Coloring natural soap can be done using a variety of natural ingredients that not only impart color but also offer added skin benefits. Here are some popular natural colorants for soap making:
1. Clays- French Green Clay: Gives a soft green color. Good for detoxifying and oily skin.
- Rose Clay: Provides a pink to rose color, suitable for sensitive skin.
- Bentonite Clay: Adds a light greyish hue and is excellent for oily skin.
- Purple Clay: It add a really nice purple color to your soap, the intensity will depend of quantity added to the batch. It is Anti-aging, ensuring healthy skin cells, which can make you look younger.
- Turmeric: Imparts a warm yellow to orange hue and has anti-inflammatory properties.
- Spirulina: A deep green from this algae, known for its antioxidant benefits.
- Alkanet Root Powder: Provides shades from lavender to purple.
- Madder Root: Gives a range of colors from pink to red, depending on concentration.
- Indigo Blue: Gives a light blue or dark depending of the quantity added to the batch.
- Paprika: Offers a rich orange to red color.
- Cinnamon: Provides a warm brown hue and adds a subtle scent.
- Carrot Powder: Yields a yellow to orange color, rich in beta-carotene.
- Beetroot Powder: Gives a vibrant pink or red, but can fade over time.
- Pumpkin Powder: Adds a soft orange hue and is rich in vitamins.
- Cocoa powder: Gives a brown chocolate color,
- Activated Charcoal: Produces a deep black or gray color and is excellent for detoxifying soaps
6. Plant-Based Liquids ( I recommend to use liquids and infusions when you have already made a few batches of soap as it can be a bit complex at the beginning
Cucumber Juice: Gives a soft green color and is soothing for the skin.
Coffee: Offers a brown color with mild exfoliating properties from the grounds.
Carrot Juice: Provides a yellow to orange color.
7. Infusions
Calendula Petals: Infuse in oil to get a soft yellow color.
Annatto Seeds: Infuse in oil for a bright yellow to orange color.
- Always test small batches to see how the color develops in your specific soap recipe.
- Some natural colors can fade over time or change during the soap-making process (saponification), so it’s important to account for this.
- The amount of colorant used will impact the intensity of the color, so adjust accordingly based on your desired outcome.
- One way of doing it is adding the color a light trace, and adjusting from there depending on your desired shade
Using natural colorants in soap not only adds beautiful, earthy tones but also enhances the overall skin benefits of the soap.
Where can I find soap colorants ?
You can find some of these colors, in your local health shop, supermarkets or even online shops like Amazon.