Indigo Botanical Colourant

Create beautiful shades of blue with Indigo Powder, a plant-based colourant derived from the leaves of Indigofera tinctoria. Traditionally used as a natural dye, indigo is especially popular in cold process soap, where it can produce shades ranging from soft dusty blue and blue-grey to deeper indigo depending on your recipe, usage rate and method of incorporation. 

Because this is a botanical colourant, some variation between batches and finished products is completely normal — and part of the fun of working with natural colours.

How to Use

Cold Process Soap: Start around ½–1 tsp per lb of soap and adjust to achieve your desired shade. Indigo can be dispersed before adding at trace, incorporated into the lye solution, or used to create an oil infusion. Different methods can produce noticeably different shades.

For a stronger blue, adding indigo to the lye solution is a popular method. For more controlled colouring or swirls, pre-dispersing it before adding to the soap batter can be easier.

Tip: Start light. Indigo is concentrated, and too much can result in very dark soap or coloured lather. Always test in a small batch when developing a new formula.

A Note About Botanical Colourants

Botanical colourants aren't as predictable as micas and mineral pigments. Your finished shade can vary with the colour of your base oils, amount of indigo used, gel phase, soap formula and how the indigo is incorporated. That means one batch may be denim blue while another leans more blue-grey or green-blue.