Brown iron oxide
Brown.
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
Brown iron oxide is sold either as black iron oxide alone or as a blend of iron oxides: Voyageur lists CI 77491, 77492 and 77499, Bramble Berry CI 77499 only.
Voyageur Soap & Candle supplier or guide, Bramble Berry supplier or guide
How much
- up to 0.5 tsp per pound of soap filled in Wholesale Supplies Plus supplier or guide
The calculator fills in 0.5 tsp per pound of soap: 4.8 g for the 1000 g of oils in its starter recipe.
When and how
- Usually: at light trace.
- Mix it first with a little of the recipe’s oil, about a teaspoon of powder to a tablespoon of oil, so it spreads without specks.
Voyageur Soap & Candle supplier or guide, Bramble Berry supplier or guide, Faiola, Soap Crafting primary source
What it does to the recipe
- It changes neither the lye nor the water: it is only weight in the bar.
Worth knowing
- Stirred in dry, it leaves specks: mix it with a little oil or water first. Wholesale Supplies Plus supplier or guide
- Too much colours the lather. Lovin Soap supplier or guide
Spoons and drops
- 1 tsp ≈ 3.08 g (2.96–3.2 g)
- 1 tbsp ≈ 9.24 g (8.87–9.61 g)
- 1 cup ≈ 148 g (142–154 g)
Aroma-Zone supplier or guide
INCI name
CosIng has no single INCI name for it: label it by what it contains.
Guides that discuss it
Sources
Voyageur Soap & Candle, brown oxide: "INCI: CI77491, CI77492, CI77499"; "In Cold Process Soap, mix your desired amount of colourant with a small amount of your soap oils, a lightweight carrier oil, liquid glycerin or warm water, before adding the colourant to your soap at a light trace."
Bramble Berry, brown oxide pigment (INCI "Iron Oxide (CI 77499)"): "For cold process, mix 1 teaspoon with 1 tablespoon of lightweight oil. Add 1 tsp. of dispersed pigment at a time"; "Color Bleeds?: no".
Anne-Marie Faiola, Soap Crafting (Storey, 2013): clays, 1.5–2 teaspoons mixed with 1–1.5 tablespoons of distilled water per colour, mixed fresh just before use (Clay Spoon-Plop, p. 166); oxides dispersed in oil first; LabColors diluted in distilled water heated to 140 °F; mica "becomes shimmery, offering a sparkle not seen with other colorants", takes its colours from what it is coated with, and "Mica both reflects and refracts light, so it works best in clear products" (p. 43).
Wholesale Supplies Plus, soap colorants guide: titanium dioxide is "prized for its dense, white opacity", and "A single teaspoon is sufficient to lighten one pound of soap"; "half of this amount or even less for brown oxide and red oxide"; oxides "must be thoroughly mixed with oil before use"; micas offer "a spectrum of bright hues"; ultramarines have "potential to emit sulfurous odors".
Lovin Soap, colouring soap: pigments "color lather if too much is used"; natural colourants "do tend to fade".
Aroma-Zone, brown mineral oxide (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), technical sheet: a level 5 mL scoop 3 g, a 2 mL scoop 1.3 g (0.60–0.65 g/mL).
Pigment grades differ: weigh it where the shade matters.