How Do You Whiten Your CP Soaps?

18 years ago

hello all!

first off, I'm assuming that "CP soaps" means cold process soaps? If not, then I meant cold process =)

I have made several batchs of CP soaps so far, and although in some applications I like the natural yellowish-brown of the soap crystals that form, but when it comes to coloring the soap (say a light pink) it is impossible to overcome that yellow-brown color! Upon doing some research I found that titanium dioxide is a common and very inert ingredient used to "absorb" color. The only problem I'm running into is, it greatly reduces the moisturizing effects of the ingredients of the soap and tends to dry out my hands in the finished product.

Can anyone help me track down some different ingredients/techniques for how to either remove the natural yellow color, or reduce it substancially without the use of titanium dioxide?

Thansk much!

Comments (6)

sriston
18 years ago
To my knowledge, which I will admit is limited when it comes to CP soap as I do rebatching and melt and pour, other than the titanium dioxide, there really isn't anything to whiten soap. Most discoloring is from the ingredients, and especially the fragrance oils. Fragrance oils that contain vanilla are notorious for this. There is an additive you can buy that prevents the natural browning effect of fragrance oils that have vanilla in them. I have never used it, as I prefer my soap to have as few additives as possible. This vanilla stabilizer (as it is called) smells bad. (I have smelled it- that was enough to make me decide not to use it.) People have assured me that the odor dissipates in the soap. I do know that the product works because everyone says it does. I just prefer the natural coloring.
Susan
Red_Confetti
18 years ago
Color of the final soap is also dependent on the oils you use to make the soap. I always made lye and lard (yes, pork fat - manteca) soap and it always came out snow white.
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Hi Nancy, "It was a mix of sunflower, olive, and coconut oils. I measured everything correctly" Make sure that your scale is consistently correct. "according to the book, the soap traced as it should, Well, if youÂre sure. "I added the Fos" Fos for soap, vice candles? "I then started pouring the soap into the mould and YUK! It look like it curdled and kinda separated once in the mould. " What FO did you use? (Let me guess, a white floral? ( What temperature did you soap at? (The cooler, the better. Try around the 100F to 110F mark "I poured it back into the pot and tried to remix it, but it didn't remix completely. " Are you using a stick blender? Hope so. I poured the mix back into the mould and let it sit until tonight. "Took it out of the mould and noticed it was kinda floating in an oil/water mix. I would guess total amount of the oil/water floating around was at 1/4 cup in a 4 lb batch. " (Guessing): Either the wrong FO, or it wasnÂt mixed thoroughly enough. My question is...do you think this is going to be safe to use? The back of the book mentioned separation...a little separation was OK, but a lot meant a caustic soap. I have never had separation. If you think about it, your superfatting would be around the 5% to 8% mark of the total recipe. If youÂre looking at the percentage of oils/fats floating around in the mold, then I would HP it. "if you think this stands a good chance of being caustic, " If you measured everything correctly, then it would be lye heavy because all of the fats/oils didnÂt mix in with the lye solution thoroughly enough. You could HP it (crockpot? Maybe?) Into soap. I donÂt care for HPÂed soap, itÂs usually rustic looking, but it is soap, nonetheless. Usually, if you post the recipe and method of soaping that was used, maybe others might be able to pipe in?
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Infinite_Mass
Original Author
18 years ago
cool, thanks for the feedback! I'll try out a couple of those suggestions and see if they work out better for me =)
Brent B
18 years ago
What oils/fats you use certainly have an effect on the final colour of the soap. Titainium dioxide is the only ingredient that comes to mind to whiten.

A large proportioned lard or tallow based soap may give you the whitest results.

I believe that there is a non-discolouring vanilla but I forget who carries it.

Yes, CP is cold process, the acronyms will drive you mad; they're almost as bad as a government agency.
Burgie
18 years ago
Brambleberry has a Non-Discoloring Vanilla. It's really strong too... you definitely don't need a lot.

As for the whitening, what ingredients are you using? That might help some of us with what you could use less/more of.

Burgundy
bmeddonna
18 years ago
I have noted that when I make soap with coconut oil from Wal Mart (LOU ANA) which is white and organic vegetable spread from the health food store (made with all palm oil) and add my olive oil to that my soap was white/white instead of the creamy color I got when I used coconut and palm oils from a couple of the soap material suppliers. Those oils came to me a creamy color, and that's what I got for a finished product. From now on I will try to stick with the Lou Ana if I can and see what happens next.
Happy Soaping!!!

How Do You Whiten Your CP Soaps?

Comments (6)

sriston

Red_Confetti

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How Do You Whiten Your CP Soaps?

Comments (6)

sriston

Red_Confetti

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Infinite_MassOriginal Author

Brent B

Burgie

bmeddonna

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

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Original Author