I haven't made any blue soaps, although I did try once. I used indigo powder, but not enough, so the colour disappeared. Sometimes it doesn't pay to skimp on ingredients. so when I got the idea for this soap I decided to be generous with the Indigo powder. I somehow thought it would be appropriate to make a blue tooth soap. I made tooth soap a long time ago and I still have most of it. Not because I haven't used it. It's just that it lasts forever. But I started to feel a little deprived of the fresh minty taste of conventional toothpaste. My old tooth soap had baking soda in it and baking soda just doesn't taste very good. So I have been wanting to do a new tooth soap. And then I thought about the old blueing agents. Since i'm quite old, I remember when it was possible to buy a blueing agent to make white laundry appear whiter. Admittedly, I just barely remember the stuff, but it was sold in the olden days and used. Now they have something that works in a similar, but in a more sophisticated way, called optical brighteners. But I thought it might be a great idea to make a blue tooth soap, maybe it would make teeth appear whiter, or it would just look nice.
I have mint growing in the garden and I harvested all of it when it was starting to get cold. I made some mint jelly, but decided that it really is just too weird to eat that with lamb. Even if British people do that. It tastes just like toothpaste. I guess one has to be reared on that to appreciate it. But I used part of the mint for a tea that I used as the water phase in my soap. So the genius me didn't quite think things through. The art major should have known that mixing the yellow mint tea and the blue indigo would produce a magnificent green. But I just didn't think. So here is my "blue" tooth soap:
It's a small recipe (200g/7oz), but it'll last for a long time.
Olive oil 30% 60g / 2.1oz
Cocoa butter 30% 60g / 2.1oz
Coconut oil 22% 44g / 1.6oz
Soybean oil 15% 30g / 1.0oz
Neem Tree oil 3% 6g / 0.2oz
Mint tea 38% 76g / 2.7oz
Xylitol 2 tsp
Lye 28g / 1oz
Peppermint eo
Ginger eo
Licorice extract
Since I don't want the tooth soap to produce too many suds, I used much less coconut oil than usual and much more of the cocoa butter. The neem oil has anti bacterial properties, so I added some of that. I also added 1 tsp licorice extract, which is supposed to be good for the gums, to the essential oil blend. I used 1/4 tsp ginger (again that is supposed to be good for the gums) and 1 tsp peppermint for that fresh minty taste that I had been craving. I also ground up 1 tsp zink oxide and 4 capsules of magnesium citrate (good for teeth) with about 1/4 tsp indigo powder.
I made these into little hearts since I think they look kind of cute. I have tried the soap already although it needs some more time to cure. Well I can't say that it whitens the teeth, but it has a minty taste and it cleans well without sudsing too much. I might add some more xylitol next time and even some more peppermint eo. Just to get that really, really fresh minty taste. And I might even skip the mint tea and go for a truly blue soap.
Sounds and looks wonderful. I love indigo!!! Tooth soap? Doesn't it taste yucky? Nice to see you soaping again!! xo Jen
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI came to your blog from Jenora soaps. I like the deep blue of your soap - to me it looks like color of the Pacific ocean!
I have been using Japanese indigo for some time now and it is always nice to see how the color turns out in other soapers' creations.
The little hearts are such a beautiful color!
Maya
Jen, you should try it. The xylitol is sweet, it's the sweetener in all sugarless gums. I probably could have used more, maybe 1 tsp more. But I love to use tooth soap and my dentist hasn't complained.
ReplyDeleteMaya, thank you :)
I'm wondering when you added the xylitol. To the liquid or the trace? I've been wanting to do this for a while. I've used bar soap (goatsmilk) that I bought for years. Now that I've learned to make soap I'm excited to formulate my own.
DeleteI disolved the xylitol in the water. Still have a hard time using regular toothpaste so I still use soap. Good luck in making your own toothsoap :)
DeleteI have never heard of tooth soap, I am really curious about it!
ReplyDeleteI really like this colour you obtained, I have used indigo combined with Rose Ochre and the purple I got was really nice!
Your soap makes me will to try indigo again!
Hi, I've been trying to make my own tooth soap for awhile now but I haven't been able to figure out the xylitol part. When do you add the xylitol in, with the water right before you mix it with the lye or at trace? Also, have you tried using flavor oils to flavor the tooth soap? I'm worried that they might burn off during the saponification process...
ReplyDeleteI'll really appreciate it if you could respond back. Thank you! =)
Hi Sylvia. I haven't tried using flavor oils, but I did think about that after trying out this soap. I'm still using this soap for my teeth (and this batch although small will last the next ten years or so - seriously) and the peppermint EO diapered quite quickly so it doesn't really have any taste.
ReplyDeleteAdd the Xylitol to the water and let it dissolve completely before adding the lye. I would try to add flavour oils at trace. They are used in baking so they should be all right even if the soap goes through saponification.
But there really is not taste to this soap. I think what we normally think about as soapy taste is the taste of fragrances in soaps rather that the soap itself. Let me know if you try the flavour oils :)
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI have just come across your blog and wanted to let you know that I, too, use tooth soap. From what I read, it is the coconut oil that gives the soap its "soapy" taste. So I have made tooth soap once with 100% olive oil and another time with 90% olive oil and 10% cocoa butter. They both have a fairly bland taste. I used sweet fennel essential oil with the first one and peppermint EO with the other one. I also used activated charcoal.
I have been using it for over a year and could not go back to "normal" toothpaste.
Hi, Nicole. I am still using this soap and have plenty left. I have a really hard time using conventional toothpaste. It just takes so disgusting. I would be interested to use activated charcoal. I think that sound really neat. I read somewhere that an old recipe is honey and activated charcoal and it's supposed to work well :)
ReplyDelete