You've learned how to make a creamy white soap that is better than any soap you can buy. It's wonderfully moisturizing, has loads of silky lather, actually nourishes the skin with natural ingredients instead of coating it with petroleum derivatives and other chemicals, and is gentle enough to use on newborn skin. This is what I consider my "basic soap" formula. There are endless ways to use this basic recipe to create all kinds of wonderful soaps. One of the first ways most folks seem to want to try is coloring their soap and giving it all those wonderful scents.
You can see how the door to creativity begins to swing wide! You can color your soaps with the soft, subtle tones imparted by herbs, or get brighter colors by using minerals. You can even use FDA-approved synthetic dyes to make your soap neon-bright! And, you can easily learn to swirl different colors together, or pour them in layers to create cameo effects.
Learning to use herbs to color your soaps is quite challenging. An enormous range of colors is possible. Herbal colors are soft, with the familiar tones of nature. Herbs often lend aroma, as well. However, many herbal colorants are unpredictable in soap. They may be pH-sensitive, morphing to unexpected (and nearly always disappointing) hues, or fading away altogether. Colors in the yellow-to-green range are generally stable, and a broad range of golds, yellows, oranges, tans, and greens is relatively easy to achieve. Colors in the red-to-blue range are the ones that are elusive. After two years of trying I've perfected a way to make my lavender soap purple, but it's so complicated that I hardly ever bother. Most pinks are pH-sensitive and morph to gray or mud. Beet root can give you some lovely pinks, but because of the pH issue is difficult to predict. Madder root does remain stable in the lye solution and gives very nice pink and light red. Almost anything with chlorophyll can be used for green. Cucumbers give a lovely light green. Carrots will make your soap orange, and pumpkin will make it, well, pumpkin-colored. Many different materials give handsome browns and tans. Turmeric is a great golden-yellow. Calendula is a light yellow. A little activated charcoal will make your soap as black as Dick Cheney's heart. Milk soaps are generally tan, although there are ways to lighten them somewhat.
Oxides are minerals that can be used for more brilliant colors. Ultramarines give a range of blues, greens and reds. Iron oxide can be used for reds, oranges and yellows. Micropulverized micas add shimmer and pearlescence, and come either clear or in a range of colors.
Synthetic dyes can give your products any color you want. These have to be certified by the government for safety, and how much you trust that is up to you. I've seen brilliantly- colored soaps that really made me wonder how they got that way. Swirling colors and pouring cameos are just a few of the ways you can use colors to make your soaps original.
Scents are almost seen as necessary in soapmaking. I don't agree, but the fact is that most people want their soap to smell wonderful. There are a few ways to accomplish this. Since I work with herbs and natural ingredients only, I try to be sensitive to the subtle aromas that the herbs themselves lend to the soap. Ingredients like powdered oats or chamomile, beeswax, lavender blossoms or rose petals don't smell strong, but their scent is better than any synthetic add-ons, and it's a shame to drown them out. For stronger scents, your options are essential oils (EOs) and fragrance oils (FOs). EOs are natural, concentrated essences that are produced from a wide variety of plants. FOs are synthetic products made in the laboratory. Each has their
pluses and minuses.
Essential oils are powerful botanical concentrates, many of which have properties that make them useful in all kinds of products from soaps to medicines. Many EOs are antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and some even seem to help damaged tissue to regenerate. In addition, many have wonderful smells, and indeed these plant essences are the origin of the perfumer's art. EOs are essential to aromatherapy. Many wonderful blends are possible, with smells that are uplifting, or sensual, invigorating, or calming. While some oils are more or less safe to use fairly freely in a wash-off product like soap, it's important to remember that others are known irritants and that severe skin reactions and even serious illness have been known to occur from
overexposure to botanicals. Sudden sensitivity to sunlight is another common side effect of some oils. It is the responsibility of those who use essential oils to know their properties and to use them wisely and with full disclosure. EOs will tend to lose their scent over time, often in just a couple months.
Fragrance oils are available in practically any scent you can name. You can buy FOs to mimic any fruit, flower or vegetable, and all the major perfume labels. You can buy fragrance oils that smell like ocean fog or clean linens. You can get chocolate or puppy breath. Cranking out chemicals that mimic smells is a huge industry. FOs generally last longer than EOs. Many FOs bring on a very rapid trace, even causing the soap to seize in the pot. In this as in the quality and life of the scent, FOs may vary considerably between suppliers, so
it's a good idea to consult other soapers to find out their favorite sources. FOs are supposedly safe to use on the skin, and I am not aware of any horror stories that would indicate otherwise. In fact, it is the essential oils that have been the source of most of the adverser reactions that I've heard about. Nevertheless, I use EOs exclusively.
Using the many plant oils and/or animal products at his disposal, the soapmaker has a chance to play alchemist. Some oils, like avocado, are full of vitamins and antioxidants and literally nourish the skin while cleaning. Others simply impart a silky feel to the lather, and make bathing a more enjoyable experience. Some oils actually bring healing benefits that are of great help in addressing skin conditions from acne to eczema. There are additional ways to bring wonderful qualities to a bar of soap. And the queen of them all is learning to use herbs. Herbs bring color, aroma, and texture. They also contain compounds that can help the skin rebuild its vitality if it is damaged, and retain is healthy glow. Herbs can be grown, bought, or wildcrafted. If you buy herbs, try to obtain organically grown ones. Bought herbs are usually but not always dried.
If you grow your own herbs you can gather them at the best time, and use them either fresh or dried. Many of the same herbs that you use in the kitchen have properties that make them useful in soapmaking. In addition, many have lovely flowers that attract birds or butterflies to the garden.
Many herbs, such as plantain or dandelion, can be conveniently wildcrafted in many locations. Always gather herbs from a location that is as unpolluted as possible – never alongside the roadways! Make sure you harvest correctly, and that you are using sustainable methods. Avoid endangered plants.
There are several ways to bring the virtues of botanicals into your soap formulas. You can add dried and powdered herbs directly to the soap. This makes a scrubby feel which is pleasant and invigorating. Some herbs, like oats, are soft and gently scrub tender skin. Others, like eucalyptus or rosemary leaves, are hard and sharp, and tend to have sharp edges. These must be carefully powdered and sifted, or else the dried bits of leaf can actually cut the skin. With correct preparation, powdered herbs add color, texture and scent to the soap, in addition to their botanical properties. Oats are wonderful for soothing irritated skin. Rosemary invigorates hair follicles and is especially good for the scalp. Nettles are good for both the hair and the scalp, and contain minerals that may have benefits to the skin. Chamomile is soothing and smells delicious. Calendula blossoms are healing.
Herbs can also be used as infusions, either in water or in oil. I generally keep a liter of olive oil sitting up high, sitting for as long as three months with a few handfuls of calendula and other herbs. The oil absorbs the color from the herbal material as well as the compounds which are beneficial in other ways. Herbs I use this way include calendula, chamomile, fresh turmeric root, dandelion root, carrots, plantain, nettles and rosemary.
Besides oil, you can use herbs as a tea. Simply steep your herbs in the water you’ll be using to make the soap until you have a strong tea. Strain the plant material out and proceed normally. Some of the herbs I use this way are green tea, nettles, rosemary, calendula, chamomile, plantain, and seaweed.
You can, of course, combine all these methods. The magical qualities of herbs and the wonderful virtues of exotic oils combine in cold-process soap in ways that seem almost mystical to me. You can see that the possibilities are endless. I do find that the best formulas are the simplest. Adding too many ingredients to soap seems to muddy the waters, so I avoid the “kitchen sink” approach, preferring instead to work with a base soap and a combination of two or three herbs that will create the effect that I want.
Herbs are also used as colorants in soaps. Oil infused with alkanet or turmeric will take on a deep red or golden tone, which will change somewhat when it comes in contact with the lye water. Alkanet is especially entertaining to watch as it morphs through a series of colors over several days. Powdered herbs may be added directly to the lye water, or where they are known to be pH sensitive, their addition may be delayed until just before the soap is poured. Here’s a list of my favorite herbal colorants:
Muted reds, red-oranges, and red-browns – paprika, madder root, alkanet root, tomato, various clays
Yellows, gold and golden-orange – turmeric, calendula
Greens – cucumbers, chlorophyll, spinach, mint, green clay
Usually, the deeper the color, the healthier the fruit or vegetable. But it appears that there are exceptions.
Deep red tomatoes get their color from lycopene, a disease-fighting antioxidant. But a new study discovered that a special variety of orange-colored tomatoes called Tangerine tomatoes provides a different form of lycopene that our bodies can use more readily. "While red tomatoes contain far more lycopene than orange tomatoes, most of it is in a form the body does not absorb well," said Steven Schwartz, the study's lead author and a professor of food science at Ohio State University.
The researchers have not tested other varieties of orange tomatoes, so they don't know if the advantage applies to them as well. But they suggested that, given this result, it probably makes sense to seek out any variety of orange and gold-colored heirloom tomatoes you can find (or grow). I would add that if you can't find orange tomatoes, keep eating the red ones – some lycopene is better than none!
Stop 'Terrorism' against Man's Best Friend in Bangalore
Cross posting petition info-
In what can be termed as one of the most inhumane acts by human
animals in Indian soil, the Bangalore City Corporation has ordered a
drive to round up and cull homeless dogs. The killings and capture of
Dogs continues.
Following the tragic death of a child after it was mauled by some dogs
in the suburbs of Bangalore city, all it took was just a knee jerk
reaction by the authorities in Bangalore city to start a drive of
'Terror' against the homeless dog population in the city and some
parts of the state of Karnataka.
Thousands captured in the most brutal and barbaric manner by lassoing
with metal wires and then pulling them up into vans subjecting them to
serious injuries.
Keeping them unattended without food and water. Hacking them to death
while most them are still wagging their tails.
Isnt this 'Terrorism' ?
The Hon`ble Commissioner of Bangalore city Corporation, Mr.K.Jairaj in
the homepage of his official website calls Bangalore city as 'India's
Pride'.
Indeed it was 'India's Pride', till he and his team decided to turn
into 'India's Shame'.
A shame for every Indian, a shame for not respecting the sayings of
the father of the nation of India, Mahatma Gandhi (Bapu) whose golden
words are echoed by many even today.
Bapu had said, " The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can
be judged by the way it treats its animals".
There is a fear now that the Bangalore example may be adopted by the
other Indian cities as well.
Please express your views and sign this petition to Stop 'Terrorism'
against Man's Best Friend in Bangalore asking the Commissioner to halt
the brutal culling and capture of homeless Dogs.
NGOs and Animal People alone cannot stop this massacre, we need now
the citizens all across the world and right thinking people to speak
out !!
Earth's Polar Regions are priceless repositories of information about
past climates, as well as harbingers of our planet's future. To get a
better picture of where the Arctic and Antarctica have been and where
they are going, and how changes at the poles might affect humanity's
temperate perches, scientists from dozens of nations earlier this
month launched a 2-year research initiative called the International
Polar Year (IPY). This special issue helps raise the curtain on the
IPY with an exploration of some of the more vibrant research under way
at the ends of the Earth.
Polar processes exert a tremendous influence on many of our planet's
ecological and biogeochemical cycles. Sea ice helps control ocean
circulation, thereby influencing heat transport from low to high
latitudes, rainfall patterns, ocean biology, and the composition of
the atmosphere. Serreze et al. (p. 1533) examine the causes of the
decrease in Arctic sea-ice coverage in recent decades and offer
forecasts for the next century. Reduced sea ice could spark an Arctic
version of the California Gold Rush. Krajick (p. 1525) discusses how
nations are staking claims in the Arctic in the hopes of exploiting
minerals and hydrocarbons locked beneath the sea floor.
How fast sea levels rise over the coming century--potentiall y one of
the most serious consequences of global warming--will depend on how
fast the polar ice sheets melt. Shepherd and Wingham (p. 1529)
synthesize studies of the world's ice sheets to present a global
picture, with emphasis on recent changes in the mass of the Greenland
and Antarctic ice sheets. The polar seas are rich sources of marine
productivity, and millions of people depend on their bounty. Warming
is expected to have huge consequences for high-latitude denizens, as
Bohannon (p. 1520) and Stokstad (p. 1522) show. Change is also in the
air (literally) at the poles. Law and Stohl (p. 1537) examine the
progress made in understanding the Arctic's atmospheric chemistry and
discuss how anthropogenic and natural factors have affected, and may
affect, the Arctic's role in mediating regional and global climate.
The Arctic and Antarctica offer some of the most extreme environments
on the planet. For scientists, this poses logistical challenges,
especially with the stepped-up research activities taking place at the
poles during the IPY, as Mervis explains (p. 1514). Clery (p. 1523)
discusses how astronomers are overcoming hostile conditions to install
ever-bigger telescopes high on the Antarctic Plateau. At the other end
of the globe, scientists are teaming up with indigenous people in the
Arctic to fill gaps in their knowledge, writes Couzin (p. 151.
The burst of scientific activity during the IPY should yield vital
insights into the state of our planet for many years to come. If
present trends continue, the message from our polar regions could be
quite alarming indeed.
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