Looking for a way to make a rich dark brown soap? Walnut powder is a great 100% natural way to colour soap!
Walnut powder can make a range of colours from a rich brown, to purple shades and black soaps.
Read on to learn how to make your own walnut soap!
What is Walnut Powder?
Walnut powder is a fine powder that is dark brown to black in colour. Black walnuts are native to North America and the hull is ground into a fine walnut powder.
Black walnuts are known for their nutritious benefits due to their vitamin and fatty acid content. Traditionally, black walnuts were used in natural remedies and medicines to treat skin disorders and infections.
Why Use Black Walnut Powder in Soap Making?
Black walnut hull can be used as a natural colourant in soap making to create a rich brown to purple or black soap bar!
To use black walnut hull as a dye in soap making, it should be added to the lye water. It is recommended to use around 12g (2 teaspoons) of walnut powder to 1 pound of soap.
Let's have a go at our walnut soap recipe...
This soap recipe makes 9-10 bars of soap
Equipment:
To make our walnut soap recipe, you will need:
- Gloves
- Goggles
- Digital scales
- Digital thermometer
- Stick blender
- Soap mould or DIY alternative
- Silicone spatula
- Microwave safe bowl
- Plastic measuring cup, ideally 2x 1L and 1x 2L
Ingredients
- Olive oil 320g
- Cocoa butter 240g
- Babassu oil 240g
- Water 240g
- Sodium hydroxide/ Lye 112.55g
- Black walnut powder 23g
- Pine essential oil 7g
- Black pepper oil 2g
- Clary sage oil 3g
- Bergamot oil 12g
1. Mix the sodium hydroxide solution
- Put on your gloves and goggles.
- Open a window, the fumes are unpleasant.
- Weigh the water.
- In a separate bowl, weigh the sodium hydroxide and walnut powder.
- Add the sodium hydroxide and madder root powder to the water, not the other way around.
- Mix well until combined.
- Leave to cool, it will be very hot.
2. Weigh and melt the oils
- Weigh the oil into a heatproof bowl.
- Melt over a pan of boiling water, or using short bursts in the microwave.
- Stir regularly.
- Once melted, leave to cool.
- In a separate jug, weigh and mix your essential oils.
3. Test the temperatures
- Test the temperature of the sodium hydroxide solution. It should be between 25C and 40C.
- Leave it to cool if necessary, but don't reheat it if it's too cool.
- Test the temperature of the oil mixture. It should be between 35C and 40C.
- Leave it to cool or reheat if necessary.
- Once the temperatures are correct, add the sodium hydroxide solution to the oil mixture.
4. Blend until trace
- Stir with the hand blender, and blend with short pulses.
- Watch for the soap batter starting to thicken.
- Test for trace by dripping soap batter on the surface of the mixture. If the drips sit on the surface before disappearing, your mixture has reached trace.
- Stop blending once your soap has reached trace.
- Add the essential oils.
- Mix and blend a little until combined.
5. Pour into moulds
- Pour your soap moulds. We also provide a range of shaped silicone soap moulds!
- Tap on the work surface to get rid of air bubbles.
- Insulate with towels.
- Leave on a flat surface for 48 hours
6. Leave to cure
- Unmould your soap.
- Place bars with a space in between.
- Leave to cure for 4-6 weeks
Continue Reading
Now you know how to use black walnut powder to colour soap naturally, why not continue reading?
- Want to learn how to infuse tea into soap? Check out our chai tea soap recipe!
- Explore homemade candles with our beeswax candle recipe!
- Did you know our natural butters are sustainably produced from the Amazon Rainforest? Learn more about how we are supporting sustainability here!
How did you find this walnut soap recipe? Let us know how you got on in the comments!
