/used paprika soap without any problems, but who knows with young sensitive skin. You should also look into turmeric more; there is info to suggest that using it topically can cause skin irritation as well.

Carrot puree would be awesome; I would not hesitate on this. For a deeper orange color, use (or supplement the puree with) beta carotene / Vit A capsules, as this is the concentrated substance that gives carrots their color. Parsley should be fine too, but if you add too much/too large dried flakes directly to the batter it can be scratchy.

Your lego molds sound cool, can't wait to see the soaps when you are done.