Cedarwood EO--Yuck

[Fireside]

Every time I use cedarwood EO in a blend, I hate the result. Others love cedarwood, I apparently don't. Mine is Himalayan cedarwood. I've looked at previous posts regarding cedarwood (which is how I know others love cedarwood) but I haven't found what I'm looking for, which is this: what to add to a rebatch I'm going to do that currently has a blend of 41% lemon EO, 38% cedarwood EO, and 21% rosemary EO. I think it stinks but I don't know what to add to the rebatch to make it stink less. In my EO arsenal I have those three plus sweet orange, lemongrass, spearmint, peppermint, patchouli, black pepper, tangerine, tea tree, basil (and sweet basil, if they're different), eucalyptus, and cinnamon leaf.

The orginal batch was 28 ounces of oils and was another failed attempt at swirling. The above blend, incidentally, was from a book of scent recipes, except that the rosemary was supposed to be lavender but I didn't have lavender so I used rosemary because I read that cedarwood combines well with rosemary. It didn't for me.

Any ideas on which of those EOs might make my lemon/cedarwood/rosemary blend smell better? Thanks!

 

[artemis]

I'm starting to think Cedar is like cilantro -- to some it smells great, but others cant tolerate it. I love cedar eo (the ones I've tried years ago), but my friend thought they smelled like "cat pee."

 

[Obsidian]

I'd use peppermint, it goes well with woody and herbal scents. Maybe it will be enough to cover the cedar.
Another option would be patchouli but unless you really love it, it could make it worse

 

[Ephemerella]

I don't use EOs but I do use a FO blend that is comprised mainly of cedarwood, eucalyptus, orange and basil leaf and it smells incredible, like sweet fresh water.

 

[cmzaha]

I am a huge fan of cedar wood. Atlas and Texas Cedarwood are my favorites from New Directions. I like both mixed with Lemongrass or even Grapefruit, although neither is on the suggested list on their website. I never liked the Virginia Cedarwood as well but do not remember why anymore.
LOL, @artemis Eucalyptus smells like 'cat pee" to me...

 

[artemis]

LOL, @artemis Eucalyptus smells like 'cat pee" to me...

Not my precious Eucalyptus!

For me, it's Ylang Ylang. It smells like a tire fire to me!

 

[lsg]

Try combining it with sweet orange EO.

 

[BWt]

I am a huge fan of cedar wood. Atlas and Texas Cedarwood are my favorites from New Directions. I like both mixed with Lemongrass or even Grapefruit, although neither is on the suggested list on their website. I never liked the Virginia Cedarwood as well but do not remember why anymore.
LOL, @artemis Eucalyptus smells like 'cat pee" to me...

Virginia cedar wood was used to make pencils.

 

[dmcgee5034]

For me, it's Ylang Ylang. It smells like a tire fire to me!

I second Ylang Ylang - that stuff gave me actual nightmares after soaping with it!

 

[BWt]

I’m with @lsg in adding orange. It will soften the harshness of the Rosemary and pull everything together.

 

[cmzaha]

I second Ylang Ylang - that stuff gave me actual nightmares after soaping with it!

I third Ylang Ylang I hate that stuff with a passion.

 

[Shelley D]

Every time I use cedarwood EO in a blend, I hate the result. Others love cedarwood, I apparently don't. Mine is Himalayan cedarwood. I've looked at previous posts regarding cedarwood (which is how I know others love cedarwood) but I haven't found what I'm looking for, which is this: what to add to a rebatch I'm going to do that currently has a blend of 41% lemon EO, 38% cedarwood EO, and 21% rosemary EO. I think it stinks but I don't know what to add to the rebatch to make it stink less. In my EO arsenal I have those three plus sweet orange, lemongrass, spearmint, peppermint, patchouli, black pepper, tangerine, tea tree, basil (and sweet basil, if they're different), eucalyptus, and cinnamon leaf.

The orginal batch was 28 ounces of oils and was another failed attempt at swirling. The above blend, incidentally, was from a book of scent recipes, except that the rosemary was supposed to be lavender but I didn't have lavender so I used rosemary because I read that cedarwood combines well with rosemary. It didn't for me.

Any ideas on which of those EOs might make my lemon/cedarwood/rosemary blend smell better? Thanks!

IMPE, Lemongrass is a powerful scent and can easily overtake other scents so I would vote lemongrass *plus, I really love Lemongrass

 

[Shelley D]

I third Ylang Ylang I hate that stuff with a passion.

Go figure I'm the weirdo again! I love Ylang Ylang the essential oil that is, I haven't smelled a FO to compare. I use Ylang Ylang (or citrus) to lift heavy musky smells, which I don't care for alone. Musky smells suffocate me

 

[lucycat]

I also really like cedarwood. I use Virginia and atlas. However, I find that a small amount of cedarwood can make a blend great but a large amount is awful to me. 40% is outside of what I like. I use 20% and less.

I agree with some ideas you have been given:
Cedarwood 1, Lemongrass 2, mint 3 is a favorite of mine.
Cedarwood 1, lavender 4 or 5 is also nice
I like cedarwood, vanilla, and sweetgrass (not heavy but that hayfield scent). My blend changes and today substitute Nature's garden Hayfield fragrance oil for sweetgrass. Still the cedarwood is less than 20%.
Sometimes I think cedarwood just needs to have some sweetness in the blend. Orange is good but since I don't mind blends with FO I also use vanilla and sometimes Blue Agave FO.

I am not much into rebatching so I would try to keep it simple and just try to lighten the load of the cedarwood. I think what I would use would depend a lot on how strong the lemon is. Without the lemon I am sure I would use vanilla FO or lavender. If the lemon is sticking, I would probably add mint and either lemongrass or litsea. I would hate to use a delicate and expensive lemon eo with cedarwood.

 

[Fireside]

I'm starting to think Cedar is like cilantro -- to some it smells great, but others cant tolerate it. I love cedar eo (the ones I've tried years ago), but my friend thought they smelled like "cat pee."

I never thought of cedarwood as being the cilantro of essential oils but you're right! I love cilantro and can't understand how others don't.

IMPE, Lemongrass is a powerful scent and can easily overtake other scents so I would vote lemongrass *plus, I really love Lemongrass

I love lemongrass, too! But I have used it so much lately that I want to try something else. I think I will go with sweet orange, as a couple of people have offered. It will either compliment the lemon, which I can detect slightly, or it will make everything worse, in which case I'll just re-rebatch. Thank goodness for rebatching. I think I'm the new rebatch queen. I've done it a lot this summer.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! The soap is in the oven now. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[akseattle]

I love cedarwood, lemongrass and Ylang Ylang. I also love basil but basil EO is so incredibly strong (my first bad experience with EO's), that I have been working like the dickens to find a blend that will smell like the basil that smells so amazing in my garden. I will probably end up buying an FO. Either Obsidian or Mobjack suggested they got a nice basil FO from Nature's garden. @Ephemerella what is your basil blend FO called and where do you get it? It sounds really good.

I really like cilantro in Mexican food. The first time someone told me they hated cilantro and that it tasted like soap to them, I thought it was an exaggeration. Then I heard it more over the years and accepted it really was kind of a love / hate herb. About a month ago, I got a little note from 23 and Me (I did a DNA test with them) that said I had a gene that made it 70% more likely that I would dislike cilantro. So, I guess I'm glad I landed in the 30% for my gene pool. So, in the defense of cilantro, I guess there might actually be a genetic basis for the strong negative feelings some people have against it. Either that or 23 and Me was just trying to get me to open their email....

 

[akseattle]

So, @Fireside, I guess I didn't have a suggestion, I'm a little bit of a chicken about trying blends. So, i look forward to hearing how your blend turned out.

 

[Fireside]

Hmmm. If there's a cilantro-hating gene, there must also be a cedarwood-hating gene and I must have it.

I added about a half ounce of sweet orange and it helped a lot. It smells more citrusy and less...I haven't quite been able to describe how cedarwood smells to me. The word that comes to mind is petroleum, although I don't know how crude petroleum smells. Cedarwood just smells how I imagine crude petroleum smells.

Thanks again for everyone's input. It was fun to watch this thread go from help-me-make-my-soap-smell-better to this-is-the-EO-I-can't-stand to there's-a-gene-for-that.

I also found it interesting--looking at this thread and "similar threads"--that a lot of people never use EOs and just use FOs.

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

Mine is Himalayan cedarwood.

Himalayan and Atlas cedarwood come from true cedar. Texas and Virginia cedarwood come from junipers. Whether or not people love cedarwood may depend on which species of EO the are familiar with.

New Directions gives this brief summary of the differences:

The Cedarwood Essential Oil is widely used in commercial soaps, cosmetics, perfumes, and especially in men's colognes. Atlas Cederwood is the most popular variety and has a woody, sweet, scent that is very sharp. The Cedarwood (Chinese) Essential Oil generally has a lower cedrol content than the Atlas, hence it is used more for its fragrance. Also, try our other varieties: Himalayan, Texas, Virginian.

More specific information about the fragrance notes is provided under New Direction pages for the 4 cedarwood EOs.

Every time I smell cedarwood it triggers memories of cleaning pet rodent cages when I was a kid. Not something I’m drawn to when choosing EOs for personal care products.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I was going to suggest orange and will be interested to hear how you think that soap turned out. Blending has changed my opinion of a lot of EOs that I find heavy or otherwise dislike on their own or as anything more than a small percentage of a blend. My list includes Virginia cedarwood, basil, ylang ylang, geranium and probably others than I’m not remembering right now. For basil, I’m down to adding a few drops or less for a blend that totals 25-30 g. That turns out to be enough to give the blend just a hint of basil.