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Soap & Candle Making

Using Saponaria

17 years ago

Soap Wort (Saponaria) grows all over here. I would love to use in my soapmaking. I have read that infusing the chopped root in warm water is the best way to make soap with it. Has anyone used it in their regular CP soap? Does it add more lather or have any other beneficial effects in regular soap? I want to try making shampoo from the roots, by itself, without the CP soap.

I have read that bracken root is also high in saponins and I have a lot of that, as well.

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simplemary
17 years ago
Saponaria is also known as Bouncing Bet and is a 24" tall, pale pink/white native wildflower along the US's east coast to the midwest. The name is also applied to rock soapwort, a low growing introduced rockgarden groundcover with pretty pink flowers in mid-spring. The root of Bouncing Bet will create a light lather in warm water-- just swish it around. It is historically used for cleaning antique or delicate linens. I have used it as a powdered soap replacement in a muslin bag, but it creates a brown scum & gives a tea-brown tinge to water. While this will wash out without staining, it's a little offputting to the first time user. It does not do much (or anything) to either M&P or CP/HP soap because its saponin content isn't strong enough. If you want to make soap from natural plant sources you might want to try soap BARK or Soap NUTS, both of which are tropical plants. Any of the Yucca roots will also produce (a sometimes sticky) lather.
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