Yucky colour!

[La Bamba]

Hi everyone
I made some garden mint CP soap this morning. The recipe called for mint leaves to be steeped in hot water for 30 mins.
All is fine and dandy until I add the lye to the water which promptly when a rich chestnut colour. (I'm trying to make it sound aesthetically pleasing; trust me, it was not)
I went ahead and added it to my oils, hoping that the addition of French green clay would salvage it.
I now have a beautifully fragranced loaf of solidified diarrhoea.
What went wrong?!
What can I do with my vile looking loaf of poop, apart from chucking it.

All advice gratefully received

 

[Obsidian]

You didn't do anything wrong. Most botanicals will turn brown in soap, the majority of soapers stop using them due to that fact.

Not much you can do for the color short of rebatching it and making it dark brown and honestly, it would probably be worse.

 

[La Bamba]

Thanks for your reply - lesson learnt!

 

[shunt2011]

Typical behavior for botanicals. You did nothing wrong. If you don't mind brown soap or if adding botanical into the soap they sometimes look like mouse poo. It's all personal preference. I prefer not to. Calendula is pretty in soap though. I haven't used it other than infused in years though.

 

[Kari Howie]

Maybe you could drill a hole through near an end, thread a piece of heavy twine through, and give it a masculine name. Also, try beveling the edges to focus on the shape and downplay the color. I had to do this recently with some brown soap that I made.

 

[La Bamba]

Maybe you could drill a hole through near an end, thread a piece of heavy twine through, and give it a masculine name. Also, try beveling the edges to focus on the shape and downplay the color. I had to do this recently with some brown soap that I made.

Yep, I was thinking of marketing it to men!

 

[dixiedragon]

You could also cut it into chunks and shred it, and mix it with some new soap that you color green. Picture please? I think I would rebatch it and mix it with some coffee grounds and call it Mint Coffee Scrub soap.

 

[Dawni]

How bad is it? Is it as bad as this one? Haha

Natural colors tend to fade, some more quickly than others. If you like the recipe you used, and the scent, leave it alone and see if you like it after a couple of months and a slight color change. You never know...

 

[GML]

Yep, I was thinking of marketing it to men!

Do you think that us men want to use soap that looks like poop?

 

[jcandleattic]

Do you think that us men want to use soap that looks like poop?

We just think men are not as picky about the color of soap as some/most women. LOL
That's all!

 

[DeeAnna]

Do you think that us men want to use soap that looks like poop?

Hey, look at the bright side. Instead of talking about brown soap that reminds people of poo, we could be talking about soap with lavender buds on top that really, honestly do look like real poo from real mice. https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/lavendar-buds-in-cold-process.77782/#post-808299

 

[KiwiMoose]

You lot are hilarious!

 

[sirtim100]

Do you think that us men want to use soap that looks like poop?

Typical female thinking. Just because we have no dress sense and don't know what the colour "lilac" looks like, and don't coordinate our socks with our underpants, and are capable of using washing up liquid to wash our hair, and don't know how to match pillows and bedspreads, women think we are willing to buy poop coloured soap...

Now, if you cut it into little curvy shapes that look like what Fido leaves on the pavement when you take him out for a walk, we men (or at least this one) would buy it in batches and sell it to our male friends, solely to provoke screams of disgust and horror from wives, girlfriend, mothers, sisters, nieces, etc...

 

[GML]

Typical female thinking. Just because we have no dress sense and don't know what the colour "lilac" looks like, and don't coordinate our socks with our underpants, and are capable of using washing up liquid to wash our hair, and don't know how to match pillows and bedspreads, women think we are willing to buy poop coloured soap...

Now, if you cut it into little curvy shapes that look like what Fido leaves on the pavement when you take him out for a walk, we men (or at least this one) would buy it in batches and sell it to our male friends, solely to provoke screams of disgust and horror from wives, girlfriend, mothers, sisters, nieces, etc...

Well I was thinking the rope idea would be nice...if you're in prison.

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

Don't toss it. Even ugly soap still gets you clean.

 

[Relle]

Yep, I was thinking of marketing it to men!

Use this soap yourself.
Please don't market this soap to anyone, as you only made your first soap on 7th Nov, you need more practice.

 

[La Bamba]

How bad is it? Is it as bad as this one? Haha

Natural colors tend to fade, some more quickly than others. If you like the recipe you used, and the scent, leave it alone and see if you like it after a couple of months and a slight color change. You never know...

Crikey!

No, it's not "quite" that bad, but bad enough!
It's fading a bit but it still looks yucky. it smells lovely though.

I think I'm going to colour my mint soaps with one of the ultramarines in future!

Use this soap yourself.
Please don't market this soap to anyone, as you only made your first soap on 7th Nov, you need more practice.

That's a fair point, but since November I've made over 100 batches, all of which have been safety assessed.
I've been busy!

Typical female thinking. Just because we have no dress sense and don't know what the colour "lilac" looks like, and don't coordinate our socks with our underpants, and are capable of using washing up liquid to wash our hair, and don't know how to match pillows and bedspreads, women think we are willing to buy poop coloured soap...

Now, if you cut it into little curvy shapes that look like what Fido leaves on the pavement when you take him out for a walk, we men (or at least this one) would buy it in batches and sell it to our male friends, solely to provoke screams of disgust and horror from wives, girlfriend, mothers, sisters, nieces, etc...

hahahahahaha!

 

[LilyJo]

Seriously, you have paid for 100 safety assessments since November? Omg that's crazy!

 

[La Bamba]

Seriously, you have paid for 100 safety assessments since November? Omg that's crazy!

Oh no! You can submit one basic formula and 8 variants on the one safety assessment!

 

[LilyJo]

Yes but if that's 100 variations its still ten assessments at £200 min each - check of an investment in a new product!!