Irish Moss into a soap

This seaweed, Chondrus crispus, is a real discovery for me. I usually use it into my body cream or my hair conditioner. And I tell you what? It's amazing how this seaweed keeps the skin or hair moisturised. 

So, why not into a soap?

For starting, we need to extract the jelly from the seaweed. It's very simple, we need to boil the Irish moss about 20 min. Because of the abundant mucilage, It will form a jelly when boiled. But the jelly has to be half liquid in the pan, not dense as a normal jelly because it gonna become thicker few hours after. The perfect consistency is a liquid-jelly. Not to thick, not to thin, between is the perfect way to incorporate it into a soap. 

The Irish moss can be find easily. You are more likely to find it in any health shop.   

 

Identity

Saponified oils: Olive, coco, grapeseed oil, cacao butter, shea butter, castor oil

Essential oils: none

At trace: Irish moss jelly, 8% of the total oil

Colour: Natural white, purple clay (2 part) and charcoal (1/4 part) for the brown colour

A picture to show you how the consistency of the jelly has to be 

I incorporated the jelly at trace. But before this, I just reduced the amount of water into my lye solution. Not a lot, but because I was adding more "water" to my soap, It was much better to do it. Instead of to have a lye concentration at 29.5%, I used a one with 32.5%. Then I could added my jelly quietly, at 8% of the total oil. If I didn't have reduced my lye concentration, I would have waited for too long to the soap finished his curing time. 

Results

I do really like the natural white colour!! Because I don't want to use titanium dioxide, It's usually difficult to have a proper white colour. I've tried Kaolin, white clay, but It doesn't really worked or you have to put a lot. But with this blend oils, I can have a beautiful natural white. Very pleased with this :)

The carrageen jelly mixed perfectly with the soap pastry, there was no problem at all. And nice surprise as well!!! The soap doesn't smell the sea! I was worried about this, because the mucilage has a sea-like aroma. In my cream and conditioner, I usually put some essential oils, so it's covered perfectly the smell. I didn't put any essential oils on purpose into the soap, I wanted to see if the soap would have smelt the moss and finally, not at all. Ouuf!! Having a shower with a seaweed smell wouldn't be pleasant I think.

Do you know Chondrus Crispus have many goods properties? Seaweed is rich in protein and mineral (zinc, magnesium, calcium) which is rich in iodine but above all, the moss is rich in polysaccharides which gonna protect our skin against external attacks. Fifty-five percent of Irish Moss is made up of a mucilaginous body, the rest is protein and mineral. The mucilage of Irish moss is also famous for his benefits in cosmetics

• moisturiser
• strengthening skin and hair
• smoothing the hair fiber
• softening agent
• soothing emollient

Now, I just have to wait for the result, 1 more month. Patience is a soap maker quality...