Chamomile flowers (dried)

David Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making (Creative Publishing International, 2018), p. 19: exfoliants, "Start with 1 to 2 teaspoons per 1 pound (454 g) of oils or soap base"; calendula petals "retain their yellow color nicely"; coffee grounds, "scrubbiness is determined by the coffee’s grind"; "Citrus peel (dried and ground): offers a medium scrub; add at trace"; cornmeal, "medium scrub; premix with oil and add at trace"; eucalyptus leaves, "a medium scrub, especially if not very finely ground"; lavender buds "will turn brown in cold process soap and look like mouse droppings; gently grind them first to avoid this"; loofah, "light to medium scrub"; mint is "prone to bleeding; steep as a tea first"; oatmeal, "like coffee, the scrubbiness is determined by how ground it is"; poppy seeds, "light to medium scrub"; pumice, "heavy-duty scrub; great for mechanic’s or gardener’s hand soaps"; rose hips, "medium to high scrub; also adds natural color"; rose petals "turn black in cold process soap"; sandalwood powder "gives a medium to high scrub, and makes a lovely purple color"; "ground stone fruit pits (apricots, peaches) and berry seeds (ground or whole) give a medium to high scrub factor"; walnut shells, "a nice medium scrub and a lovely medium brown color".

Kelly Cable, The Natural Soap Making Book for Beginners (Althea Press, 2017): "Replacing 25 percent of the water with juice gives the bar a more golden color without browning or causing sugar difficulties"; most juices "turn a dark color within the soap, typically brown"; juices frozen "to a slush" before the lye; "when adding purées, always remove the same weight in water"; 2 ounces of puréed strawberries at light trace for 33 oz of oils, all of it in half of the batch, where "the sugars from the purée can cause this soap to possibly overheat"; "Beet root powder starts off a pretty, bright pink, but when added to soap, it turns brown"; "most herbs turn brown when added at trace. If you want to avoid this, add them to the top of your soap right before it sets"; "Make sure your herbs are very dry before adding them to the soap, as moisture left within herbs can bleed into the soap over time, leaving a brown halo". "Green can be made with spirulina, comfrey leaf, and parsley leaf". Activated charcoal: "Add 1 teaspoon per pound of soap". Recipes, per 31–35 oz of oils: "2 tablespoons ground turmeric" blended into the whole batch (32 oz), and "3 teaspoons ground turmeric" in one of four equal parts (31 oz); "2 teaspoons woad powder" and "1 tablespoon white kaolin clay", each in one of three equal parts (34 oz); 1 tablespoon of dried nettle leaf, or 2 tablespoons; 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon; 1 tablespoon of dried peppermint flakes, "plus more to sprinkle on top"; 1 tablespoon of steeped chamomile flowers at light trace and 2 on top; comfrey, "1 heaping tablespoon comfrey leaf powder" infused in 8 ounces of olive oil, 3 ounces of that oil in the recipe.

Anne-Marie Faiola, Pure Soapmaking (Storey Publishing, 2016), recipes in chapters 8–10. 100% Castile-Brine Stamped Cube: "1 tablespoon sea salt" dissolved in the water before the lye, for 33 oz of olive oil. Oatmeal Soap for Babies: "2 teaspoons bentonite clay dispersed into 4 tablespoons distilled water" and "2 tablespoons colloidal oatmeal" at thin trace, for 15.1 oz of oils whose olive oil is infused with "2 tablespoons Egyptian chamomile" in a teabag in 14.5 oz of oil, 2 hours in a double boiler. Nettle & Yarrow Upcycle: "2 teaspoons dried yarrow powder dispersed into 1 tablespoon apricot kernel oil" in one of two halves of 24.1 oz of oils. Buttermilk Honeycombs: "3 tablespoons honey" at thin trace for 25.1 oz of oils. Banana Cream Pie Layered Bars: "1.2 ounces banana, 1.5 ounces whipping cream, and 1.5 ounces water, pureed" at thin trace for 35.2 oz of oils, then the freezer "for 24 hours to avoid overheating from the sugars in the banana". Annatto-Yarrow with Embeds: "1 tablespoon spirulina powder" and "1 teaspoon yarrow powder", added "directly to the hot lye-water", for 7.1 oz of oils; "2 tablespoons poppy seeds" in one of two halves of 34 oz of oils. Cucumber Layers: "1 ounce cucumber puree" into the whole batch at thin trace, 22 oz of oils. Gardener Scrub with Coffee Grounds: 50 oz of oils, the batter divided "into four exactly equal sections", one each for "5 teaspoons paprika", "5 teaspoons ground orange peel dispersed into 1 tablespoon of canola oil", "5 teaspoons brewed coffee grounds" and "10 teaspoons green zeolite clay". Indigo-Annatto Negative-Space Funnel Pour: "1.5 tablespoons indigo powder" whisked into the lye-water and "1 tablespoon alkanet root powder dispersed into 1 ounce sunflower oil" at very thin trace, 35.2 oz of oils; "In order to bring out the best color for the indigo powder, the soap must go through a hot gel phase". Black Tea Funnel Pour: 5.5 oz of brewed black tea added at thin trace, 5.5 oz of water for the lye, 33.1 oz of oils. Goat Milk Sunset Burst: "0.7 ounce goat milk powder dissolved in 1 ounce distilled water" for 17.1 oz of oils and "1 ounce goat milk powder" for 25.2 oz, added at trace: "To help avoid scorching, this recipe incorporates the goat milk by using a concentrated solution of powdered goat milk."

David Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making (Creative Publishing International, 2018), p. 86: "most all flower petals, except calendula, will turn black when they come into contact with lye"; "Herbs such as rosemary, leaves such as eucalyptus and patchouli, citrus peels, ground rose hips, and teas such as spearmint and peppermint, can all be used to make beautiful soaps. But, like flower petals, they turn brown or black. Most dried leaves, especially rosemary and eucalyptus, need to be ground finely or they can be too scratchy".

Wholesale Supplies Plus, dried lavender, calendula, chamomile, rose, sage and eucalyptus: "Note: Some herbs and botanicals will brown overtime when exposed to hot liquids and high pH." On lavender buds: they "have a tendency to turn brown when mixed into soap of any kind. We have found that they are best used as decoration on the tops of a soap loaf."

Lovely Greens, herbs and dried flowers in soap: "I tend to use 1-3 tsp of plant material per pound (454 g) of soap. One teaspoon for dense material, like poppy seeds, and three teaspoons for fluffier herbs, like calendula petals"; "Calendula flower petals don’t discolor in soap recipes"; "rose petals will turn rusty brown wherever they touch soap, and almost every herb turns dark brown when mixed in"; lavender, "Inside the soap, the buds turn brown"; "most fruit and vegetable juices or purees will turn your soap brown or fade to an unexciting tan or yellow"; "Botanicals can soften, mold, and rot if kept in moist or humid places"; "Too many dried seeds or herbs stirred in can feel scratchy or stop the soap from lathering properly".

E. Paulsen, "Contact sensitization from Compositae-containing herbal remedies and cosmetics", Contact Dermatitis 47 (2002) 189–198: species "including ... German and Roman chamomile (Chamomilla recutita and Chamaemelum nobile), marigold (Calendula officinalis) ... have been suspected of sensitization or elicitation of Compositae dermatitis"; sensitisation "occurs rarely with the majority, especially the widely used German chamomile".

Voyageur Soap & Candle, botanical product pages, "Approx. Cups/ Lb": lavender flowers 17; calendula petals 44; chamomile flowers, whole, 21; red and pink rose petals and buds 22; peppermint leaf, cut and sifted, 15; eucalyptus leaf, cut and sifted, 7; sage, ground, 8; kelp powder (Ascophyllum nodosum) 3; black walnut hulls powder 4. Peppermint and eucalyptus leaves "can be sprinkled into the soap mixture when at a light trace to create a speckled effect"; comfrey leaf goes "into the lye water to create even color distribution which produces a natural green bar, or sprinkle it into the soap mixture when at a light trace". Density = 453.6 g ÷ (cups × 236.6 mL).