This month’s soap challenge, hosted by Amy Warden at Great Cakes Soapworks, is about using alternative liquids (liquids used instead of distilled water) in CP soap.
Since ancient times, however, rose oil, rose water, rose jam and rose juice have been used to beautify, heal and feed people. This source gives information on the major production centers and the medicinal properties of rose oil and water. Historically, rose water was “discovered” and used before rose oil distillation methods were developed. Traditionally, it has been used for food flavoring, to treat digestive problems (as a mild laxative) and liver problems. Directly applied onto the skin, it has been used to treat eczema, dermatitis, and dry skin. Nowadays, it is included in cold creams, tonic waters and facial masks. I find it both toning and moisturizing and like to use it as a room spray, too. Despite the fact that it has been known to have some medicinal properties, this article says that it is much better to use medicines specifically developed for a particular illness rather than rely on the mild effects of rose water treatment.
This month’s challenge “Alternative liquids” was a good opportunity to use rose water (rose hydrosol) as a substitute for distilled water in cold process soap as a friend of mine gave me a couple of bottles when she came back from her summer vacation. After experimenting with red cabbage juice and discovering that the anthocyanins are broken down to other substances when treated with NaOH, I decided that I wanted a liquid which would not be bullied by the caustic soda and therefore would retain the substances which make it good for the human skin and body. The four major constituents of rose water (geraniol, citronellol, phenyl ethylalcohol, and nerol) are said to not react to NaOH which makes them stable in cold process soap. Fortunately, the rose water did not change color when mixed with the NaOH flakes and I could proceed without having to worry about discoloration of the finished soap.
I used the following colorants:
Madder root powder
White kaolin
Bamboo charcoal
I infused sunflower oil with madder root powder. Since I did not strain the oil some of the powder went into the soap and I think it contributed a lot to the beautiful velvety red.
White kaolin. Nowadays, I use approx. 20 g of white kaolin per 500 g of soap (approx. 4% of the soap weight). However, as I needed the soap to become as white as possible, I used 2.5 times the usual amount to saturate the soap batter with white particles and therefore make sure that the soap would not discolor to beige even if it gelled.
The soap was drop- and hanger-swirled. It is scented with a blend of rose geranium, Peru balsam and spearmint essential oils. This blend smells very rose-like and since I was not expecting such a result at all I am very excited about it!
Thank you Amy for this wanderful challenge. It was indeed a great opportunity to learn and experiment with new liquids! I am very much looking forward to reading the posts of all the challengers this month – a lot of new things to learn!
Good luck and have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Maya
It’s stunning, as usual, Maya! And funny too, because rose water was on my list of ideas for the challenge, as was red cabbage juice. But I didn’t have enough time to do everything on the list …… (Perhaps that was lucky after reading about your red cabbage experience!)
Thank you Debbie. I am glad you chose rooibos tea as it worked out so beautifully for your ghost swirl! I would not recommend red cabbage for CP soap although it might be a good thing to try in glycerine soap… This will be one of my next experiments 🙂
Wow, this soap is so delicate, Maya! You achieved such a lovely red and love the combination of the colors!
And the post is so great written, all this info to remind us about this miraculous water! Bravo!
Thank you Natalia. The red is what I like the most about this soap. Rose water is something which I would love to use more often than I do. Only if it were more easily available in Japan!
So pretty.
Thank you talkeetnagirl.
Gorgeous Maya! =)
Thank you Amy.
So beautiful, Maya. I got some Madder root powder, just have to try it now 😊 again, beautiful!
Thank you Yvonne. I loved your idea of sharing a glad of wine or two with your soap so next time I enjoy some wine there will be some fun added! This is the second time I have used Madder root in soap and I like it even more than the first time 🙂
What a gorgeous soap and I love your story of why you went with rose water.
Thank you Monica!
This is so beautiful! Your red really sets off the black and white! This is one I’d like to try!! Maybe we should do a swap???
Thank you Teressa. I would love to do a swap!! Shall I send you an e-mail to talk about this further?
Yes! My email is teressamahoney@yahoo.com
Beautiful swirls, my favorite color combination! I loved reading about the rosewater, I’m going to have to find some–
Thank you Beverly. I hope you can find rose water – it is a wonderful face care product which can be used easily in soap, too.
Gorgeous soap! What a wonderful friend to bring you such an amazing product. I love how roses are tied to so many memories for you. I’m always afraid to use too much clay in my soap because I’ve heard it can get dry and flaky, but yours looks like it worked amazingly well!
Thank you Amy. It seems that rose water is a must-buy souvenir for many tourists to Bulgaria as the country is a major producer of rose oil and water.
Some of my childhood memories are connected to different flowers, but my mother’s roses are the most outstanding ones.
I had the same concerns about using a lot of kaolin and still have them – the soap has not dried enough yet to say for sure that the white part will not turn flaky in a couple of weeks. Whatever the result though, it was a good chance to try the amount. First-hand experience in soap making helps a lot with future projects.
Beautiful soap Maya! Madder s root is pink on my soaps. Do you use a very high concentration in order to reach this red colour? Or was your soap base quite yellow, turning the pink to some orange? The swirl is great. I will increase the amount of clay I use next time, to experiment too! Good luck with the challenge!
Thank you Valerie! This is my second time to have used madder root in CP soap and both times it turned more or less the same color. I think that I used a lot of infused oil and since I do not strain the oil some of the madder root powder ends up in the soap batter, contributing to the darker color. The madder-infused soap was approx. 20% of the red soap batter and, as I said, it contained some powder as well, which, I believe, helped produced the red color.
I used sunflower and rice-bran oils which do not discolor so their influence on the color of the finished soap is very small, if any.
Thanks for the details Maya. I have a box of Madder’s root waiting to be used, I have to prepare the infusion. I just finished the last soap I had made some 9 months ago with Madder’s root. It had turned white in the end alas…. I infuse the powder in my oil mix, at 10% usually.
This is a really great soaps. Very impressive.
Thank you Diana.
Your soap looks like a piece of art! I wish my monitor was scratch-and-sniff!
Thank you Debi! I wish you could smell the soap too. I am very happy with the EO blend and wish more people could enjoy it!
Wow! Your soap is just absolutely beautiful! The colors are amazing!
Thank you Holly. This is only my second time of using madder root but It seems there are amny more trials to come.
I love the tone of red and the delicacy of the swirl! I’m adding Madder
root to my list of ‘must toy’s. Thanks for the great explanation : )
Thank you Eva! I hope you try madder root soon as it is a wonderful colorant for CP soap.
Your soap is so beautiful! Lovely swirls and natural color – I love it.
Thank you so much Bonnie!
Beautiful!!! Love the colours and the swirls. Stunning x
Thanks a lot Carolyn!
So beautiful! It has bewitched me, I can’t stop looking at it!
Thank you Anna! I am happy to know that it is not only me who is happy with how it turned out.
Your Rose water soap looks amazing…and your story…mmm makes me feel the rose scent! Thank you for sharing your experience, I found so useful information in your post! I also like additives in my CP soap that survive the saponificaion. Rose water was in my list for this challenge too (I am from Bulgaria:), but…may be next time :).
Thank you Krasi. You should definitely try rose water as it seems to be easily available there. I am happy to know that the info in my post can be helpful!
Really beautiful soap, the color definition is so pretty, how long did you infuse the madder root powder with the sunflower oil? We now have madder root on our list of things to try. Great job!
Thank you Soap Lily. Since I did not have much time, I made a hot infusion. I heated the oil in a jar which was kept in hot water for two hours and the oil temperature did not exceed 80 degrees Celsius. I hope you enjoy making the infusion and then soap. There is only one drawback – as with all herbal colorants, the color will eventually fade. The color of the madder root soap which I made a little over a year ago is now pale brick color and the edges of the soap are closer to beige. I expect this soap to become paler too, but, still, using natural colorants is fun and I love soap colored with them!
Absolutely GORGEOUS!
Thank you so much Lisa!
[…] long-time member of the Challenge Club! She was gifted some organic Bulgarian rose water, which according to her research, actually retains its benefits in cold process soap. Her beautiful soap was colored with madder […]