Soap Color?

[Patty Meyer]

I made some honey oatmeal soap today.  I added the lye mixture to the oils when the lye mixture was 100 degrees and the oils 106 degrees.  The milk was basically totally frozen when I added the lye, and the color was really quite white when I added it to the oils.  The oils were olive and coconut.

After mixing the lye and oils, and adding the honey and oatmeal, the soap started to darken.  I feel it is quite dark, and I'm not sure but I think the flecks are the oatmeal??  Is this coloring normal or did I do something wrong?

I have used red palm oil in my other soaps, but wanted a lighter color.  I didn't expect this orange color without the red palm oil.

[Patty Meyer]

Thanks, Deborah.  I'm glad to be learning some of these things before I have to find them out myself. :)  I'm think of your does when wishing you a wonderful weekend.  May you stay warm and cozy all night! 

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

I think your soap looks great! I got lucky with the lavender -- when I was new to soapmaking, someone told me that she had tried using lavender flowers in soap, and she said it looked like it had brown bugs in it! So, I've never tried that one. My oatmeal doesn't get darker. Must be something with the honey and oatmeal combo. Herbs, however, are a different story. They pretty much all turn some shade of brown, so I quit adding them years ago.

[Rachel Payne]

Just wait 'till you use it! 

Patty Meyer said:

Thank you, Rachel and Emily. It's growing on me, I think. :)

[Patty Meyer]

Thank you, Rachel and Emily. It's growing on me, I think. :)

[Emily]

I think it looks wonderful Patty! I can't wait to get some does milking so I can start soap making too!

[Rachel Payne]

I think yours looks great!

Usually anything you put in, like oatmeal or herbs, will darken. It's kind of a bummer, because lavender petals, for example, don't stay their pretty color in the soap. Instead they turn dark brown.

[Patty Meyer]

Here's a closer one.  I guess it's not bad, really.  This photo is not as true to the color of the soap as the other one.   I just didn't expect the pale colored ground oats to turn out such an orange/brown color.  If only it was pumpkin spice soap. :)  That's what it reminds me of.  It does have a nice smell, and I know we'll enjoy using it.

[Patty Meyer]

Here's the soap right after I cut it.  It is lightening a bit as it dries, but it's still pretty dark with quite dark bits, I think the oatmeal?

[Patty Meyer]

Thanks, Rachel, for sharing your soap photo with me. I love it! It looks really nice. I'm about to upload a photo or 2 of my soap. I'm maybe a bit hard on myself, as usual, but I don't think it looks nearly as lovely as yours. :)

[Myra Isaac]

Beautiful soap!! I can't wait to give soap making a try!!