Abstract:
Background: Herbal soaps based on traditional recipes with proven qualities are not readily
available in Sri Lankan market. Hence, the current study was aimed to formulate a new herbal
soap with specific qualities using an extract of traditional herbal recipe.
Objectives: To formulate a new herbal soap using a traditional herbal recipe containing
Santalum album, Curcuma longa, Coscinium fenestratum, Rubia cordifolia, Glycyrrhiza
glabra, Kokoona zeylanica, Hemidesmus indicus, Cassia auriculata and Azadirachta indica
and to evaluate its properties
Methods: Methanol, ethyl acetate and hexane extracts of herbal mixture were obtained by
soxhlet extraction and each extract was tested for antioxidant potential using Folin – Ciocalteu
method, aluminium chloride method and DPPH assay. The extracts were also screened for
antimicrobial activity using well diffusion method carried out against Staphylococcus aureus,
Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans. The most active methanolic
extract was used to formulate soaps with different extract concentrations and tested for
antimicrobial activity against the selected microorganisms by disc diffusion method using
Dettol and Ketaconozole as positive controls. Herbal soap with the highest antimicrobial
activity was further tested for pH, Total Fatty Matter (TFM) and moisture content.
Results: Methanol extract with the highest total phenolic content (296.4 ±0.6 mg GAE/g), total
flavonoid content (714.47 ±0.39 mg CE/g) and the lowest IC50 value (0.398 ±0.051 mg/L) has
the highest antioxidant activity. It also exhibited a considerable antimicrobial activity against
S. aureus and C. albicans. Herbal soap with the highest concentration of methanolic extract
(1% w/w) exhibited the highest antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and C. albicans when
compared to other samples and controls. The measured pH (10.5 ±0.1), TFM (69.8 ±0.6 %)
and moisture content (16.0 ±0.2 %) for soap were found to be considerably acceptable.
Conclusion: The methanolic extract of selected traditional herbal recipe can be successfully
used to formulate a herbal soap with improved antioxidant and antimicrobial activities for a
healthy skin.
