new member - astyaloe

[astyaloe]

hi to all you soapers! I am new to soaping and will happily accept any advice.
I started soaping end April and have made only 5 small batches of soap to see how it is done! My aim is to make soap using fresh aloe vera gel because we have a plantation of aloe vera plants. I live on a tiny island in Greece and this means that it is very hard to get supplies locally. If anyone has advice about using fresh aloe in soaps I would love to hear from you. Many thanks

 

[Susie]

Hey and welcome to the forum!

 

[Kamahido]

Greetings and welcome to the addiction.

 

[lsg]

Welcome to the forum. I have used fresh aloe puree in my soap. It worked well. Just remember to deduct the weight of the puree from the water or liquid used to dissolve the lye.

 

[Soapprentice]

Hello.. welcome to the forum...

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome, Astyaloe! :wave:


IrishLass

 

[Saranac]

Welcome!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Hi astyaloe! How wonderful to be surrounded with aloe plants. Have you tried using the fresh gel to make your lye solution? I have so many aloes, that's on my list of things to do. On another note, my daughter spent 4 months on one of the Greek islands... I can't remember which one, but it wasn't Santorini. They had a tradition there of having a drink on the veranda to watch the sunset. O! Then there's that Greek wedding dance where the guests form a circle. I can hear the music now... starts slow and then slowly heats up to a fever pitch. The one thing that separates Greek men from American men is how they love to dance!!!

 

[astyaloe]

I tried freezing the aloe puree as ice cubes so that when I added the lye the temperature didn't go too high but this was not so successful the mixture was very lumpy. My next attempt I reduced the water in the lye mix and added the aloe puree just after adding and stirring the lye mix to the oils. I stirred more than stick blended because I was afraid it would go to trace very fast, this happened on an earlier attempt and I almost didn't get the batter in the mold in time!

 

[WeaversPort]

Welcome! I don't know very much about using aloe, but I'm happy to have you here.

I did find a few different recipes using aloe. Who knows, maybe you can find some useful information in them!

Lovin' Soap blog:
http://www.lovinsoap.com/2016/03/aloe-vera-soap-lavender-mint-pot-soap-swirl/

Soap Recipes 101:
http://www.soaprecipes101.com/homemade-soap-recipes/aloe-vera-soap-recipe/

Soap Queen:
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-...t-oil-soap-with-aloe-vera-and-a-mantra-swirl/

:bunny:

 

[astyaloe]

Thank you so much, I will try the lavender mint recipe first I think and report back with how it goes using fresh aloe gel.
Does anyone know how I can colour using natural or vegetable dyes? Firstly because I want natural soap and secondly I can't get the micas here in Greece!
I am so happy I joined the SMF, it is so great to have encouraging, helpful people to approach with my questions, thank you.

 

[Cellador]

Welcome!

 

[WeaversPort]

Thank you so much, I will try the lavender mint recipe first I think and report back with how it goes using fresh aloe gel.
Does anyone know how I can colour using natural or vegetable dyes? Firstly because I want natural soap and secondly I can't get the micas here in Greece!
I am so happy I joined the SMF, it is so great to have encouraging, helpful people to approach with my questions, thank you.

I look forward to hearing how it goes!!

While there are all sorts of opinions regarding what natural means, there is no arguing for using what you have! With plant colorant you're definitely going to need to be aware of what fragrances discolor, so you can be aware of it (or know to only fragrance part of the batch).

Here are some nice places to learn about plant and mineral colorants:

http://www.modernsoapmaking.com/join-jo-coloring-soap-naturally/

http://www.lovinsoap.com/2011/07/natural-soap-colorants-gallery-spice-and-herbal-powders-at-trace/

http://www.lovinsoap.com/2017/02/natural-soap-colorants-cold-process-soap/

The author of Lovin' Soap uses a lot of natural color in her recipes; coffee, sea muds, etc. She's one of my favorite resources for that kind of inspiration. Plus the money she gets from her classes and books goes to a good cause.

 

[astyaloe]

If you add lye to fresh aloe vera juice, first of all it discolours but more importantly the heat destroys some of the properties of the aloe.
This is why I tried the first time with aloe ice cubes but that discoloured too and went very lumpy before the lye mixture went anywhere near the oils!!! My next attempt I decided to mix the lye with 1/3 water of the liquid allowance and add the other 2/3 aloe vera fresh puree after all the ingredients were at room temp and I mixed first lye mix into the oils and then the puree into the batter. I was very careful not to stickblend too much because it comes to trace very fast. If anyone has tried this or can advise a different approach I would be grateful. I think I am addicted already...I want to get this aloe vera soap perfect...eventually!

 

[Alanatt]

Hi,
I'm in Trinidad and Tobago and we also have a lot of aloe. I'm going to try my first aloe soap tomorrow. Was a bit scared at first but doing the prep now so hopefully it goes well. (Wish me luck). I read that you can grind the skin and get another juice called Aloin (may have spelt that wrong) its bad for ingestion but great for the skin. Think I'll do one with pulp only one with skin only and one with pulp and skin.

 

[SaltedFig]

Welcome aboard and what a wonderful project!

I look forward to hearing how your experiments go (and maybe seeing some pictures!). I wonder if hot processing some soap and adding a bit of aloe pulp at the end might help retain some of the properties?

My neighbours come from Mikanos (which is about 100km from you?), and we trade fruit and vegetables and seeds, but I've never thought of giving them an aloe plant! Thank-you ... I'll give that as an extra Christmas present ... and Merry Christmas to you too!

 

[Alanatt]

i do mainly hot process but thought i could only do this cp, you gave me a great idea. Thanks will try it

 

[Relle]

Welcome aboard and what a wonderful project!

I look forward to hearing how your experiments go (and maybe seeing some pictures!). I wonder if hot processing some soap and adding a bit of aloe pulp at the end might help retain some of the properties?

My neighbours come from Mikanos (which is about 100km from you?), and we trade fruit and vegetables and seeds, but I've never thought of giving them an aloe plant! Thank-you ... I'll give that as an extra Christmas present ... and Merry Christmas to you too!

Salted Fig,- Astyloe has not been in here for 3 months, so not sure of they will see your post. This post was from the 5th month.

 

[Alanatt]

oh ok