Colouring Soap

by Zene Kaye
(South Africa)

I just want to find out the following about colouring soap:

1. At which stage do you add the colour, e.g. infuse in oil or add at trace.

2. Has cosmetic colour been classified as a natural product.

3. Which is better to colour your soaps with natural pink, red, green clay or cosmetic colours.(e.g. which is more natural?)

4. Where can I read more on cosmetic colours?

I thank you in advance.

Kind Regards

Zene Kaye
South Africa

Answer:
Zene,

Cosmetics are coloured with all sorts of different materials....herbs, spices, other plant matter, clays, mica, oxides, ultramarines, dyes, etc.

The only ones that would fall into the natural catagory would be clays, herbs, spices and other plant matter.

Mica, oxides, ultramarines and dyes all have some degree of chemical composition to them.

I'm going to assume that you are using the term 'cosmetic colour' to refer to chemically made dyes that have been specifically made for use in cosmetics.

These are added to soap when it reaches trace and not used to infuse the oil. Oil infusions are made using botanical matter...look here for more information on oil infusions and using botanical matter to colour soap.

Chemical soap dyes are not considered natural...but remember that natural doesn't always mean better. Some natural dyes would not be considered healthy to use on your skin...this is why oxides and ultramarines have been chemically altered to make them skin safe.

What type of colourant is best to use in soap? They are all good to use in soap....what your preference is will be up to you. Read up on the different forms of soap colourants and experiment with them to see what works best for you.

You will find a little info on the different types of soap colours here, here and here. To find out more, check out soap making suppliers. They often give quite a bit of information about their products.

Cathy