Benefits of Sea Kelp in Handmade Soap

​If you’ve ever gone swimming in the ocean and seen the remnants of slimy, dangling lengths of vegetation, then you’ve already seen kelp. Kelps are large, brown seaweed that grow in underwater forests in oceans around the world. It has long been used as flavoring in Asian cuisine and many people also eat dried kelp as a snack.

Packed full of vitamins and minerals, kelp is a potent nutritional supplement and has recently jumped into skincare. If you would like to reap the benefits of using kelp in your handmade soap, read on to see what you can expect.

Exfoliation

Kelp is a great exfoliator. Gritty bits of ground up kelp within the soap gently remove dead cells on the skin, revealing new skin beneath. This also helps unclog pores and improves blood circulation; two things that help reduce and prevent acne.

Gentle Cleansing

While it does a great job exfoliating, kelp soap is not harsh on the skin like many exfoliators. Handmade soap with kelp will not only contain Vitamin E and Niacin from the kelp, but also the wonderful glycerin produced during the soap making process. This allows the soap to clean the skin without stripping it of its precious moisture barrier.

Nourishing

Kelp contains calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, Vitamin K, A1, B6, B12 and more! These vitamins and minerals nourish the skin and help fight free radicals while replenishing the skin with the soap’s glycerin.

Environmentally Friendly

Kelp grows at an astonishing rate and is beneficial to the seabed. Harvesting it does not damage the environment the way some other handmade soap ingredients, like palm oil, do. Also, kelp is a great option for vegetarian or vegan soap since it pairs well with non animal-derived fats.

Final thoughts

While we love handmade kelp soap and hope you will try it, there is little evidence to suggest it helps with fat loss or reduces the appearance of stretch marks, which has been purported in the past. Even without these benefits, kelp is a nourishing, wholesome ingredient to add to your soaps.

How to Stop Your Scent From Fading

​Finding the perfect fragrance for your handmade soap is a great experience. Essential oil or fragrance oil, the scent you chose probably inspired your designs, colors and additives that you put in your soap. So it’s a saddening experience when that carefully chosen scent suddenly fades from your soap after you’re done making it.

Cold process soaps’ pH level can be very hard on the components of certain scents, causing them to break down and smell differently or fade away entirely.

How much fragrance is used in the recipe plays a big part in preventing this. For a general calculation, you can add .8 ounces of fragrance oil or essential oil per pound of cold process soap and for melt and pour, you can add .25 ounces of essential oil per pound or .5 ounces of fragrance oil. This will vary based on the scent used, since some are much stronger than others.

Some scents, like coconut or citrus scents, have a very hard time in cold process soaps. Since cold process requires several pH changes to occur, it can be very difficult for these scents to stay strong. Some companies offer stronger fragrance oils to make up for the loss in scent, but coconut or citrus scents still work great in melt and pour recipes or in bath products.

Another thing to consider is your scent’s flash point. A flash point is the temperature at which, under certain circumstances, the liquid would naturally ignite. Some soap makers believe that a scent heated to its flash point will be damaged and cause its scent to fade. If you’re using a low flash point scent, you may want to avoid gelling your soap, which can cause it to heat to 180° F. Hot process soaps can also reach temperatures of about 160° F.

To ensure your scent has a better chance of staying strong, cure your soap in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight and consider keeping a cotton ball dipped in the scent with your curing soap so it can absorb more.