Ingredient focus: French Green Clay

We are always on the look out for new ingredients to add to our line of soaps.  And over this past fall we have received a number of requests for a soap made of Green French Clay. I have heard of it, but neither of us know much about it.  So research has begun to find a source, and a recipe that will utilize it effectively.

What is it?
French Green Clay also sometimes sold as Sea Clay is by far one of the most majestic, most effective, and most commonly used mineral skin clays found throughout our global community.
French Green Clay (AKA Illite Clay or Sea Clay) contains a bounty of valuable elements, which include montmorillonite, several (up to 9) important mineral oxides, magnesium, calcium, potassium, dolomite, silica, manganese, phosporous, silicon, copper, and selenium. Green clay owes its coloration to 2 very important factors, which ultimately decide a good quality clay from a poor quality clay. They are, iron oxides, and decomposed plant matter…..Yes, that is correct, decomposed plant matter. The natural green tones found in this luxurious clay are from the very cycles of life this earth uses to regenerate itself. Color matters – the clay should be very green, rather than gray to take advantage of all of the

How does it work?
Unlike other clays where key elements work in symbiosis off of each other, French Green contains several elements which act as their own “body”. In French Green Clay, each element is responsible for working the outer epidermis (skin) in its own way and in dispensing their biological constituents as best as possible.

How is it manufactured?
French Green Clay is quarry mined from deposits that can range anywhere from 100 feet to several thousand feet. This depends on the health and vitality of the land it is on and how far a producer will have to go to find the right clay with the right color and consistency.
From here it is mined and brought out into the sun to remove excess water and moisture and to make it easier to work with. Now begins the final transformation…it gets heavily processed (ground) with huge hydraulic crushers and then micronized (finely pulverized) with more micromanaged, fine mesh equipment. After it is processed, it is laid out in the sun one more time to dry in hopes of removing the final amounts of moisture.

What are we doing with French Green Clay?

We have had a number of our customers ask if we would consider creating a facial bar of soap that is designed for specifically the skin on our face.  We have several formulations to test, and hopefully within the month we will be introducing our new French Green Clay Facial Bar.

In order to bring this new product to market we have made a batch of each of the formulas, allowed it to cure, and we have asked several people to test it.  (Yeah, i get to try it too!)

While the trials are going on it is my task to develop packaging for the product.  We will be making 3 inch diameter by 1 inch thick bars.

I have been collecting interesting box patterns from the internet… in fact this is where i found the box pattern we use for our shave soap.  A slight modification of that pattern will work great for the french green clay soap… and now to source out a heavier card stock in green… not too subtle, huh!