Old Fashioned Lavender Soap Recipe

Does soap ever behave like you expect it to behave?
I made lavender soap this morning with lard, olive oil, coconut oil, and castor oil. I used a little beet root powder and activated charcoal, hoping for a color in the lavender family. What I got was dark green and medium green. Hopefully it will morph into a gray color, at least. Newly poured, it looks like this. I will see what it looks like tomorrow after it gels.

Do not forget to always use protective gear when working with lye - safety goggles, plastic gloves, and long sleeves. Keep children and pets away from the mixture and never leave your lye unattended. I mix mine in a plastic pitcher in the sink (in case of volcanic reactions). I also use the sink because I'm messy and usually drip, dribble, or spill my oil mixture sometime during the process.


This is a cold process soap and the recipe is as follows:

• Lard - 16 ounces
• Coconut Oil, 76 degrees - 12 ounces
• Olive Oil - 12 ounces
• Castor Oil - 4 ounces
• Lye (NaOH) - 6.27 ounces
• Water (distilled) - 16.72 ounces

Mix the lye slowly to the water (mine is part cold distilled water and part crushed ice) in a plastic pitcher until dissolved.
Melt the lard and coconut oil in another pitcher or bucket. Slowly add the lye water and mix with a stick blender in short bursts until it reaches trace (the consistency of thin pudding).

• I did a very slight water discount so I only used 15.72 ounces of water. 
• I added about 1/8 cup of finely chopped lavender buds and 2 TBS Hungarian Lavender essential oil to the mixture at trace.  I divided the oil into 2/3 and 1/3. I added 2 TBS Beet Root powder and 1/2 tsp activated charcoal to the 1/3 oil mixture. I alternated the two colored mixtures and poured into the mold. Then I swirled with a wooden stick. As I said, I was expecting gray and got green so now I wait and hope the color changes. 
• I sprinkled some lavender buds on top of the soap as a subtle accent.
• This recipe fills a 44 ounce mold.

I think that alkanet root powder would make a better color but mine hasn't been delivered yet. So my suggestion is to use alkanet instead of beet root powder for color. I'm sure you could use a pretty mica, but then the soap isn't truly "natural" because the mica is man-made.



Update: This is what the soap looks like two days later. The dark green has morphed into gray (woohoo!) and the light green is more of a beige. Not quite the color I wanted but it will work.