Sunday, November 4, 2012

Glacial Marine Clay Soap





I have had glacial clay in my stash for a while, but just haven’t gotten around to using it lately. I should be using it more, I wish I had thought to use it in some of the swaps I have done lately. Glacial Marine Clay (INCI: Canadian Colloidal Clay) is an extremely mineral-rich clay that is harvested from the pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada. 

It comes as a greenish-grey powder and belongs to the green family of clays. Glacial marine clay can be used in a variety of products including facial masks, mud baths, body wraps, and of course soap. It is gently exfoliating and has a pH factor of 6.5-7.3, very close to neutral. 




To use it in soap, I hydrated it in a bit of distilled water first. I used just a little bit of glacial clay in one layer of my soap log, as I couldn't recall how much to use for a gentle exfoliation. This picture of the side of the soap log shows the layer of glacial clay better:
And cut:
I used black oxide for a darker grey contrast but next time I will use more clay, as the piece I lathered up today wasn't too scratchy at all.

EDITED TO ADD: I forgot to mention that this soap log started to crack in a couple of places on the top after I had poured it, so I used the trick of spritzing the top liberally with rubbing alcohol and then smoothing the cracks with my gloved hands, it worked great!

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18 comments:

  1. Oh, I had never heard before of glacial clay. Sounds nice. I haven´t noticed that clays would make soaps scratchy. Only more slippery and smooth.

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  2. Hm, I must be mixing it up with another ingredient I used before that made the soap scratchy. That's good to know, next time I will feel confident adding more!

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  3. I have never heard of this clay before, Cee! You made me curious, I will have to find it too :)

    Your soap is for sure the finest one!

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    1. Thanks so much Natalia! If you have trouble finding the clay, please let me know...I'd be happy to share some of mine with you :)

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    2. So sweet of you, Cee! I will look for it,if I don't find it, I will let you know! Thanks!

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    3. My pleasure, just let me know!

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  4. Cee,I don't understand these pictures. On the first one, I see only two layers,and three on the second one? What's the catch here? The first soap was poured into your favorite cake container,and the second one into the log mold? Or what?
    I can't wait too see this second one cut! Looks like nice masculine soap. Did you use any fragrance?

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    1. Hi Maja! Sorry for the confusion, I realize I didn’t explain it very well in my original post. What I did is I split the batch into 2 parts and poured some soap into the little individual cake containers and the rest as a log. In the first picture (the soap poured in the cake container), the lighter swirl on top is the clay…the swirl looks white in the picture, but it’s actually light grey. I hadn’t cut the log yet by the time I posted this, because I tried a new recipe and the soap log still felt a little soft to cut. I'm hoping to cut it today though and will post pictures once it's cut =) Oh, and the fragrance I used was Tahitian Waterfall from Nature's Garden, which is actually quite a fresh and clean fragrance...I love it!

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    2. Ok,that's what I thought you had done.
      Now,let's wait for the cutting part!

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  5. Gorgeous soap, Cee Gee! I love the gray and white layers. I have never heard of glacial clay, either, but it sounds lovely.

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    1. Thank you Jenny, I really appreciate it! :D

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  6. Ooooh yes,it's beautiful! I have to say that I better like log mold design than individual's. It really looks masculine,but I bet neither lady would mind having it (that's where I belong)

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  7. Beautiful soap! Color gradation is perfect, you did a grate job!

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  8. Beautiful , colour gradation gives a special effect!

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  9. I've never heard of glacial clay either. Love the color gradation...gorgeous!

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  10. Thanks Maja, Gordana, Natalia and Kalla :) I do like the gradient layers too, I didn't really plan for it to have a gradient effect, but I'm glad it did!

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  11. I can not find this clay anywhere :(

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