Coconut Soap smells like mildew

[tucshygirl]

Hi! I have made several batches of lye soap with coconut oil. Every batch comes out great as far as suds and cleaning ability; maybe a little harsh. My problem is that every batch leaves a mildew smell on my washcloth and on my body, therefore I only use it as hand soap. I put alot of coconut oil fragrance in my most recent batch and the soap smells GREAT, but I still am getting the mildew after-smell. Has anyone encountered this issue or have any suggestions for why this may be happening. Obviously adding more fragrance is not the answer. I would like to give my soap as gifts, but not smelling like that. Thanks!

 

[shunt2011]

Hello and welcome! If you post your entire recipe and process we would better be able to help you out. Also, the amount of FO and where it's from may help too.

 

[DeeAnna]

Also, what does the coconut oil smell like before you use it to make soap?

 

[tucshygirl]

2# Organic Virgin Coconut Oil
5.6 oz Lye
9.0 oz Water
.75 oz Fragrance (approx)
DeAnna, the coconut oil smelled like coconut; the fragrance oil also smells like coconut.
Shunt 2011, that's my whole recipe; the .75 oz fragrance was used in the last batch. My first batch was 1 tsp. The recipe I used didn't have guidance for fragance. The fragrance I used came from Arizona Soap Company.

 

[MickeyRat]

I'm a noob so I can't speak from experience only from what I've read. I can't say anything about the smell but, I'll bet that soap suds like mad. It'll also be drying. I don't see many recipes that go more than 30 to 35% coconut for that reason. If you must go with 100% coconut, consider adding 15% glycerine to the lye water. That's what I did when I made shaving soap.

 

[shunt2011]

Your soap is going to be extremely stripping on the skin. You only have a 5% SF. Which is a 67 cleansing. When making 100% co soap you need at least a 15-20% SF. It’s also going to be very water soluble. The smell is likely coming from the oil itself and the FO combined. FO can morph in soap. Coconut generally doesn’t smell like coconut. For a 2 lb batch you can use 2 oz of FO but check the IFRA usage rate.

I would recommend making a better balanced recipe. What you made is pretty close to what people use for laundry but with a 1% SF.

 

[penelopejane]

Old coconut oil has a really bad rancid smell - not mildewy so it probably isn’t that. How old is coconut oil?
What water are you using?
Are you curing them in a well ventilated room or in a cupboard?