Many of the ingredients can be found in your kitchen, your grocery, or from soap making suppliers. Many of them are already used to color common foods and drugs. (Annatto is what gives macaroni and cheese its orange color. Cochineal is used to color Hawaiian Punch.)
Here are some of my favorite options, and the color they impart:
- Alfalfa – medium green
- Alkanet – steep in oil first - deep purple to muted blue
- Annatto Seed – steep in oil first - yellow orange
- Beet Root – muted pink to red
- Ground Calendula Petals - yellow
- Carrots, shredded or ground - yellow to orange
- Ground Chamomile – yellow-beige
- Chlorophyll - medium greens
- Cinnamon - tan to brown – can be an irritant
- Cloves, ground – brown
- Cochineal powder– deep red
- Cocoa powder– brown
- Coffee/coffee grounds - brown to black
- Comfrey Root – light milky brown
- Cucumber – bright green
- Curry powder - yellow
- Elderberries – steep in lye solution – light brown
- Henna, ground - olive to deep drab green - brown
- Indigo root - deep blues - caution, can stain
- Jojoba beads - come in many colors, and add exfoliation too
- Kaolin Clay - white
- Kelp/seaweed - green
- Madder root - rosy red - purple
- Milk (goats or cow's) - tan to brown, depending upon sugar & fat content
- Morrocan Red Clay - Brick Red
- Paprika – light peach to salmon - can be an irritant
- Poppy Seeds - Blue-grey to light black specks
- Pumice, ground - grey
- Pumpkin, pureed - lovely deep orange Example
- Rattanjot – lavender to purple
- Rose Pink Clay - Brick red
- Rosehip seeds, ground - light tan to deep brown
- Safflower Petals- yellow to deep orange
- Saffron - yellows
- Sage - green
- Spinach – light green
- Spirulina/Blue-Green Algae – blue-green
- Titanium Dioxide- bright white
- Tumeric – gold to amber
Check out Testing Natural Colorants in Soap for more information.
