Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Natural Colourant options in soap

Many people are trying very hard to stay away from synthetic dyes and colourants these days. So what are the alternatives available to a soapmaker? Below is a list of some natural colourant ideas:

Yellow - Annatto, saffron, Turmeric, Carthamin, Calendula petals (whole or ground)
Green - chlorophyll, Spirulina
Brown - the cocoa bean (pods, shells, stems), cocoa powder, fermented tea
Red - Paprika (may be irritating), Red Rooibos Tea, Carmine
Purple - Alkanet Root (for CP), Ratanjot (can sometimes be more red), Beet Root Powder
Blue- Indigo Root

To name a few.

The biggest draw back to using natural colours is that you won't get a vibrant lemon yellow or a bright lime green using natural colourants. Plus they generally stain when used in large quantities.

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