Dead Sea mud (dry powder)
Sold for facial cleansers. Lovin Soap supplier or guide, Voyageur Soap & Candle supplier or guide
Opens the calculator’s starter recipe, 1000 g of oils, with this additive at the dose it fills in, ready to change.
What it is
Dead Sea mud is a clay from the Dead Sea, sold dry as a greyish-green powder high in magnesium, potassium, sulfate and calcium. Quality varies: some Dead Sea mud cosmetics tested high for lead and cadmium, and others held little Dead Sea mud at all.
Voyageur Soap & Candle supplier or guide, Massadeh et al. (2026) primary source, Abdel-Fattah & Pingitore (2009) primary source
How much
- 4.17 % of the oils filled in (from a published recipe) Soap Deli News supplier or guide
- 1.01 tbsp per pound of oils (from a published recipe) Lovin Soap supplier or guide
The calculator fills in 4.17 % of the oils: 41.7 g for the 1000 g of oils in its starter recipe.
When and how
- Usually: into the oils.
- Stir it in as it is.
Soap Deli News supplier or guide, Lovin Soap supplier or guide
What it does to the recipe
- It changes neither the lye nor the water: it is only weight in the bar.
Voyageur Soap & Candle supplier or guide
Worth knowing
- Caution: Quality varies: some Dead Sea mud cosmetics have tested above the strictest guideline levels for lead and cadmium, and others held little Dead Sea mud. Ask your supplier for an analysis. Massadeh et al. (2026) primary source, Abdel-Fattah & Pingitore (2009) primary source
- Use the dry powder: mud sold wet carries water the calculator does not count. Soap Deli News supplier or guide
Spoons and drops
- No source weighs a spoonful of it: weigh it.
INCI name
CosIng has no single INCI name for it: label it by what it contains.
Recipes that use it
Guides that discuss it
Sources
Lovin Soap, Dead Sea Mud & Argan Oil Facial Bar (2016): "Dead Sea Mud – 2 tablespoons (you can add more or less)" for 900 g of oils, added with the essential oils "to the melted oils. Stick-blend to get rid of clumps", then the lye. Whether the mud is wet or dry is not said.
Voyageur Soap & Candle, Dead Sea Clay: "INCI: Maris Limus"; "Colour: Greyish-Green"; a dry powder of 15 microns from Israel, for facial masks, cold- and hot-process soap and bath bombs; "high levels of magnesium, potassium, sulfate and calcium". It gives no dose.
Soap Deli News, sea mud soap: "1.5 oz. Dead Sea clay" for 36 oz of oils, weighed and stick-blended into the oils "until all of the dried mud is fully incorporated", then the lye; "You will need to use dry sea clay for this recipe that is in its powdered clay form rather than sea mud that has been reconstituted with water."
R. Massadeh, I. Al-Momani and D. Albals, "Analysis of heavy metal concentrations in cosmetics derived from Dead Sea mud and comparative products", Biological Trace Element Research 204 (2026) 3776–3787: 95 samples of raw Dead Sea mud and mud-based cosmetics; against Canadian and German benchmarks "Pb and Cd occasionally exceeded stricter “technically avoidable” thresholds", which underscores "the importance of routine quality control of raw materials and finished products".
A. Abdel-Fattah and N. E. Pingitore, "Low levels of toxic elements in Dead Sea black mud and mud-derived cosmetic products", Environmental Geochemistry and Health 31 (2009) 487–492: no toxic elements at levels of concern in three mud deposits or 16 commercial Dead Sea mud cosmetics, but the products’ elemental fingerprints showed that "Dead Sea black mud should not be a significant component" of many of them.