The Elusive Green

I love the colour green.  Didn't realize it until quite recently, well, a few years back.  If asked I would have said red was my favorite colour.  I don't wear green much, but when we bought our home eleven years ago all the windows, doors, fences and roof were a dark green colour.  I guess that's when I discovered that I like the colour.  Then I bought green drapes for the bedroom.  Mostly because they were on sale and that was the only colour available.  And I like those green drapes in the bedroom.  They give a nice green glow into the bedroom in summer.  With the nights so light, it's an advantage to tone the bright light down to a calming green.

I thought I had found the solution to the problem of getting a green colour naturally in soaps.  It is one of the most difficult one to get from plants, both in soap and as a textile dye.  Which is counterintuitive since most plants are green, so what happens to all the green?  Well, it turns either yellow or brown because the Chlorophyll is not water-soluble and therefore can't be extracted in a water bath.  And furthermore, as I understand it, it does fade even if it is used in it's oil soluble form as a soap colour.  Apparently Chlorophyll is a combination of Chlorophyll a and Chlorophyll b and the a is a good dye and can be bought and used in soap.

I thought I had found a shortcut when I was given some very green tablets that were to be used as a nutritional supplement.  No way was I going to eat those pretty green things.  I had to try them in a soap.  Well, you've guessed it.  It really was a nice, nice green for a little while and then it faded.  I knew that!  Of course it faded.  I really knew that was going to happen.  It always does.  I just have to give up this naive hope that somehow I will find a perfect green that says green and doesn't turn olive and brown, or disappears.

But the soap was the Rosemary shampoo bar, slightly changed.

Olive oil         40%     280g / 9.9 oz
Coconut oil    30%    210g / 7.4 oz
Castor oil       20% 140g / 4.9 oz
Sunflower oil 10% 70g / 2.5 oz

Water 30% 210g / 7.4 oz
Lye 99g / 3.5 oz
3% SF.
 
I added a lot of Rosemary essential oil and shredded some soap on top to make it slightly more interesting, but it didn't really work.  I used too fine a grater and I like the look better without, but now I know that.  It has been curing for quite a while, actually 3 months now, but I finally tried it and it has a very strong and refreshing smell, a nice generous lather lather and my hair loved it.  I also really liked the first recipe, but this one may be an improvement, if only slight.  I probably needed more of the green tablets to give a strong lasting colour.  As it it the soap is a yellow green that's not really special.  But I'm getting ready to start dying yarn again.  I'm  going to do it very methodically this time and I'm starting with one of my favorite weeds, Rumex.

Silk and Sorrel shampoo bar

Another weakness is glass. I found this carafe dirty
and full of spiders.  The candlesticks were favorites,
but I wasn't careful with the candle and one of them
broke when the candle burned down. I should throw
out, I know, but I can't bear to just yet.

Finally I made a shampoo bar with silk.  I've wanted to do one ever since Strenua Inertia gave me a tip to add silk to the lye.  That soap turned out really nice.  I liked it so much that I used it on my hair with very good results.  So I had to do a shampoo bar with it.  And since I really like Njóli oil, I decided to use the infused oil of it's close cousin Rumex acetosa (Sorrel) or as we here call it, Hundasúra.  I have had this one root infusing in oil since last fall when I pulled it from the garden where it had enjoyed a lovely summer.  The root of it just looked so jummy that I cleaned it and cut it up into oil.  The colour of the oil is a nice yellow with a slight orange tinge.  It's not quite the same colour as my previous Rumex oil (which is from the species longifolius) so I have been very curious to try it in soap and see what colour it gives.

So I did and obtained a beautiful, but rather strange colour.  At first it turned a pretty pink, but when I added the EO's they imparted a very yellow colour that changed the soap to a lovely peachy orange.  Now that I've cut it, I think it is perhaps a bit like is in vogue right now - those pale fleshy beige tones.  I'm used to Rumex oil changing overnight from beige to dusky pink.  But this one didn't.  It started out a fairly warm pink and turned into a salmon colour.  That may be because of the EO's that I used.  For scent I used a combination of Lavender, Sweet Orange and Vetiver.  It smells green and fresh.  It is the start of my blending experiments.

Olive oil 40% 240g / 8.5oz (out of this 15g was sorrel root infused)
Coconut oil 25% 150g / 5.3oz
Soybean oil 20% 120g / 4.2oz
Cocoa butter 10% 60g / 2.1oz
Castor oil 5% 30g / 1 oz

Water 30% 210g / 7.4 oz
Lye 99g / 3.5 oz

I used both sugar and silk in the lye water hoping to make the soap that lathers nicely and leaves my hair very silky.  Even if it hasn't cured long enough I did try it out and I think I achieved that.  It lathered exceptionally well and my hair felt very, very silky.
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Pink shampoo bar - Yellow dock for itchy and flaky scalp

I really like the colour that Yellow Dock - Rumex crispus gives to soaps and I liked the dark raspberry colour of the soap that I recently made.  However I knew that I would want to use a bit less in another soap to see what type of light pink I would get.  I don't really use Yellow Dock, it doesn't grow here, but rather a local plant that is closely related to it, commonly called Njóli here,  but Northern Dock in English.

The benefits of the root of this plant has been known for centuries and it just seemed logical to me to make a soap that might carry some of the benefits.  As Yellow Dock (and Njóli) are known to be very good for skin troubles like eczema, psoriasis and itchy skin I thought it could make a great shampoo bar for people with dry scalp AND it would look pretty as a pink bar.  Since I wanted to get as many of the benefits of the herb as possible, I decided to use the infused oil at trace.  There is always some discussion going on about weather the benefits of the ingredients survive the lye and some say that the stuff that is added at trace is more likely to be the oils that are left over as superfat in the soap.  Well I can't say for sure, but I figured it was worth the try.

I made a shampoo recipe that has less castor oil than my previous shampoo bars.  I didn't have any olive oil so I used Sunflower oil which I like.  It's rather neutral in my mind.  To give the shampoo bar hardness I added some Cocoa Butter.  The resulting soap seems to have an acceptable hardness and still be quite moisturizing.

The recipe is for 500 g. of oils / 17.6 oz (the oz are approximate):

Sunflower oil    50% 250g / 8.8 oz
Coconut oil       25% 210g / 4.4 oz
Castor oil          13%  65g / 2.3 oz
Cocoa butter     10%  50g / 1.8 oz

Water 38% 190g / 6.7 oz
Lye 70g / 2.5 oz

5% SF.

Rumex infused olive oil     2%  10g / 0.4 oz.  Added at trace

I added the infused oil at trace and the soap turned a beige colour, although it really looked like it desperately wanted to be pink.  I was rather disappointed, but since I had used half the amount that I used before I kind of wasn't surprised.  But the next morning I looked at this lovely soft pink colour!  It resembles the other Rumex soap in that the center is a bit more yellow in colour so I might put them in the freezer next to stop gelling.  But I am very happy with the colour.  Now I just need to make a third soap with 15 g. of the infused oil and see what that looks like.

I can't wait to try this shampoo in a few weeks.  It should be good for hair that isn't particularly dry and hopefully the nice qualities of Rumex will sooth a dry, flaky and itchy scalp.
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Rosemary shampoo bar for brunettes.

Rosemary has traditionally been used for dark hair and I remember using a shampoo in my youth that contained Rosemary.  So I just had to make a shampoo bar with rosemary if only for the wonderful smell.  Apparently the smell of rosemary helps memory and boy do I need that!

I have made this a few times and sometimes added a bit of neem oil to it, but this recipe is without that.  The neem oil was intended for exema in the scalp, a condition that some people in my family suffer from.  It has a very strong earthy, smokey scent that the rosemary masks pretty well.  When I use neem oil I have used about a tablespoon of it in a recipe this size.  Neem oil is also very good for insect control as in my insect spray (those mites are dead!) and for lice.  Althought I don't think the concentration in the shampoo is enough to combat lice.

Olive oil       40%    280g / 9.9 oz
Coconut oil  30%    210g / 7.4 oz
Castor oil     20%    140g / 4.9 oz
Sunflower oil 10%    70g / 2.5 oz

Water           38%    266g / 9.4 oz
Lye                           98g / 3.5 oz

5% SF.

To the sunflower oil I added Rosemary EO and added that at trace.
For colour I used the spirulina powder that I have.

I love to make teas with herbs that I grow and also infuse oils with herbs.  I do that regularly with mint and I have also used Thyme and a dying Rosemary.  I haven't had much luck with growing Rosemary so I don't have a good supply of it.  So many herbs are Mediterranean and don't like the wet weather here.  Plus, I think I must be slightly codependent because I tend to smother my plants in fertilizer and water them well and consequently torture and drown plants that prefer arid conditions.  I could buy Rosemary  at the store I suppose, but it's just not the same!  But I'm sure that this would be wonderful if made with rosemary tea and infused oils.

The photo: I bought this very ornate mask in Venice. I love masquerade balls, but my friends never wanted that back in the 70's. Now my daughters friends are always having dress up parties, but I'm not invited. Even so I lent her this to wear once.

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Lemony shampoo bar for blondes

When I first started making soap I loved the idea of being able to make something pure.  Just soap, nothing added.  I didn't want scent or colour, I just wanted pure, naked soap.  And I got it.

Then, I wanted to make something more complicated and started to experiment.  Shampoo soap (or bar as most people call them) is one of them.  Shampoo bars are so easy to travel with and take to the gym.  No spilling!  I really love them and do not use any commercial shampoo anymore.  A bit of a shame since I had just asked my daughter to buy a rather expensive well known shampoo and conditioner in France!

It takes a bit getting used to using a shampoo bar.  For one it doesn't lather much, but that has nothing to do with it's cleansing ability.  I have a tendency to wash twice and it lathers much more the second time.  Also, don't use a conditoner!  The shampoo bar contains all you need.  It leaves the hair wonderfully soft and shiny.   In my experience adding conditioner makes it havy and almost greasy so I skip it, but then, I don't have dry hair.

I really have a hard time making the same recipe again because I keep getting ideas for new things.  Even if I start out with a definite idea to make something, I may end up with something completely different!  But I have made it a rule to religiously write my recipes down so that I have the option to make something again, if I really like it.  This is one of the ones that I really like.  It is the second recipe I made for a shampoo bar.  Basically shampoo bars have castor oil.  I had made a very basic one and this time I wanted to use Chamomile tea and do something good for the blondes in the family (my husband).

The recipe I came up with is this:
45%     315 g. / 11 oz    Olive oil
30%     210 g. / 7.4 oz   Coconut oil
25%     175 g. / 6.2 oz   Castor oil

The liquid I used was 266 g. Chamomile tea, just brewed the normal way and cooled.  I dissolved 98 g.  lye in the tea and dissolved 1 tbs. honey in it before pouring it into the oils.  This time I thought that a lemon scent would go well in a shampoo for blondes so scented it with lemongrass essential oil!  I find that to last a bit longer than lemon EO.

I put the whole thing into my log mold, that I lined with freezer paper (bought in the US).
The result is a very nice shampoo bar.  It is very soft at first and takes a long time to get to the stage that it can be cut.  But when it finally does, it is very nice.  My husband has used it quite a bit and I think it is his favorite now.  It is not as conditioning as the egg/beer/honey combination, but I find that I like to alternate the use of my shampoo bars.  I also make one that I think of as for brunettes (me) and that has rosemary extract and neem oil.  I find it hard to pick a favorite, so use them all.

The photo: This is a nice shampoo bar for normal hair.  That bottle I picked up at the Good S..., but it broke.  And I love my collection of natural sponges that I've bought in Florida.

Egg shampoo

What could be more appropriate for Easter than egg shampoo soap?

This has become my favorite shampoo bar.  It came about when I was baking meringues with my daughter as a preparation for her wedding this summer.  All these egg yolks and what to do with them?

First I had decided to make coffee ice cream.   I love coffee ice cream and it can't be bought in stores here so I have occasionally made it for Christmas.

Just for me, the family hates it, thankfully!
But this time, for some reason, I got the idea that maybe I could use them in soap.  When I was a little girl I remember this egg shampoo, on the bottle it had said it contained egg yolks.  All those household remedies for split and dry and lackluster hair using egg yolks directly or even mayonnaise.  I mean that really is just egg yolks and oils.  So why not try it?  Of course I did what I alway do to check out my ideas, I Googled it and lo and behold!  Someone had thought of it already and it seemed to work!

So I started to make up a recipe.  I use Soapcalc's lye calculator for all my recipes.  Their website is really good for all sorts of instructions about soap making.  I had been using coconut milk in a facial soap and I thought that could go well with the eggs.  And Beer.  Beer is used as a hair rinse by people who can be bothered.  And honey,  I had used that in one shampoo recipe already and that looked promising.

So now I had the recipe in my head and started to put it into the calculator.  I try out the different oil combination and see what they do in the composition of the soap on Soapcalc.

The recipe that I used turned out to be:
Olive oil         45% / 315 g. / 11.1 oz.
Coconut oil    30% / 210 g. / 7.4 oz
Castor oil       15% / 105 g. / 3.7 oz
Sunflower      10% / 70 g. / 2.5 oz

Liquid            245 g. / 8.64 oz
Lye                100 g.  / 3.5 oz  *Do please check all recipes with a lye calculator, just to be sure!
Egg yolks          2
Honey               1 tsp.

This makes out to be 3% superfatted.

I started out by adding the Sunflower oil to the egg yolks by slowly pouring it in while whisking it with a fork.  Then added lye to the liquid.

I did 50/50 Coconut milk and beer first as I had planned.  Do NOT do that.  It curdled and looked truly awful so I threw it out and used only beer.  Then I added the honey and stirred until it dissolved.  This turned a bright orange-y red which made me really excited, but it didn't last, alas.   Lastly I measured the oils and melted them.  I usually only melt the Coconut oil with the major oils like Olive or Sunflower or Soya.  This time I added the Castor oil after the others had cooled a bit.  After mixing the lye and oils I stirred in the egg yolk mixture and the soap turned a beautiful bright yellow, but again it didn't last.  I used a lined wooden log mold and poured the soap.

The result is a very good shampoo bar.  It is very conditioning and made my daughter's brittle dry hair feel exceptionally smooth.  I like it because it makes my hair light and full of volume.  My husband also used it and liked it.  So much so that I think he has stopped using his rather expensive favorite shampoo!  The soap turned out to take on a brown hue that looks a lot like beer.  It smells slightly of honey, which I really like.  I have given it to my sister (the grumpy older one) and my mother and am waiting for feedback from them.

The photo: Honey, egg yolks and beer in a shampoo bar.  I think it's one of the best conditioning shampoo bars. My bowl is marked U.S.Q.M.C W-431-QM-4808 (Q.I 6059) April 26,1941 - it probably originates from the Air force base in Keflavik. It's one of my G.S. finds for 200kr.  There is just a glimpse of my Slovakian wooden comb, which I love and don't know why I didn't buy two or more.