After falling madly in love with my Everyday French Green Clay Bar I decided I needed more of them. Clay bars are downright fantastic for daily light clay use and they’re far more travel friendly than a baggie of mysterious looking powder (especially if you’re flying). This Pink Rose Clay Bar version features two gentle clays and some other goodies to create a pretty pink bar just in time for Valentine’s Day.
The bulk of this bar is a blend of Australian pastel pink clay and white white kaolin clay (USA / Canada). Both are relatively fine clays with great balancing and detoxing properties. The paler kaolin also helps dilute the Aussie pink clay, which is quite highly pigmented (your washcloths will thank me).
To the clays I’ve added some colloidal oatmeal (USA / Canada). This pale green powder is basically just superfine oat flour, and brings all the wonderful benefits of oatmeal to the bar without the scrubbiness the bran brings. With natural moisturizers and anti-inflammatory goodies, it’s a great addition.
Witch hazel and aloe vera hydrate the powders into a paste, and then leave behind astringent and healing goodness when the water evaporates away.
And last, but definitely not least, some fragrant rose wax and coconut oil. Just the smallest amount of rose wax imbues the bar with a wonderful floral scent that is classically luxurious.
All that’s left now is to mash everything together, pack it into a mould, and let it dry over a few days. You won’t regret it.
The final bar is heavy and lightly rose-scented. I find it glides on more easily than my French Green Clay Bar, absorbing water faster and coating the skin quickly. To use, run the bar under warm water and glide it over your face. Be sure to set the bar aside to dry out between uses.
Pink Rose Clay Bar
1/3 cup Australian pastel pink clay
1/3 cup white white kaolin clay (USA / Canada)
2 tsp colloidal oatmeal (USA / Canada)
2 tbsp witch hazel
2 tbsp aloe vera juice
1g | 0.03oz rose wax
7g | 0.25oz virgin coconut oilSir the clays and colloidal oatmeal (USA / Canada) together in a bowl, and melt the coconut oil and rose wax together. Add the witch hazel, aloe vera juice, rose wax, and coconut oil, and mash everything together until you have a thick paste.
Press the mixture into a silicone mould and leave it to dry for several days. As it dries it will pull away from the edges of the mould and will be easy to turn out.
To use, wet your face and the bar, and then run the bar over your face to leave a thin layer of clay. Let it dry before rinsing off, and follow up with some argan oil.
What a fun idea, I have all the ingredients except the rose wax. Is there something else I can substitute? Thanks!
I chat about this in the FAQ 🙂
I’m curious, what exactly is the purpose of a clay bar? Is it for exfoliation or for cleaning (i.e. like soap)?
It’s for a quick, easy clay mask. You wet it, run it over your skin, and let the clay dry before rinsing it off.
Too funny! I literally just made your french green clay bar yesterday (still drying in the mould) and was thinking I have to experiment with a different clays and different ingredients if I liked it. Thanks for another idea! 🙂
Great minds think alike 😉
Oooo I can’t wait to try this. Do you melt the floral wax a little to combine?
Also I’ve never really used facial masks (probably should) so how often do you use this clay bar?
Yes, you’ll have to melt the rose wax with the coconut oil—good catch!
I usually use a clay bar a couple times a week in addition to a weekly face mask, but how often you’ll want to use one will depend a lot on your skin type 🙂
looks tempting! I assume the water part eventually evaporates, so it won’t need the preservative? How long do you think it can be fresh? Also, once you wash it off, doesn’t it leave a greasy pink on skin? Once I’ve tried pink clay with some oil to use as a mask and don’t like it because of that effect 🙁
Yup, the bar dries completely so you don’t need a preservative at all. As long as you let the bar dry between uses spoilage isn’t an issue as bacteria require water to survive.
I have found this bar can leave a bit of a pink tint for a while, but I usually use it before bed and I never notice anything the following morning. If you’re extra prone to staining, just trade out some more of the pink clay for extra kaolin.
if say I wanted to add a preservative to be on the safe side could you ise geogard ?
I’d probably go with liquid germall plus or germaben II if I was going to incorporate one—they both have broader pH tolerances 🙂
As usual…you’ve given me another recipe to try, gift and add to my collection. Love-love-love! Thanks for all you do!!!! Hugs!
Thanks, Kim! Enjoy 🙂
Ach! Is my computer broken??? I use a VPN to see your site here in China and sometimes that means pages do not always come up the same day after day. You used to have at the bottom of your post called something along these lines, “If you liked this post check out these” and maybe six or eight different pictures linking to previous posts.
I love these clay bars. I made a couple with oodles of various clays and a couple essential oils for Christmas this past year and had the ladies over to make their own.
Thanks for another great idea!!!
Hi Penny,
I am also living in China (Beijing) and I love doing my own cosmetics and soaps as well. When I saw your message, I could not resist to write you back.
I would be really interested in discussing with you about where you buy your products (I am currently buying my products from France as I did not find a supplier here in China) in China and share with you about DIY cosmetics and recipes 🙂
You can contact me via email if you want.
Looking forward hearing from you 🙂
Hi Sarah! Penny won’t be able to see your email address, but if she’s ok with it I can introduce the two of you in a joint email 🙂
Hello!!! Darn tootin I would LOVE to be put in contact with Sarah. Do you have any idea how much I would be thrilled to actually talk to someone without their eyes glazing over about how quick my latest creation of soap took to reach a light trace, or ask someone a question about what their opinions are of using shea butter or mango butter in said batch of soap!!!!
It would be heaven!!!
I usually just start talking to people and damn their expressions (or their lack of understanding the English language) just to voice my opinion and hear myself speak the question then come up with the answer because I heard the question. But to ask someone and get an answer- that would be so new!!!!!! It has never happened before!
Ok! The intro email has been sent to the emails you both use to comment on my site 🙂
Your computer isn’t broken, the related posts thing is just disabled right now 🙂
I’m so glad you’re loving clay bars! They’re my new go-to for travel mask alternatives.
So, this is for doing facials?
It’s for a quick, easy clay mask. You wet it, run it over your skin, and let the clay dry before rinsing it off 🙂
Hi Marie,
I just wondered if you would recommend adding some activated charcoal into this recipe. I love this ingredient and would like to try it in this clay bar.
LOVE your receipes….look forward to my inbox every Thursday and Monday 🙂
Hi Chantel! You could add some activated charcoal, but only if you’re not afraid of a regular mess! Even small amounts of activated charcoal can turn things very dark and get very messy 🙂
Hi Marie,
What is rose wax? New Directions AUS (where I live) and other soap suppliers don’t stock it. Is there something else I could use? Thanks for all your fabulous recipes!
Hi Rosy! Rose wax is a byproduct of the rose absolute distilling process, and is a great way to get the scent of rose for a fraction of the price. If you can’t find rose wax I cover subs/alternatives here 🙂
Can’t get aloe juice here. I have all the other ingredients. So what can I substitute the aloe juice with? Thanks. Can’t wait to try it out
you can buy aloe juice in the supermarket
You can, but I don’t recommend it as it’s usually not really the same thing, like how cocoa butter and a chocolate bar aren’t the same thing. Aloe juice from the supermarket often as added colours, texture modifiers, and preservatives (and the potential of sweeteners as well), meaning it’s not that great of an alternative to the raw, real stuff.
I do not live in the United States – Aloe Vera juice is not sold here – I used rose water instead . Bars came out great
Rose water is a great alternative! Glad they turned out well 🙂
You can just use more water 🙂
Marie, I just bought rose wax with my last supply order! Huh. Are you psychic? Are you paying attention to my stock cupboard? I was out of aloe vera juice so I increased the witch hazel to compensate and it worked out great. Actually, I used 1 tsp glycerin and topped up with witch hazel to equal 4 tbsp of liquid. Lovely little mask and great presentation – I like the bar format very much. Thanks for sharing yet another great idea. Big hugs.
As an aside, I use a lot of rose during the dreary & grey Vancouver winters. A few years ago a massage therapist used rose absolute (!) in the massage oil and I was transported to a luxurious place of abundant love. I’ve always thought of rose as a heavy and “old” fragrance but now I know it differently and turn to it when I feel the pull of melancholy. Rose essential oil (and rosewood and rose geranium) truly has quite a visceral affect on my well-being. Too much info? Oh well, somehow I think you’ll appreciate this sentiment.
Ha! What a wonderful coincidence 🙂
I know exactly what you mean about rose—I thought it was the kind of thing that would always smell of grandmothers and velvet curtains (which I love, but do not want to smell of haha), but true rose, used sparingly, is just divine!
I was not able to find rosewax anywhere..so what i did was use beeswax, and after that was melted with the coconut oil, i added some drops of Arabian Rose FO to that mixture to give it a nice rose scent. Worked perfectly! Thank you for the great ideas!
Hi Jeanette! I’m glad that swap worked for you, but for future reference, rosewax has the texture of something more like shea butter, so adding beeswax really isn’t necessary 🙂
Hi Marie,
Thanks so much for these clay bar recipes. We first chatted about this a while ago–I made my own clay bars but not that well, and I am benefitting from your expertise and experiments! 🙂
I made your green clay bar and really like it, but I agree with your assessment that it is hard and does not apply very easily. I noticed in this recipe that you said this bar applies more easily/glides better, and I am wondering if you have any idea what specific steps led it to be better? I’m going to branch out myself, but hoped for a pointer if you have ideas.
Thanks–I’m so glad you ventured into this territory! 🙂
Margo
At this point my hypothesis is that it’s the zinc oxide, since zinc oxide is insoluble and known for creating a barrier against water. I’ve got another bar in the works so help expand on this theory 🙂
Ooh I can’t wait! And thanks for the pointer.
🙂
Hi!
Do you use witch hazel extract or distillate?
I use the distillate—alcohol free it I can get it 🙂
Hi Marie. I made your bars, but as they dried out, the got white mold on them, and even when I wipe it off, it keeps coming back. Any idea why, since no one else mentions this problem. I don’t live in a particularly humid environment. And, any idea what I can do about it?
Hi Shawnda! I’ve had this happen when the bars didn’t dry fast enough, which can happen with poor ventilation, if you add extra water, or if you add extra oils. I wouldn’t keep using the bars after they mould, though… sorry 🙁 Next time, try making a smaller bar and removing it from the mould ASAP and placing it on a wire rack so it can dry as fast as possible. You might also try halving the amount of coconut oil.
How long does this bar last? What can I do to prevent molding as the bar dries?
Keep it dry for the majority of the time and it should last until the oil in it goes rancid.
Hi! The green clay bar turned out great but when I tried this recipe I used regular oatmeal instead of colloidal oatmeal and left out the rose wax and they moulded.. It seemed a lot more wet than the green clay bar… Do you think it was the oatmeal that got mouldy?
Hi Caileigh! I would hypothesize that it was the oatmeal that got mouldy as oatmeal is a delicious thing for bacteria (organic and delectable) whereas clay is inorganic and not terribly tasty. Any extra liquid would be problematic as well, because the longer the bar is wet, the longer bacteria has to jump on board.
Hello Marie! This looks awesome- you always have such wonderful and creative ideas! I was wondering if a liquid oil could be used instead of the coconut oil in this recipe. Would it not be as hard or what would happen? Could you add some soap berry powder or some sort of natural foaming plant powder to this to add some suds? What percentage would you recommend to add it at?
Hey! A liquid oil should work, the quantities are so low that the oil doesn’t help with hardening. I wouldn’t add any botanicals to this bar as it greatly increases the likelihood of the bar moulding (I tried a green tea one and it was promptly very fuzzy and disgusting), regardless of whether or not the botanical foams.
H love the recipe. I am unsure how much is:
1/3 cup Australian pastel pink clay
1/3 cup white kaolin clay
Any possibility of coverting to tablespoons? Thanks
Hey Geeta! Your set of measuring cups should have a 1/3 cup measure between the 1/4 and 1/2 ones—that’s what I used. For reference, there are 16 tablespoons in a cup, and 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon. 16/3 = 5.33, so that would be 5 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon.
If I was to add a Rose Geranium essential oil to this how many drops would you suggest?
10? 20? It’s really up to you, stop when you think it smells nice 🙂
Hi Marie,
Thanks for this – I am definitely going to try this!
Can I add sodium cocoyl isoethionate to this to get it to foam as I wash it off?
Thanks
You definitely can! I’ve been having fun adding it to loads of things 😀
Can I sub rose water and glycerin for aloe?
I’d just use water; no need to add more rose scent (and bacterial temptation) when the rose wax is already in there, and you don’t want to add a humectant to something that needs to dry quickly 🙂
Hi
Can I make this into a solid lotion stick instead. Like in the Aussie Soap Supplies Deo twist tubes
No; it wouldn’t be able to dry out, and would mould. And, even if it could dry it would contract a lot in the tube as it did, and then it wouldn’t fit terribly well and would likely fall out. Sorry!
Not sure if I didn’t get authentic rose wax or something else but after a few months the scent is gone, still like how it feels just no more scent.
I’m not sure, though of course botanical things do break down and fade over time. Given that this bar gets wet and dries out in the open air quite a lot, it would make sense that the scent would fade over time. Just a thought!
Lovely idea but the recipe was troublesome. The ingredients measurements are a mix of cups and grams – better to use the gram measurements for everything. I thought that 1/3 cup of clay was probably approx 83 g (1/3 of 250g). It should have been 43g (1/3 of 128g) for dry goods. I have fudged a result but will have to wait a few days to see how it went. Here’s hoping !
Fingers crossed! This is a pretty old project; if you check out anything I’ve done in the last couple of years you’ll see everything is in weights as weight is clearly superior!