# Rose absolute in CP soap - yay or nay?



## webwench (Dec 30, 2009)

I live in Portland, and have only just started reading about making soap. I would love to make a natural soap with the scent of roses. I don't want to use synthetic fragrance oil though.

My questions are:

Is using rosewater in place of the water in the water/lye phase a bad idea? Would the lye destroy the smell?

How do natural scents do in soap - would it be a waste of time and money to use absolutes or concretes in soap? 

Would hand milling the soap after it's done and then adding the absolute be a better way to go than adding them at trace? 

Ditto the rosewater - use in handmilling process rather than in the water/lye mix?

Thanks in advance for any help!


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## dagmar88 (Dec 30, 2009)

If that rose scent would survive the lye, my best guess is it would only come through faintly.
People that want to make 'natural' soap, which is of course only possible to some extent, use essential oils. 
Those are often a lot more expensive than skin safe fragrance oils though. Especially rose!  :wink: 
Here's a link:
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/aroma/q-z.html

Make sure you try a plain/cheap recipe the first couple of batches. 
It would be such a waste to use something that expensive in a batch that has high risks of not turning out as you wished


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## TessC (Dec 30, 2009)

If you're opposed to FOs, this might be a more affordable option:

http://essentialoils.org/shop/oil/3386

It's still not cheap by any means, but it's far less expensive than a comparable amount of rose absolute, plus it's made of EOs.


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## webwench (Dec 30, 2009)

*thanks for the suggestions*

I really love that natural scent of rose, but it's so expensive that I don't want to risk dropping the $$$ only to have it smell like nothing. I've been reading up a bit on rose geranium and I think I could stretch it a bit with that, maybe add a bit of neroli and or ylang ylang.

i'm also thinking that a liquid soap or foaming body butter might be a better way to go, although I do love the idea of a pretty, fragrant bar of soap.


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## nup (Dec 31, 2009)

I use hydrosols instead of water in many recipes. I can honestly say that the scent never made it through. It sure does give something to the final product. It feels somehow more refreshing and if left unscented it smells of pure soapy cleanliness. I hope this makes sense


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## Adema (Jan 1, 2010)

I bought rose for soap oil at www.roseoil.in and it is awesome, I also bought, patc, lavender, rosemary , rosewood, lime,lemon, gardenia, amber , vanilla, speamint, peppermint, jasmie, cedarwood, lemongrass, bergamot, elemi and a few others and I have to say they were all superior to the ones I have bought from NOW, Julia Lawless and from Baldwins UK.

Kveðja
María


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## Stinkydancer (Jan 2, 2010)

Just FYI...
I have infused my lye water with oatmeal and soaped that- the water mixture, smelled like the stinkiest animal at the zoo. LOL

I think adding things to lye water, most of the time the scent will not come through or worse will smell like the zoo. 

Good luck I hope you find something that works for you.


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## madpiano (Jan 2, 2010)

Adema said:
			
		

> I bought rose for soap oil at www.roseoil.in and it is awesome, I also bought, patc, lavender, rosemary , rosewood, lime,lemon, gardenia, amber , vanilla, speamint, peppermint, jasmie, cedarwood, lemongrass, bergamot, elemi and a few others and I have to say they were all superior to the ones I have bought from NOW, Julia Lawless and from Baldwins UK.
> 
> Kveðja
> María



Try buying from www.fresholi.co.uk. Helen is lovely and the oils she sells are very good quality.


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## Adema (Jan 2, 2010)

Try buying from www.fresholi.co.uk. Helen is lovely and the oils she sells are very good quality.[/quote]

The price is a huge factor for me since so much of essential oils is used in soap so I wanted to buy less expensive but also good quality, I bought around 5 kilos of essential oils for only 400 dollars and about another 100 for shipping all the way to Iceland, that is a good deal since I am also very happy with the quality. 
But I didn't get sandalwood from them so maybe I will contact Fresholi for some of that, thanks for the tip..


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## madpiano (Jan 2, 2010)

Adema said:
			
		

> Try buying from www.fresholi.co.uk. Helen is lovely and the oils she sells are very good quality.



The price is a huge factor for me since so much of essential oils is used in soap so I wanted to buy less expensive but also good quality, I bought around 5 kilos of essential oils for only 400 dollars and about another 100 for shipping all the way to Iceland, that is a good deal since I am also very happy with the quality. 
But I didn't get sandalwood from them so maybe I will contact Fresholi for some of that, thanks for the tip..[/quote]

wow, that must be a headache, having to get everything shipped to Iceland. I couldn't imagine, especially as EOs tend to be packed in glass bottles, which really doesn't help with postage. 

5kg of Essential Oils ???????? Wow can I come and visit and just sit in your soap room and drool ???? I wish I could afford that. [picks herself off the floor and stares at her meagre 6 bottles of EO....]


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## Adema (Jan 3, 2010)

madpiano] 5kg of Essential Oils ???????? Wow can I come and visit and just sit in your soap room and drool ???? I wish I could afford that. [picks herself off the floor and stares at her meagre 6 bottles of EO....][/quote]


Lol.... I just haaaad to buy all those kilos to increase my blending skills said:


> www.rainbowmeadow.com[/url] othervise my soaps would stink,, literally...
> As for the affording part,,, When I only bought 1 oz bottles at a time like I did for my first 20 batches I paid about 25 dollars for 1 oz lavender,patchouli and 13 dollars for 1 oz. citrus Eo's so importing was in fact my only option,, there are so limited options here and now our currency (the króna) is nearly worthless so everything here has become so expensive. But you are more than welcome to visit my "soap room" (the kitchen in my tiny appartment) It requires some serious organization talent  to be able to fit a "soap room" in there but somehow I did it.
> 
> Kveðja
> María


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## Aline (Apr 22, 2014)

Adema said:


> I bought rose for soap oil at www.roseoil.in and it is awesome, I also bought, patc, lavender, rosemary , rosewood, lime,lemon, gardenia, amber , vanilla, speamint, peppermint, jasmie, cedarwood, lemongrass, bergamot, elemi and a few others and I have to say they were all superior to the ones I have bought from NOW, Julia Lawless and from Baldwins UK.
> 
> Kveðja
> María



I realize this thread happened several years ago but unfortunately this is not genuine rose oil. I purchased a sample and it was a convincing dupe but I later found out that this company is fraudulent. If it's too good to be true it aint!


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## seven (Apr 22, 2014)

i say yay if you can afford it. i can't, so.. nay


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## trixi (Mar 15, 2020)

nup said:


> I use hydrosols instead of water in many recipes. I can honestly say that the scent never made it through. It sure does give something to the final product. It feels somehow more refreshing and if left unscented it smells of pure soapy cleanliness. I hope this makes sense



Hello, I would love to know your methods of using hydrosol in your soaps, this is something I would like to start doing. Did you freeze your hydrosol and used lye with the full amount of water content or did you use less water with the lye and added hydrosol later? Are there any other ways? Thanks, Trixi


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## Baqn (Mar 20, 2020)

Strongly NAY! It definitely doesn't worth. Rose absolute is more expansive than gold and does not deserve to finish in soap  Do not use even Rose Essential oil in soap. You can imitate Rose scent with Rose Geranium, Citronella, Palmarosa, Rosewood oils and maybe others.


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