# Anyone use hydrosols?



## goji_fries (Nov 4, 2014)

In soaps or other products? I have some desert Juniper hydrosol I made and may use it in a soap. Your thoughts...


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Nov 5, 2014)

What would you be looking for it to add?


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## goji_fries (Nov 5, 2014)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> What would you be looking for it to add?



(Mine is the runoff condensed steam distillate from the oil water separator when making essential oil; the oil goes one way and the hydrosol goes another, being collected in a bucket) 

Some hydrosols add a fair amount of fragrance without some of the drawbacks of highly concentrated EOs'; and the EO's max percentages. This current hydrosol (juniper leaf) is highly fragrant. I'd mix some in with the lye monster and as additional water in HPCP. I;m not a lotion person but some people put hydrosols in lotion and other body products.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Nov 5, 2014)

Lotions I could see, but not so sure on soaping with it as water. 

On another note, if it has none of the drawbacks of EOs such as usage rates, does it also then not have any of the health benefits? More like an FO than an EO?


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## goji_fries (Nov 5, 2014)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> Lotions I could see, but not so sure on soaping with it as water.
> 
> On another note, if it has none of the drawbacks of EOs such as usage rates, does it also then not have any of the health benefits? More like an FO than an EO?



Definitely more of a fragrance than an oil with superpowers. You would have to see this for yourself and then you would understand the amount of smell. Right now I have the hydrosol settling/separating in the open air to even further extract more oils from it but it is so fragrant. The type of Juniper I distilled has a high pinene and camphor percentage along with like 30 other compounds. the hydrosol/water smells GREAT and STRONG. In a soap it would smell ridiculously good. (I know one person who has done something similar to this type of thing including root extracts, and the smell from the soap fillsalmost half the house after a shower)


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Nov 5, 2014)

I'd say make a wee batch and let us know!


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## squeakycleanuk (Nov 5, 2014)

As a herbalist, I work a lot with hydrosols (and I also use them in room sprays) but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that they don't work in soap, so it would be a waste of product (they are pretty expensive to buy). If however you have plenty to spare, why not give it a try. Make a soap with no other fragrance or EO to gain a full picture of scent from the hydrosol and let us know how you get on. I was wanting to use rose & jasmine hydrosols in my soap but was given the impression that they would not survive the lye process but I guess it makes sense to try it out and find out first hand.


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## goji_fries (Nov 5, 2014)

squeakycleanuk said:


> As a herbalist, I work a lot with hydrosols (and I also use them in room sprays) but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that they don't work in soap, so it would be a waste of product (they are pretty expensive to buy). If however you have plenty to spare, why not give it a try. Make a soap with no other fragrance or EO to gain a full picture of scent from the hydrosol and let us know how you get on. I was wanting to use rose & jasmine hydrosols in my soap but was given the impression that they would not survive the lye process but I guess it makes sense to try it out and find out first hand.



I am going to try HPCP first then CP. HPCP seems more promising and less destructive for scents. I'll let you guys know how it works.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Nov 5, 2014)

Gah, I do find that the extra letters around "HP" are rather superflous!

I would think that CP would be better if you are using it as a water replacement because with HP the water would be in during the cooking phase - couldn't add overly much after the cook, which is what we do with EOs and FOs in HP, making it better for the scent - which might be worse than it being in with the lye, depending on how heat sensitive it is


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## new12soap (Nov 5, 2014)

Your best bet would be HP your soap, then add maybe a max of 10% of your water portion in hydrosol after the cook. In other words, if your full water recipe calls for 600g of water, use 540 for the lye and the cook, then add 60g of hydrosol when it's done. Stir well then mold it.

To use in a leave-on product, again I would start with no more than 10% of your formulation, in the water phase. Hydrosols are lovely, but they tend to be more acidic than water. Too much can affect your overall pH of the product.

Please let us know how it goes!


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## Meganmischke (Nov 5, 2014)

This ^^^ I have done this with 20% roae hydrosol after the cook. It did take 4 months to cure but it retained a beautiful soft natural rose scent. For lotions use as any % of the water.


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## Obsidian (Nov 5, 2014)

For those of you who make your own hydrosols, how do you do it without special equipment? I'd love to make a rose hydrosol but it always comes out brown and nasty smelling.


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## new12soap (Nov 5, 2014)

Obsidian said:


> For those of you who make your own hydrosols, how do you do it without special equipment? I'd love to make a rose hydrosol but it always comes out brown and nasty smelling.



I haven't checked, but google Alton Brown Good Eats, the homemade baklava episode. He shows step by step how to make your own rosewater, on the stove with a stockpot, a lid, a brick, a stainless steel bowl, and some ice. Pretty cool but rather time consuming.


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## Obsidian (Nov 5, 2014)

Thats actually how I made mine but I'll check out the video, thanks.


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## boyago (Nov 5, 2014)

I have heard the lye monsters will eat it in CP, would love to heard how your tests go.  It is often used in hair tonics and pomades like Tres Flores.


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## Consuela (Nov 5, 2014)

I have used rose hydrosol before in my rose hip soap and I found that it did add some fragrance. I'm not sure if any properties survived the lye but the soap did smell nice. It was a small batch 8 bars, and I subbed 100% for the water.


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## Earthen_Step (Nov 5, 2014)

Obsidian said:


> For those of you who make your own hydrosols, how do you do it without special equipment? I'd love to make a rose hydrosol but it always comes out brown and nasty smelling.



http://www.sustaincreateandflow.com/how-to-make-rosewater-and-other-hydrosols/

http://mamarosemary.com/blog/2013/07/26/how-to-make-a-hydrosol

http://dandelionessherbals.blogspot.com/2013/08/do-it-yourself-hydrosols-making-and.html


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## goji_fries (Nov 5, 2014)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> Gah, I do find that the extra letters around "HP" are rather superflous!
> I would think that CP would be better if you are using it as a water replacement because with HP the water would be in during the cooking phase - couldn't add overly much after the cook, which is what we do with EOs and FOs in HP, making it better for the scent - which might be worse than it being in with the lye, depending on how heat sensitive it is



Hey TEG :wave:, in many of these hydrosols, there is oil locked into the water/bonded chemcially. To break this bond it would need to be heated up to about 400 degreesF. But at that point the hydrosol would become denatured. I wish I could send you some of this stuff. Maybe I'll take some pics of the oil/hydro-distillation apparatus which is about 5 main pieces and about 5 feet high.



new12soap said:


> Your best bet would be HP your soap, then add maybe a max of 10% of your water portion in hydrosol after the cook. In other words, if your full water recipe calls for 600g of water, use 540 for the lye and the cook, then add 60g of hydrosol when it's done. Stir well then mold it.
> 
> To use in a leave-on product, again I would start with no more than 10% of your formulation, in the water phase. Hydrosols are lovely, but they tend to be more acidic than water. Too much can affect your overall pH of the product. Please let us know how it goes!



^ that is kind of what I was looking for. Will try this in the HP. Will take pics of the progress. Thank you.



Meganmischke said:


> This ^^^ I have done this with 20% roae hydrosol after the cook. It did take 4 months to cure but it retained a beautiful soft natural rose scent. For lotions use as any % of the water.



^^^ Awesome thank you. Will note the cure time if additional water is added. 



Obsidian said:


> For those of you who make your own hydrosols, how do you do it without special equipment? I'd love to make a rose hydrosol but it always comes out brown and nasty smelling.



@obsidian, I have special equipment for distilling anything from roots and woods to extracting EOs. You have to keep the temoperature low with some things. The trick in what you are asking is to raise the pressure (if possible, safely) and that will lower the boiling temperature. In high pressure vessels it is possible to boil water at 180F. 

If you want to do something that extracts the scent of rose, try hot or cold enfleurage.  



new12soap said:


> I haven't checked, but google Alton Brown Good Eats, the homemade baklava episode. He shows step by step how to make your own rosewater, on the stove with a stockpot, a lid, a brick, a stainless steel bowl, and some ice. Pretty cool but rather time consuming.



The brick adds pressure which should technically lower the boiling point. Simmer these things to get a more pleasant smell.



boyago said:


> I have heard the lye monsters will eat it in CP, would love to heard how your tests go.  It is often used in hair tonics and pomades like Tres Flores.



The pomades are the leftovers from making hot and cold enfleurage usually. I appreciate your past experiments. I'll definintely try to do a step by step break down --- to benefit anyone in the future reading it. 



Consuela said:


> I have used rose hydrosol before in my rose hip soap and I found that it did add some fragrance. I'm not sure if any properties survived the lye but the soap did smell nice. It was a small batch 8 bars, and I subbed 100% for the water.



^^^ Exactly the question I was asking. I am looking for mild scent, strong it doesn;t matter only that someone has actually tried hydrosols and it came out with scent. Thank, you for your reply.


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## SoulShine (Nov 5, 2014)

I made a rose hydrosol and used it in soap this summer, I was surprised how much fragrance and color came through the lye. I added the lye when the hydrosol was very cold.


It`s one of my best sellers,although my rose bushes were not very attractive afterwards...lol


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## goji_fries (Nov 5, 2014)

SoulShine said:


> I made a rose hydrosol and used it in soap this summer, I was surprised how much fragrance and color came through the lye. I added the lye when the hydrosol was very cold.
> 
> 
> It`s one of my best sellers,although my rose bushes were not very attractive afterwards...lol



I think that's the secret, to keep temps low.

Q: Did you allow the petals to dry out? I hear that if you dry out plant material about 1/3rd oil is lost. But how did you make your hydrosol?


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## Issa (Nov 20, 2020)

Hello! Reading this in 2020! I hope everyone is safe and healthy. How was your hydrosol experiment with soaps? I would also like to try doing this as most of my soaps doesn't really smell fantastic. My soap's scent (from essential oils) usually fade after cure. I haven't tried using litsea cubeba as some say it helps with anchoring scent. So I would like to try out using hydrosol hoping for a better "scent throw" from my soaps. I have y'all have a great day!


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