Natural colorants from grocery/health stores

[lenarenee]

Since I can't make soap for two more days, the second best thing is to plan some soap recipes!
(I'm going to have to place an order for oxides or something online....but that's going to take too late for this weekend's soaping)
So, what natural colorants can I find in a grocery or Vitamin Shoppe, etc?
I love green btw.
I see people make a lot of coffee soap....how about tea?
I'm dreaming of a green, rustic HP soap...maybe with tea in it.

Also planning a nice smooth CP hard bar, with shea and mango added to a palm/coconut hard bar recipe. Uncscented. I want a beautiful hard, pure looking soap that smells like....clean soap!

Also, I have a pine eo, and a fir eo and don't have a clue what to do with them (was supposed to sprinkle on a fake Christmas tree, but they smelled too medicinal)

Anybody have an idea how to mix them? (I love Christmas tree scent, but can't find a good one)

I'm rambling. I want to make soap, but will be homeschooling for the next two days, and I feel.....itchy. I play with SoapCalc for fun and entertainment!

What have you people done to me???:crazy:

 

[Obsidian]

I've used tea, it was a dark roast of grains and it made a nice rich tan colored bar. Green tea would make a pale creamy color or maybe tan.

Some natural colors I've used before:
paprika- peachy to orange depends on how much used
Turmeric- yellowy gold
Powdered parsley- pale green, it can be scratchy if not super fine
spirulina- a nice medium green, fades to a lighter green in time
madder root- strawberry pink to deep maroon

 

[soap_rat]

My favorite pine-y scent is balsam, I think the latin is Abies balsamea, or balsamina... anyway, if you have a health food store there may be an EO display you can check out, I think that's how I discovered balsam While those EOs in tiny bottles are expensive, the display saved me from ordering a few EOs I didn't like (and I did buy those tiny bottles when starting out!)

 

[tweetibyrd]

check out these links
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapmakingbasics/a/natcolors.htm

and http://farmerrachel.hubpages.com/hu...ts-How-to-Color-Your-Home-Made-Soap-Naturally

 

[Lin]

I used celery herb to get a nice green. I infused it in oil and then used the oil. I ended up with a pale green, but if I had infused say all of the oil I'm sure I would have gotten a bright green. I've also used infused basil for green, but it was more of a tan-ish green. The one from the celery was really gorgeous, I wish I had taken a photo of the infused oil. I'll probably do it again some time.

 

[OliveOil2]

Parsley or spirulina will give you a green, I'm not sure if either will fade with time. You could also find activated charcoal at the health food store, and I think the peel on the cucumber adds some green, not positive since I also added oxide.

 

[Dennis]

Green is a fave of mine also. One of my favorite fragrances is Spruce Christmas Tree from Peak. The first pic had Spruce Christmas Tree in it. It is a regularly used fragrance now.
Mix and match, use a little, use a lot, and there are all sorts of greenies to be had. Then there is teal. A little goes a long way for me.

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[seven]

^^^^
Love the greens!

Yes on spirulina, it produce a nice light green shade for me.

Green tea, i've only used powdered so far and it produce a yucky, unpleasant brown. Not a fan of green tea for soaping. The nice light green shade is totally gone. Zilch. Nil.

I like dove fo for a nice, fresh, soapy scent.

 

[Candybee]

I've used fresh aloe and avocado and got green soap. The avocado is more of a pale olive (browninsh) green like the color of avocado flesh. The freshly pureed aloe is a lovely spring green but you will need at least 2 aloe leaves to make about 4 oz of juice. I use aloe for part of my liquid and add to my batter after adding my lye. Make sure you use real aloe for the green, not the aloe juice sold in the health food store. The bottled aloe juice is not green.

 

[ilovesoap2]

Someone mentioned annatto in another thread (may only be one n) but I've not been able to find it in my grocery store.

 

[clhigh29]

I like to CP, but have made an HP using tea and peppermint. The tea is an exfoliant, and I found it to be a bit to harsh for the shower. It does make a very enjoyable hand soap. I haven't experimented yet with natural colorants, but I have thought about chlorophyll from the health food store. You can buy regular or mint, and it's a very dense green. I wonder if anyone has tried it. I used the Christmas Forest fragrance from Brambleberry, and my family really like it.

 

[green soap]

Someone mentioned annatto in another thread (may only be one n) but I've not been able to find it in my grocery store.

Infused anatto seed is a powerful colorant that gets you from pale yellow to orange. Look for it in stores that sell Caribbean and latin food items. You can find it in seed form or powdered form, which could be more convenient.

 

[green soap]

I have not responded on the green, since my main source of green is indigo, and this is not found in the grocery store.

Recently I started adding pureed sea kelp to soap, and it seems to add green but I an unsure how much since I also used indigo on those soaps. I have a soap planned that will use it just by itself, so I'll post if it is a nice green.

The green in the soaps below is from a blend of indigo and infused annatto.

 

[ilovesoap2]

Infused anatto seed is a powerful colorant that gets you from pale yellow to orange. Look for it in stores that sell Caribbean and latin food items. You can find it in seed form or powdered form, which could be more convenient.

Thanks green soap. I have Latin/Spanish stores in my are so will be checking them out.

I have 2 quick questions though...
I use henna and indigo in my hair. Is that what you're talking about?
Also do you find these colors to be stable over long periods? TIA

 

[green soap]

Thanks green soap. I have Latin/Spanish stores in my are so will be checking them out.

I have 2 quick questions though...
I use henna and indigo in my hair. Is that what you're talking about?
Also do you find these colors to be stable over long periods? TIA

Not sure about henna, perhaps someone else here has experimented with it. The indigo I use is the same colorant one would use to dye cotton twill to make blue jeans. It is also used in Celtic body painting.

I have found annatto and indigo to be fairly stable but I keep all my soaps out of strong light. Infused paprika fades rather fast as well as accelerate trace.

 

[green soap]

Forgot to say, annato is also called 'achiote', depending on the flavor of latin.

 

[ilovesoap2]

Thank you green soap. I think the indigo is same I use in my hair. They use the henna for body painting also. They both stain skin pretty good though so I'll definitely try them and see how they react in soap.

 

[green soap]

My indigo needs to be dissolved in the lye water BEFORE the lye is added, in order for it to work at all.

 

[lenarenee]

I've used fresh aloe and avocado and got green soap. The avocado is more of a pale olive (browninsh) green like the color of avocado flesh. The freshly pureed aloe is a lovely spring green but you will need at least 2 aloe leaves to make about 4 oz of juice. I use aloe for part of my liquid and add to my batter after adding my lye. Make sure you use real aloe for the green, not the aloe juice sold in the health food store. The bottled aloe juice is not green.

Candybee, It sounds like you simply pureed some aloe plant in a blender? "skin" and all?? Did you use that 4 oz to replace some of the water in your batch?

 

[Candybee]

Candybee, It sounds like you simply pureed some aloe plant in a blender? "skin" and all?? Did you use that 4 oz to replace some of the water in your batch?

Let me clarify. I first put the whole aloe leaf in my juicer. It strains the leaf and gives me only the juice. I then add the juice directly to my soap batter. Some people add a little citric acid or lemon juice to their aloe. But I find I don't need it when making freshly pureed aloe. It is a lovely green.

For avocado I take the flesh out and puree that in my blender. I usually put in a liquid in with the avocado to thin it out. You can use whatever liquid you want to put in your soap; milk, aloe juice, water, etc. HTH