I had a lot of fun making this soap. I’ve been wanting to make a charcoal soap recipe with a peppermint scent and white specks or swirls for a while now. I like the white on black or black with white highlights look. It just seems that peppermint fits. Of course, you can add whatever scent you prefer.
It make a great present: a pretty Valentine’s Day gift for your mom, daughter, or friend, Mother’s Day gift, Wedding or Baby Shower favors when cut into cute 2oz bars. You have so many fun options with this beautiful charcoal bar.
When I make a soap recipe, I make it first and foremost healthy. What’s the point in making something to go on your skin if it has bad ingredients in it? There are too many healthy options to think you need to choose anything toxic.
What I love about activated charcoal is that it helps make a soap that is amazing for your skin. I’ve had testimony after testimony about how my tea tree charcoal soap has gotten rid of acne, eczema, and other skin related issues. The tea tree helps kill bacteria, but it’s the charcoal that gives the skin a deep cleanse.
Peppermint is bright and uplifting. It is very cooling in the summertime. Another reason I thought the light and dark with a bright scent would go well together.
Layers and Swirls
It adds an extra bit of beauty to add a thin line of color on the bottom. This is easy to do by just pouring a little bit of the batch into the bottom of your mold before you add the charcoal. You can choose how thick or thin you’d like to make that layer.
Remember, with layers you need your batter to be at thick trace so that one color doesn’t sink into the other. But you usually want moderately thin trace to make pretty swirls. So how does that work? Well, the lovely thing about this recipe is that it shows how forgiving soap making can be. I have pictures to demonstrate.
Separating Colors
To make this charcoal soap recipe, you’ll need to weigh and melt the oils and weigh and mix your lye water, just as you would any cold process soap recipe. Add lye water to oils when temperatures are around 100 degrees. Blend until medium light trace and blend in essential oils. Pour a small layer on the bottom of your prepared mold.
Add charcoal to the large main batch, combine, and you’re ready to go to work.
Layering Colors
You’ll need to move quickly and carefully. Slowly scoop or pour the charcoal soap over a spatula onto the white soap layer. Smooth the charcoal layer as best you can over the top.
My soap was hardening very quickly, so by the time I took a few pictures and went to drizzle the white soap over the top for layers, I had a thick pudding like consistency to work with. Not to be discouraged, I went ahead and blobbed it onto the top of my soap in horizontal “lines”. This is what I mean about soap making often being very forgiving. Swirls are the most easily beautiful creation to make in soap, because they can start off being messy blobs and end up in beautiful designs.
I literally just took a dowel rod and made tiny swirls until I was happy with how it looked. Be careful not to put the dowel rod down to the bottom. You don’t want to ruin that bottom flat layer.
Peppermint Charcoal Soap Recipe
This recipe is for 12 four ounce bars or 48oz. 5% Superfat content.
Combine oils and fats in a large pot. Melt and cool to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Wearing appropriate safety equipment, go outside and add lye to water and stir until dissolved. Let cool until it is around 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
When both oils and lye water are at desired temperatures, pour lye water into oils and use a stick blender to blend on and off until light-medium trace.
Add essential oil and blend.
Pour a thin layer of cream colored soap into a lined mold.
Remove 1 cup of cream colored soap and set aside.
Slowly pour black soap into the mold. Use a spatula to catch the flow so that it gently lays into the mold. Smooth with a spatula.
Take the cup of cream soap that you removed and pour it in horizontal stripes back and forth over the mold. Then take a dowel rod and carefully, without touching the bottom and ruining your bottom layer, swirl the dowel rod in small circles to drag the white soap into pretty swirls on the top of your batch.
Activated Charcoal Soap Color Guide for Soapmakers. Activated charcoal usage rate: The standard recommendation for activated charcoal is to use 1/8 up to 1tsp of charcoal per pound of oil (PPO).
Charcoal soap helps to absorb excess oil, dirt, product buildup and harmful bacteria from your skin, all of which are leading causes of common breakouts. Charcoal also works as an anti-inflammatory, absorbing substances that inflame the skin so it can prevent redness and leave you with cleaner, clearer skin.
Even if you don't necessarily have any particular skin concerns, having a deep clean is a good idea at least once or twice a week. Charcoal soap is a great option to use for facial skin care. It removes excess oil from your skin as well as dirt and other toxins, giving you clear and oil-free skin.
Ever since I discovered activated charcoal for use in cold process soap, I've been in love with the black it produces. It really is one of the only colourants that I know of that makes a black. I've tried different black mica and clays, but they all turned into various shades of grey.
It blends well with lavender, rosemary, tea tree, eucalyptus, lemongrass to name but a few but go easy as it will over power many other essential oils. It can be used alone at up to 3% of the weight of your soap but is such a strong scent that 2% works well.
Activated charcoal is the ultimate natural detox. It can bind to toxins and flush them out of the body. And when applied to the skin, it has the same effect. The activated charcoal soap binds to dirt in your pores and washes it out.
Soap - Activated charcoal soap is exceptional for clearing your pores, removing body odors, oils and leaving the skin refined and tighter. Some soaps are made with avocado oil which deeply moisturise the skin.
For gray soap, start with 1 teaspoon charcoal per pound of oils. For black soap, start with 1/2 tablespoon charcoal per pound of oils. If your soap goes through gel phase, it will help make it dark black!
African Black Soap can be used by itself for acne, blemishes, aging skin, and hyperpigmentation. Activated charcoal is not a soap but must be added to soap bases made from lye to create what is called black soap. The source of the charcoal is unknown and may contain petrochemicals.
Its large surface area allows it to absorb toxins, which is why activated charcoal in soap theoretically binds to dirt and oil on the skin and helps clear out pores. While there's no good evidence that activated charcoal actually benefits skin, it's generally considered safe to use.
Activated charcoal is considered safe for most people when used as directed. However, charcoal soap disadvantages may include side effects, such as skin dryness, redness, or irritation. If you have delicate skin, it's always best to test out a new product on a small area of your skin before using it all over your face.
Moisturize: After using charcoal soap, it's important to moisturize your skin to help prevent dryness. Use a moisturizer that's appropriate for your skin type to help lock in moisture and keep your skin hydrated.
If activated charcoal is not premixed, a slurry can be made with activated charcoal in a 1 to 8 ratio of activated charcoal to a suitable liquid such as water, cola, or flavored syrups.
Adults and teenagers—Dose is usually 25 to 100 grams mixed with water. Children 1 through 12 years of age—Dose is usually 25 to 50 grams mixed with water, or the dose may be based on body weight. It may be 0.5 to 1 gram per kilogram (kg) (0.23 to 0.45 gram per pound) of body weight mixed with water.
Generally, you should add no more than 1% of each additional (non-fragrance/essential oil) ingredient. The total amount of additives (essential oil + clay + powder + botanical) is 1.525 oz which is 4.76% of the 32 oz soap base – safely within the additive range.
Introduction: My name is Carlyn Walter, I am a lively, glamorous, healthy, clean, powerful, calm, combative person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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