Coloring Soaps & Toiletries

TOILETRIES -

Bath Salts, Lotions, Etc.For coloring bath salts and lotions (which are cosmetics) you should use a color additive that is approved by the FDA for use in cosmetics. There are manycolor additives that are approved for cosmetics. However, some of them do not work well in bath salts or lotions, etc.

Ultramarines are basically made by heat treating kaolin clay and sulphur. At low pH's (which is the range where bath salts and lotions are) ultramarines tend to break down and release sulphur giving off that lovely rotten egg smell. Not a very nice surprise for your customers or someone you give your product to as a gift. While ultramarines in these products stink, they do not fade.

Iron Oxides will work, but may also leave a residue in the tub and on the skin. The good thing is they don't fade.

Micas will work. Some will fade and some won't. They will most likely leave a residue in the tubor on the skin. (See below under soap for a further explanation about micas.)

There are also natural colorants on the FDA's approved colorant list. These are annatto, caramel, carmine and beta-carotene. There are a few more, but nothing that you would probably want to use in salts. These will all fade in sunlight or UV rays. There are no flowers (like blue malva - which will make water a lovely blue -- too bad it does not hold up in soap) or chlorophyll listed on the approved list and using these "simply for the purpose of coloring" your salts would make them an adulterated product, you don't want that.And, there are dyes. These offer the biggest color choice of all. You want to make sure that what you are using in on the approved list for cosmetics.

And as with natural color additives, eventually dyes will eventually fade, particularly if exposed to UV rays. There are a couple dyes that are limited in the amount you can use in a product, Green 8 and Red 36, but generally you would have to add so much of these dyes to a product that it would start coloring other items before you reached that limit.

The link to the FDA's list of approved color additives is http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/opa-col2.html.

You can look up the individual colors in 21 CFR part 73, subpart C and 21 CFR part 74, subpart C. Unless you are making make-up or lip stick and eyeshadow, you don't really need to worrying about what you use as long as it is on the approved list for cosmetics.

When it comes to fading, the simple truth is that you need to protect your products from UV rays. With some natural color addtives you need to protect from both time and UV rays. Not only does the sun cause fading, but florescent lights give off UV rays. However, florescent lights are much slower acting than the sun. The sun is particularly cruel to both natural color additives and dyes. So whether you are outside or inside, it's possible that some fading may happen. Your best bet is to protect your products with packaging. There are bottles and jars that are treated to resist UV rays, and then you have the good old brown paper bag approach to things. Sometimes a decorative opaque container can be just as or even more attractive than a clear container. It just depends on your marketing niche and how you want to present things.

SOAPS

Unless you are making cosmetic claims about your soap, you can use just about anything, within reason of course, to color your soap. If you make cosmetic claims, then your soap is a cosmetic and you must use something from the FDA's list of color additives approved for use in cosmetics.

Ultramarines work well in soap. Because soap has a higher pH they do not break down and give of the sulphur smell. They are the most stable colorants to use in soap and are fade resistant. You do not want to use pigments that available at the art supply store and are made for painting, as these may contain lead, mercury, arsenic and other impurities.

Iron Oxides - ditto above. Manganese violet, which is a pigment, will not work in soap. Save your money, honey. ;-) Micas - there are lots of micas. Micas are made by depositing things such as titanium dioxide and various lakes, dyes and other ingredients on to a mica substrate, or lets call it a plate of mica for explanations sake. Ferric ferocyanide and Ferric ammonium ferocyanide, contain iron (are in most blue micas) and micas containing these ingredients will morph in CP soap. You will need familiarize yourself with the particular ingredients in a mica so that you can better judge whether or not it will work, this info is found in the INCI name for the mica. And it's always a good idea to know exactly what it is you are using. Natural color additives - again, is your soap a soap or is it a cosmetic? If it's just soap, you can use lots of things. See our the results of our recent natural colored soap swap at www.Learn2Soap.com You will want to take into consideration what the properties of a particular herb before you use it to color soaps with it. For instance, you probably don't want to use bloodroot to color your soap with, (and I don't even know if it will work, but) it is a very harsh herb and can be destructive to skin. Dyes again give you a vast array of colors. Some dyes will morph and change colors in soaps. Reds shift to orange. Blue 1 gives you a mauve color. Green 3 makes a lovely blue. If you're going to use dyes, please do your customers and fellow soap makers a favor and use dyes on the FDA'a approved for cosmetics list and not candle or clothing dye. Likewise some color additives for food contain Blue 2 and Red 3 which are not approved for use in cosmetics. OKAY. How did I do? Did I miss anything? Let me know.>br? If you want to know more about something inparticular just ask. I have lots more info. And tons of experience using these things.

Got questions? Let me know. I'll be glad to help. Use the "Contact" link on the right-hand side menu of this page (click on the source blow and follow the directions) and write me. Ellen

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