Bein’ Green Swirled Soap, Music Inspired Series


The second song that inspired me is also from the Kermit Unpigged album. Bein’ Green was performed by Don Henley and Kermit the Frog. This song always was a comfort when I was dealing with personal troubles and even now, it feels like a hug from Mom on a bad day.

I wanted to make a swirled soap that was was green in color and I decided that a little bit of white would be a good addition to make the green feel dimensional. Now that I had made my color decision, I had to choose a fragrance that made me think green. I didn’t have Cucumber or Green Clover & Aloe, otherwise those would have been my first choices. After looking through my fragrance selection, I chose Esme as my fragrance. Esme smells fresh, green and calm which I think would describe a cologne Kermit might wear.

Let’s go have fun while making soap!

Collect needed items:

Ingredients
Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
Olive Oil
Palm Kernel Oil
Shea Butter
Sodium Hydroxide
Water
Esme Fragrance Oil
Moss Green Color
White Lip Balm Color
Equipment
Scale
Soap Buckets
Soap Spoon
Gloves
Mold of your choice (I’m using a silicone mold.)
Immersion Blender
Drinking straw

Recipe:

Recipe in ounces:
8.25 ounces Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
6.875 ounces Olive Oil
5.5 ounces Palm Kernel Oil
1.375 ounces Shea Butter
2.97 ounces Sodium Hydroxide (6% superfat)
8 ounces Water
0.56 ounces Esme Fragrance Oil (strong)
3/4 teaspoon Moss Green Color
1/2 teaspoon White Lip Balm Color
Recipe in grams:
234 grams Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
195 grams Olive Oil
156 grams Palm Kernel Oil
39 grams Shea Butter
84.15 grams Sodium Hydroxide (6% superfat)
234 grams Water
16 grams Esme Fragrance Oil (strong)
3/4 teaspoon Moss Green Color
1/2 teaspoon White Lip Balm Color
Recipe in Percentages
37.5% Soybean Oil
31.25% Olive Oil
25% Palm Kernel Oil
6.25% Shea Butter
q.s. Sodium Hydroxide
q.s. Water
q.s. Esme Fragrance Oil
q.s. Moss Green Color
q.s. White Lip Balm Color

*q.s. = Quantity Sufficient. This is an ingredient that needs to have the amount calculated to match the size of batch that you are making.

Making Soap:
Measure fixed oils on your scale. Warm the fixed oils on the stove or in the microwave. I melted the oils in a microwave. Add sodium hydroxide to the water. Mix well. At this point, I added the fragrance to the oils because I didn’t want to forget to add it.

Once the oils and lye solution temperatures have dropped to a lower temperature (my temperatures were around 120 degrees Fahrenheit), combine oils and lye solution. Mix until thin trace. Divide the soap into two parts. I learned a lesson from my Born To Be Wild soap, so I weighed the soap as I was dividing it. I used 7 ounces or 200 grams of raw soap for my white color and 24.5 ounces or 700 grams for my green color. Add one color to each batch of raw soap and mix well starting from lightest to darkest to not have to clean the blender between colors.

Alternate pouring the two colors of soap into the mold and use a drinking allow create a swirling pattern. I used the straw too much and had started to mix the colors together, so the swirl was not as defined as I wanted it to be. Allow to sit until soap is firm. The next morning cut into bars. Stack to allow good air circulation. Allow to cure for several days before using. Longer curing will result in a harder bar.

Soap Notes: This soap had a light scent that was significantly stronger after the soap was wet. The lather was a combination of creamy lather and big bubbles. I like the feeling the soap left on my skin after washing my hands.

Kermit Unpigged Notes: This album was released in 1994. While the album reached #20 on Billboard’s Top Kid Audio chart, sales for the album were low. This was the last album produced by Jim Henson Records. Kermit Unpigged is an out-of-print album and sells for varying prices depending on the current market demands. At this time, there is not a digital version available for sale.

What do you think? Would you try this soap?

Bars of soap after being cut.

Bars of soap after being cut.

Adding the lye solution to the melted oils.

Adding the lye solution to the melted oils.

Blending the lye solution and oils together.

Blending the lye solution and oils together.

Adding the White Lip Balm Color to the raw soap.

Adding the White Lip Balm Color to the raw soap.

Adding the Moss Green to the raw soap.

Adding the Moss Green to the raw soap.

The Moss Green is completely mixed into the raw soap.

The Moss Green is completely mixed into the raw soap.

Pouring the soap into the mold.

Pouring the soap into the mold.

Swirling the soap.

Swirling the soap.

Continuing to pour the soap into the mold.

Continuing to pour the soap into the mold.

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Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)
Bein' Green Swirled Soap, Music Inspired Series, 5.0 out of 5 based on 2 ratings

About Andee

Director of Happiness. I'm a thirty-something soap snob. I've grown up with handmade soaps, and I love them! I really like making lotions, soaps, and perfumes. I adore mixing scents to come up with something new. My favorite scent is either Wicked or Cotton Candy. I tend to hoard fragrances, I even have an Earl Grey Tea from the MMS catalog. I won't tell you how old it is, but it sure is good!

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