You may have a lot of fun while making melt & pour soaps by experimenting with different colors. However, some dyes, such as food dyes, do not mix well with melt and pour soap.
Can soap be colored using food coloring? Food coloring in melt-and-pour soap won’t work, as you might expect. It’ll bleed and leach into the soap’s base, contaminating the whole bar. It will be quite difficult to distinguish between the various colors as a result of this. Food coloring is water and oil-soluble. Thus some colors may not make it through the saponification process.
Find out what the ‘secrets’ are. This step-by-step tutorial from professional soap makers shows you how to make your own luxurious homemade soaps. Also, the directions will be provided in an easy-to-follow fashion with plenty of photographs for newcomers, so you’ll know exactly what supplies you’ll need and where to acquire them.
When it comes to soap production, it’s not just about the oils and molds; colors and designs can be just as important. If your product’s design and colors aren’t eye-catching enough, it’s likely that you’ll have trouble selling it. The only way to manufacture lovely colored soaps is to find more sustainable methods of production. Food coloring is one of the colorants that is sometimes used in soap production but isn’t particularly meant for it. This occurs most likely as a result of the widespread acceptance of food colorings as a safe additive. However, they cannot be utilized in melt and pour soap due to their incompatibility.
Can I Use Food Coloring In Melt and Pour Soap?
To begin, melt and pour base is a water-soluble based product, which should be noted. Why? Food coloring can bleed for a variety of causes. Bleeding occurs when a protective wall is not present to create a barrier. As a result, color that has been embedded in the soap layers leeches or leaks into the soap base below. So your M&P soap bar will end up looking like a mushy color glob eventually.
Because of this, food coloring can be used in a variety of other crafts outside making melt and pour soap.
If you decide to go ahead with it, here’s what will happen:
Once you’ve used the food-colored soap for a few times, the water-soluble dye will begin to seep through the melt and pour soap. The dye will immediately transfer to your skin, ruining both the soap and your hands.
Consider the possibility that your clients will give you a photo of their hands. Expect a lot of explaining on your part.
As a result, when it comes to soap making, it’s critical that you stick to the fundamentals. With the appropriate coloring, you can have a beautiful soap on your hands and satisfied clients for years.
NOTE: Avoid using melting crayons, as you would with food coloring. Crayons, candle colors, and paint that have been melted are not only hazardous to your skin, but they also have no effect on the color of your soap.
If you’ve already colored the soap with food coloring, either use it yourself or toss it; however, don’t try to sell it.
What Type of Coloring Is Best for Melt and Pour Soap?
You may safely color your soap with natural dyes. Look for more possibilities like micas, liquid pigments, glitter, or even minerals in the catalog or on the internet.
The only thing to remember is to use a ‘non-bleeding’ color in your melt and pour soaps. Oil-based dyes are ideal for creating eye-catching soaps that are truly one-of-a-kind. Consider solutions that add color to the soap by dispersing dyes.
Other coloring possibilities blend better with soap because these colors don’t. Colorful soaps can be made with any combination of oxides, pigments, and oxides in liquid.
Using Minerals to Color Soaps
The use of minerals to color melt & pour soap is both exciting and brilliant. Mineral pigments exist naturally in the soap, and they add a lovely sheen to the finished product.
When iron is exposed to water, it rusts, forming a fiery orange hue. You should be aware that the majority of mineral pigments are synthesized in laboratories.
There are excellent mineral colors that can be used in place of natural or homemade colors. Follow the guidelines on the packaging after purchasing mineral pigments. Mineral pigments can stain your sink, mold, and bathtub if you use too much of them.
Natural Colors
Going natural is something I strongly support, especially when it comes to things that come into contact with our skin. When it comes to producing soap, natural coloring is preferable to synthetic. They don’t irritate the skin and have a small number of negative side effects. The methods for obtaining natural colors for your soap-making session are detailed here.
Brown
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon powder can be used to give your soap a natural brown hue. Cinnamon oil should not be used because it can cause skin irritation and even burns if used on exposed skin. Your soup will turn a lovely light brown hue thanks to this ingredient.
- Cloves: The usage of cloves will result in a deep brown tint. The scent of cloves will be intensified even further by using them in your soap.
- Beetroot powder: It will give your soap a greyish-brown hue from the beetroot powder. The natural pink color of the beetroot powder has been lost.
- Coffee: If you’re making soap, coffee is an excellent additive. You may color your soaps while also adding an exfoliating effect by adding a few specks of instant coffee to them.
- Cocoa powder: The intensity of the cocoa powder’s color depends on the amount used.
Orange
- Paprika: With paprika, the greatest results are obtained by infusing it with oil and then straining out the excess. You can use it to give your soap a vibrant orange hue.
- Annatto: This is another natural soap coloring agent.
Purple
- Hibiscus Powder: The greatest approach to color and beautify soap is using flowers, such as hibiscus powder.
- Alkanet Powder: This adds color to the soap and has anti-acne benefits as well. Numerous skin conditions are remedied with their help. This powder changes the color of the dark soap to a bluish-purple or purple.
- Red Sandalwood Powder: You can give your soap a purple-red hue by varying the pH level of the soap.
- Alkanet Powder: Dark purple specks will appear if you use black walnut hull as an ingredient.
Green
- Alfalfa: After drying and grinding, add this ingredient to the mixture.
- Spirulina: Spirulina is a blue-green algae that will give your soaps a distinctive shade of green.
- Chlorophyll: Your soap will have a vibrant green hue thanks to chlorophyll.
- Burdock leaf: To get the most out of burdock leaf, try infusing it with oils before using it.
- Dandelion leaves: Grass dandelion leaves can be ground into a fine powder by hand.
- Basil leaves: Make your soap bar a gorgeous shade of green by adding crushed basil leaves into the foundation of your soap recipe!
Blue
- Woad: Woad powder is a common form of the plant. The color is a somewhat paler blue.
- Indigo Powder: Deep blue soaps can be made using indigo powder. Beautiful and faultless in its deep blue hue.
Black
- Activated charcoal- Activated charcoal is a common component in soaps and cosmetics to provide color. You can use it to add a little bit of black to a grey tone. This has exfoliating properties that you can make use of as well.
Yellow
- Saffron leaves or powder: Leaf or powdered saffron has long been a popular component in soap and other beauty preparations.
- Calendula: This component, calendula, is a must-have if you want to get the medical advantages. Calendula powder has a calming yellow tint. Instead of powder, try using calendula flowers.
- Turmeric: There is turmeric on your kitchen shelf if you look for it. Add some turmeric to the soap’s base, and you’re good to go.
- Marigolds: Marigolds are an excellent choice for exfoliating soap bars because of their exfoliating properties. The best approach to make your soap base yellow is by adding marigold petals to it.
- Ginger: Spices like ginger can be used instead of turmeric if you don’t like the bright yellow hue of turmeric.
Red
- Madder Root: Add a few specks of powdered madder root to your soap, and it will turn your creation red. When used sparingly, the madder root can provide a soft pink hue.
- Moroccan red clay: Moroccan red clay is a great option if you’re seeking for an orange or red hue. Your skin’s impurities can be drawn out with Moroccan clay.
How Do You Color Melt and Pour Soap?
Soap coloring done correctly yields beautiful results as well as a less frustrating experience.
For M&P soap, here are a few colorant options and tips on how to use them:
Natural Colorants
When working with natural colorants, there is a certain procedure to follow. Using 99 percent isopropyl alcohol or distilled water, mix one teaspoon of natural powder with one tablespoon of the solution.
The melted soap base needs to be mixed with a teaspoon of colorant that has been scattered. You have complete control over the powder concentration.
Micas
Micas are more difficult to work with than natural pigments if you intend to use them. To begin, add the mica to the melted soap base and firmly swirl it until it is well combined.
Adding a little alcohol and stirring the solution if you see any bubbles is a good idea if you see any. Per pound of soap, you’ll need up to half a teaspoon of baking soda.
There is an easier and faster approach to combine the color. Another option is to combine 1 tablespoon of 99 percent isopropyl alcohol with 1 teaspoon of mica. Last but not least, add a quarter-teaspoon of dye mixed in water to the melted soap.
In Conclusion
You’ve probably learned by now that using food coloring in soap is a bad idea. Ideally, you’ll be able to dye the soaps in the shade of your choice. You’ll get beautiful results if you play around with a few different shades of the same hue. Have a great time with the soap!
