Cheap/easy fragrances for first time soap?

[Rah]

Hi! I'm hoping to attempt to make soap for the first time soon, using a cold process recipe for a plain, white soap that I got from a book (The Handmade Soap Book by Melinda Coss, for the record.) I want to do a simple soap first in case it doesn't work, so I'll just be using fat, lye and water.
The thing is, if it DOES work, I will be left with a plain white bar which doesn't smell of anything. Are there any things which I am likely to have at home (for example we have a lot of spices and herbs, and also lots of types of tea) or can easily buy for a low price which I can use to give it some sort of fragrance? I don't want to use EOs or FOs because obviously I've never made soap before and these things are costly!


Thanks in advance!
Rah

 

[Lil Outlaws]

Sure there are!

Spices and herbs are great - cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice leave a great aroma but use them somewhat sparingly because (rumor has it) cinnamon can irritate the skin (I have had NO problems with it!).

You can use strong-brewed tea as your liquid, but it doesn't really leave it's scent behind.. possibly a bit of an herby/earthy scent but not "vanilla chai" or whatever.

Same goes for fruit juices - they'll leave their color behind (though some turn brownish, others don't) but not their scent.

 

[ohsoap]

My unscented soaps are some of my favorites. My 100% castile smells kinda nutty, and my shea sweet.
You might be surprised how nice unscented smells. LOL

 

[Rah]

Oooh cinnamon soap, that sounds lovely! I adore cinammon.

I have a lovely raspberry and cranberry tea which I was also thinking of possibly using. One question though, if I were to use tea would I brew it and then let it cool and then put the lye into that instead of into water? Or would I add the tea after?

Thank you for the advice! I never really thought about fruit juices... that's quite interesting. :0

And I'm not too fussed about a really strong scent, I'd just like some fragrance! If I settle for just the plain recipe in the book I doubt there'll be any smell at all.

Is there any possible way of getting a coconut scent? Or maybe vanilla?

 

[Lil Outlaws]

For tea, you would brew it very strong (like maybe 4-5x as strong as usual) and remove the bags (add your sugar in the brew so it's dissolved) and then add your lye to it. So if your recipe called for 8oz water, you'd use 8oz prebrewed/sweetened strong tea instead.

You can use coconut milk, etc. but I'm not sure how much it will carry over the scent.. worth a shot! Now you have me all jazzed up and wanting to soap. I think I will right now. My kitchen is clean and so are my soaping pots LOL

 

[Rah]

Would I have to wait for the tea to cool or let it stay hot before adding the lye? I know lye produces heat when mixed with water so that's probably a bit of a stupid question...

Yeah, I'll just mess around and see what I come up with!
And haha, glad to have been some inspiration! I have my dad to compete with for use of the kitchen so sadly I can't just try whenever I feel like it. =[

 

[mamaT]

Cool the tea, put it in the frig. get it cold.

 

[Lindy]

Hello Rah & welcome!

I have used tea from the teabag and quite like it. I don't put it in until just before I pour to preserve some of the scent and it keeps the soap nice and white with pretty spots of where the tea is.

I've used Blueberry Green Tea & Constant Comment Tea. Love them!

Here are some pictures of them:

This is the Constant Comment Tea (aka Orange Spice Tea Soap)

This is the Blueberry Green Tea

Be careful with the Cinnamon because it can be an irritant - honey is amazing by itself in soap and smells absolutely amazing!!!! I use 1/4 C in a 5 lb recipe and it has worked find for me without overheating but I also don't wrap it - just let it do its own thing....

HTH

 

[Rah]

MamaT - Ah k, thanks.

Lindy - I think I may pour it in later, I would quite like to keep some of the fragrance. Those soaps are amazing, by the way! I love the blueberry one, did you use a bundt cake tin for a mould?
Also, I'm sorry but could you explain what you mean by 1/4 C?
Thank you!

 

[Lindy]

Thanks Rah - yes it is a Bundt Pan but it's glass so there wasn't any reaction to metal - you need to make sure you're not using aluminum the reaction with the lye is rather violent. When I'm talking about 1/4 C I'm meaning a quarter of a cup.....

Some people only use a couple tablespoons of honey but I love how it works in the soap as well as the scent. Something else you can do is finely grind whole oatmeal almost to a powder and add a couple of tablespoons of that to your soap.

Hope that helps.....

Lindy

 

[Rah]

Oh right, I will watch out for that. And sorry, that was quite a stupid question! I thought you were talking in some complex terminology that I just hadn't learned yet! LOL.

Thanks for all the advice! I'm excited now!

 

[Lindy]

Rah - there are no stupid questions....there is a lot of terminology to learn as well as abbreviations.....

I really recommend that you use a lye calculator to figure out your lye. I tend to soap at 8% lye discount - it creates a very moisturizing soap...IMHO

 

[carebear]

I'm happy to put some FOs in the classifieds if you want a couple to get started with. Surplus stuff so cheap. Let me look at what I've got lying around though.

 

[ChrissyB]

That is very nice of you Carebear. I wish I was over there, I would buy them off you!

 

[tincanac]

I've seen this abbreviation EVOO for CP soap and would like to know what it means - can anyone help?

 

[reallyrita]

Cheap easy fragrances for the first time?

EVOO stands for extra virgin olive oil. You might get a greenish soap from this and it is pricey. I use extra light olive oil that I get in jugs at Sam's Club. So far, so good...but I am always on the lookout for adulterated olive oil which seems to be every where right now and can really mess up your soap.

Well cured soap made with fresh oils has a nice sweet smell all by itself.

 

[SoapMom]

Natures Garden has 1 lb. bottles of bargin oils for $7.99. That would get your started and you wouldn't have to worry about wasting any good and more expensive oils you may have.

http://www.naturesgardencandles.com/can ... e-Oil.html

It is under bargin oils on the left hand side of page, 11th one down in case the above link doesn't work

 

[Rah]

Lindy - Excuse me if I'm wrong, but does "8% lye discount" mean that you can add an excess of 8% more fat than in the recipe? It has something about this in the book I bought, along with a 'saponification chart,' but I'm having a hard time getting my head around it.

Carebear - Was that directed at me? Because that really would be so helpful. It is very thoughtful of you, thank you!

ReallyRita - The thing is, I was thinking of using beef dripping for my first soap (because out of the 3 basic recipes in the book it seemed best. I don't know if you can get vegetable shortening over here, and apparently lard gives off a fatty smell) but would that particular oil smell sweet when cured?

SoapMom - Thanks for the link! Sadly, they don't ship over here (I live in the UK) It would be so helpful if they did, the only fragrance oils I can find which are sold nearby come in tiny bottles.

 

[Lindy]

Hi Rah,

Go to http://www.soapmaker.com and download their program. Where it shows how much lye to use you will see it showing the discount. Basically what it means is that you are using less lye to superfat the soap. I tend to stick to 8% becasue I like how the soap feels.

I'm not sure where it is that you live other than it's in the UK....can I ask where Berks is?

Cheers
Lindy

 

[Soapmomma]

(because out of the 3 basic recipes in the book it seemed best. I don't know if you can get vegetable shortening over here, and apparently lard gives off a fatty smell)

I sometimes use rendered lard and have absolutely no fatty smell to it. Just follow these directions http://www.obsessionwithfood.com/2006_0 ... 8997673043 and add 1 tsp of salt per pound of fat and dump in a halved potato. It takes all the meaty smell out of the lard I render.
If you're just clarifying used drippings here's a link with some simple instructions too http://grandpappy.info/wclarify.htm just remember the salt and potato and you're good to go!