Bar smells great but goes away with lather

[Meggersxoxo]

Hello!

I've been making natural soaps with essential oils. I keep upping my amounts in my soap because during lather and rinse there is almost no scent at all. The bars smell fantastic and I thought everything was working out well but I received a complaint about the scent today. She ordered a soap set (1 face, 2 body, 1 foot) and said there is no difference in scent on them) (wild orange, raw honey & almond, pomelo and mint are the scents of the different bars). I'm not sure if I just need to double my essential oil amounts or if there is something else I should add....

I've personally used all of my soaps and have noticed that scent isn't left on the skin.

I use a coconut milk base with a 5% superfat on the body/foot bars and 7% superfat on the face bars (coconut oil, olive oil, canola oil and castor oil mixes)

 

[Obsidian]

First off, we need the amount of essential oil you are adding per pound of oil used in your recipe. EO's all have different safe usage levels so you need to know what the max is, for example cinnamon oil can only be used in very small amounts while lemongrass is safer at higher amounts. What supplier are you getting your oils from? Some of the cheaper ones are diluted and not very good for soap.

Scented soaps aren't designed to leave a scent behind on your skin. Some will for a very short amount of time but most won't. I've only had fragrance oils linger, never essential oils.

 

[snappyllama]

For the most part, scents are going to wash off along with the soap. There are a few FOs I've tried out that linger a teeny bit on the skin. The strongest linger I've seen is Mad Oils Snow Witch. Honestly, if anyone know of other ones that stick to skin (and smell awesome), I'd love to know of them!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Can you tell us more about how much scent you use, what your recipe and processes are (temps etc), do you force gel or not? You know about the safe usage limits for your EOs - can you double your amount and stay within that amount?

 

[shunt2011]

I agree with the others. Most scents do not remain on the skin after showering. I have a few FO's but not many can you smell on the skin. I haven't really found any EO's that stay behind much either.

All EO's and FO's have useage rates you must stay within those limits.

You would need a leave on product (cream, lotion, butter etc) to have some scent remain.

 

[lenarenee]

Also, orange (and lemon, grapefruit) essential oils don't last long in cp soap. There's "folded" essential oils such as 10x orange, and 5x lemon that work better.

 

[Meggersxoxo]

Sorry...I don't know why I didn't post my EO amounts early with the other info. I use 1 tsp per lb of soap and so far I haven't used any of the spicy type of oils like cinnamon. I don't force gel. Since the base is coconut milk I try to keep the temps at 90 degrees to keep the milk from scorching. I use the NOW brand and just ordered some EO from Bulk Apothecary (but have yet to use those).

The bars themselves smell awesome but once you lather them up the scent is very faint until the bar dries.

Here is the complaint I received (though I have gotten so much more praise) and it's kind of confusing.

I have used each soap I ordered and I'm sad to say rather dissatisfied .... There is no scent difference in them at all.....

​

She had 4 bars - Wild Orange Blossom face bar, Red Pomelo body bar, Raw Desert Honey body bar and a Peppermint foot bar. I'm assuming she meant none of them left a scent.

 

[Obsidian]

You need to start weighing your scent, start with half a ounce per pound and see how that is. A tsp per pound isn't much at all.

When I read the comments, I get the sense that the customer literally thinks all the soap smells the same. With such a light amount of scent, its possible she can't detect the different scents.

 

[KristaY]

If you do the math, 16 oz = 480 ml. One tsp = 5 ml. So with 5ml EO in 480 ml batter, you're using approx. 1%. Maybe not using enough EO is part of the problem? Plus, everyone's nose is different. She may not have as acute sense of smell as other people. Also, some like strong scents and others prefer less. She may be one that can't detect scent as acutely as others.

 

[Meggersxoxo]

You need to start weighing your scent, start with half a ounce per pound and see how that is. A tsp per pound isn't much at all.

When I read the comments, I get the sense that the customer literally thinks all the soap smells the same. With such a light amount of scent, its possible she can't detect the different scents.

Thanks! I will try that. I weigh all of my other ingredients so that just makes sense. Yeah she has been my first and only complaint (knock on wood) and I've had repeat business from others.

 

[fuzz-juzz]

I only use FOs and yes, some of them will linger, some of them won't. Some of them even for few hours (I'm not lying ).
All of those that linger, are from BB and NG. I use 25ml per 1000g of oils.
I also have few super-scented soaps, one of them was recent re-batch and I've added extra FO after it was cooked in crock pot, which I now realise wasn't necessary.
After using few bars of it, to be honest, I prefer those with less fragrance.

 

[cmzaha]

If I used so little fragance or essential oil in my soaps I would never sell any. Most customers buy for smell not what is in the soap. I can understand why you use so little with what you pay for a bottle of Now essentail oil. There are many good places to purchase quality EO's rather than a health food store. New Directions Aromatics, Camden Grey, Liberty Naturals are just a few places. Other than mints, tea tree, and spicy eo's I use 6% in my soaps. Soap is a wash off, if customers want a lingering scent mention they can purchase a perfume stick or lotion.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Can I also ask how they were packed and stored? In transit, for example, were the soaps open in the same box?

 

[Meggersxoxo]

If I used so little fragance or essential oil in my soaps I would never sell any. Most customers buy for smell not what is in the soap. I can understand why you use so little with what you pay for a bottle of Now essentail oil. There are many good places to purchase quality EO's rather than a health food store. New Directions Aromatics, Camden Grey, Liberty Naturals are just a few places. Other than mints, tea tree, and spicy eo's I use 6% in my soaps. Soap is a wash off, if customers want a lingering scent mention they can purchase a perfume stick or lotion.

It wasn't an intentional lack of EO... (I wasn't just trying to save a buck) but I was I guess overly concerned about adding too much. =/

 

[Meggersxoxo]

Can I also ask how they were packed and stored? In transit, for example, were the soaps open in the same box?

I keep the soaps on cookie cooling racks to cure for 4 weeks (separated) and then each batch is stored in it's own plastic containers until purchase. Each bar is wrapped and labeled individually.

 

[coffeetime]

Any idea if the customer is a senior citizen? I've had a few elderly ladies who appeared to have almost no sense of smell and didn't realize. I passed one lady my peppermint and lavender bar which is quite strong and she couldn't smell a thing. And didn't believe me that it was actually quite strongly scented.

 

[Susie]

Yes, some loss of smell can be linked to aging, however, some people just naturally have a more sensitive nose than others.(goes along with being a "super taster" or not a "super taster") My sister-in-law is 45 and has anosmia(decreased or no sense of smell) as a result of some medications. She never really had a sensitive nose, but now it is really noticeable. The funny thing is that some scents she can't smell at all, some she smells almost as well as me.