Rhassoul clay
Brown. Sold for facial cleansers. Lovely Greens supplier or guide, Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making primary source, Wholesale Supplies Plus 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
Rhassoul is a Moroccan clay, sold as a fine powder that weighs about 0.5–0.6 g per mL.
Aroma-Zone supplier or guide
How much
- 1–3 tsp per pound of soap filled in Wholesale Supplies Plus supplier or guide
The calculator fills in 1 tsp per pound of soap: 8.5 g for the 1000 g of oils in its starter recipe.
When and how
- Usually: at light trace.
- Mix it with about three times its volume of the recipe’s water, held back for it: a teaspoon of powder to a tablespoon of water.
Bramble Berry supplier or guide
What it does to the recipe
- It changes neither the lye nor the water: it is only weight in the bar.
Worth knowing
- Caution: A study of cosmetic clays found the highest median mercury in rhassoul. Clay heavy metals (2025) primary source
Spoons and drops
- 1 tsp ≈ 2.71 g (2.46–2.96 g)
- 1 tbsp ≈ 8.13 g (7.39–8.87 g)
- 1 cup ≈ 130 g (118–142 g)
Aroma-Zone supplier or guide
INCI name
Moroccan Lava Clay
- CAS number
- 12417-86-6
Recipes that use it
Guides that discuss it
Sources
Lovely Greens, natural soap colorants: cinnamon, "use up to 1 tsp ground cinnamon powder PPO. Be aware that cinnamon leaves a slightly gritty feeling"; beetroot, "Warm to dull brown", "Unfortunately, beets do not color CP/HP soap red"; black walnut hull powder, "Add powder at trace and be aware that they create a scratchy or exfoliating texture"; red sandalwood, "Add 1/4-1/2 tsp powder PPO at trace after premixing in a little oil. Can be very scratchy if you use more than this"; woad, "Add 1-2 tsp powder PPO to the lye solution"; rose hips, "Up to 1 tsp ground rosehip powder PPO"; nettle leaf, "muted green", "Premix dried and powdered nettle leaf with a little water and add at trace. Use 1-3 tsp PPO"; kelp, "Dark green", "at trace at up to 3 tsp PPO. Pre-mix in an equal amount of distilled water"; sage, "muted green that fades with time", or "1 tsp PPO dried sage at trace for dark speckles"; peppermint, "1 tsp PPO finely ground peppermint leaves at trace"; liquid chlorophyll, "stunning greens from using about 1 TBSP PPO", fading "into a greeny-yellow"; cucumber, "initially green but usually fades to a muted yellow"; chamomile, "Infuse flowers in distilled water and use the strained liquid to make the lye solution"; green tea, "Brown-green"; rhassoul clay, "Brown"; French green clay, "pale pastel green to earthy green"; "plant-based greens tend to be fugitive". PPO is per pound of oils.
David Fisher, The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making (Creative Publishing International, 2018): rebatched soaps, "1 tablespoon (6 g) red sandalwood powder" for 1 lb (454 g) of grated soap, and "1 tablespoon (1.5 g) lightly crushed rose petals buds" for a pound (p. 34); "1 to 2 tablespoons (5 to 10 g) ground walnut shells" in one third of 28 oz (794 g) of grated soap (p. 32); "1 tablespoon (9 g) kaolin, bentonite, or French green clay" in another third and "1 teaspoon activated charcoal—a little goes a long way" in the last (p. 32); "2 tablespoons (10 g) lightly ground oatmeal" for 1 lb (454 g) of grated soap (p. 32); in melt and pour, "¼ teaspoon cosmetic glitter" in about 4 ounces (112 g) of clear base (p. 54); in cold process, "2 teaspoons activated charcoal per 1 lb (454 g) of soap oils" (p. 121), and for the three colours of a clay swirl "½ teaspoon rhassoul clay", "½ teaspoon green sea clay" and "½ teaspoon red Moroccan clay", each mixed with 3 tablespoons (45 ml) of distilled water (pp. 121–122).
Wholesale Supplies Plus, rhassoul clay: it "is excellent in facial cleansers and mud masks"; "1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon per pound of base".
Bramble Berry, clay in bath and beauty projects: clay "dispersed in distilled water ... 1:3 ratio of clay to liquid".
Heavy metals in cosmetic clays (PMC12197290): "In Rhassoul clay, the median Hg was the highest".
Aroma-Zone, Moroccan rhassoul, table of equivalents: a level 5 mL scoop 2.5 g, a 10 mL scoop 5.6 g (0.5–0.6 g/mL).