Does patchouli stick?

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jun 18, 2013
Messages
10,942
Reaction score
9,651
Location
Idaho, USA
Finally got some patch EO and I'd like to use it in some salt bars, will it survive a long cure?

I'm also thinking about blending in a little orange EO, just to tone down the scent while it's curing. What is a good ratio? I want to mainly smell patch but lessen the intensity, otherwise I might end up divorced lol.
 
Patchouli is used as anchor scent, so yes, it does stick. I would probably do 2 or 3 parts orange and 1 part patchouli. Why not do a Q-tip or cotton ball test to see what appeals to you?
 
Patchouli does stick but in a salt bar I would not use 3 parts orange since salt tends to destroy scents, depending on what percentage of salt you use, plus I would go with 7% patchouli. To keep my patchouli lovers happy I go with 8% dark Indosean patchouli in regular bars. Orange just does not hold well even with a Patch anchor
 
I did non-salt bars with 40% patch, 20% grapefruit, 20% tangerine, 20% litsea and it was heavenly. I can't say if it lasted more than 6 month cause everyone hogged the bars and I don't have any left.
 
Thanks everyone, I will try it in salt bars and see how it does. I've been experimenting with the orange/patch blend and so far, I don't really like it. I'm at 4 parts patch 1 part 5x orange and I can smell each equally, just not a good blend to my nose. My daughter really likes it though, said the orange took away the moldy notes of the patch.

I wasn't really wanting the orange to stick, I was going to use it to cover the patch in the fresh soap since my hubby HATES it so much. I'll have him smell the blend, if it get the ok, I'll do the blend. If he still hates it, I'll probably just do straight patch.
Any other suggestions for patch besides citrus? Doesn't have to be a EO.
 
I like patchouli with cedar and lemongrass, all good stickers. If you love patchouli, do a straight patchouli (because other scents obscure its full awesomeness ;) ) and don't worry about the husband - only a little of the scent will stick to your skin after bathing, not enough to be offensive.
 
I like patchouli with cedar and lemongrass, all good stickers. If you love patchouli, do a straight patchouli (because other scents obscure its full awesomeness ;) ) and don't worry about the husband - only a little of the scent will stick to your skin after bathing, not enough to be offensive.

A little bit is all it takes to be offensive to him. I touched the bottle top and rubbed my fingers on my shirt, 5 hours later and he wouldn't let me come within 6 feet of him. He could even smell it on the dog from when she was laying on me earlier that day.

I might play around with lemongrass or anise, see what thats like. Cedar would probably be nice but he doesn't like that either. I made some rosemary/cedar bars for him and he says they stink.
I'm learning that he isn't into deep woodsy or herbal scents though a balsam/peppermint bar is a hit with him.

If it was warm enough to soap outside, I wouldn't worry about using straight patch. My house is small and I soap in the kitchen. Any scent I use will permeate the house for days.
 
Well, 2 blends I really loved.
The first was
Lavender 3 grams, rosemary 1 gram, litsea 2 grams, patchouli 8 grams, cedarwood 2 grams. This smelled so highly of litsea at first, I really didn't like the lemon overwhelming it. After months of mellowing, it was lovely. Maybe will try again without the litsea and bump the cedarwood.
I did a swap soap that still smells, though it has faded a lot (or I have nose fatigue, which isn't too far fetched). I love the blend.
40% cedarwood
20% patchouli
10% juniper berry
20% french lavender
10% dark vetiver

Vetiver is pricey, so I'd bump the cedarwood to 45% and patch to 25% if I didn't have any handy.

For an eo soap and months old, I think this scent stuck well enough.

Edit! Just saw he isn't into woodsy scents. Well, I will leave my recommendations for others interested in eo blends.
 
Last edited:
A little bit is all it takes to be offensive to him. I touched the bottle top and rubbed my fingers on my shirt, 5 hours later and he wouldn't let me come within 6 feet of him. He could even smell it on the dog from when she was laying on me earlier that day.

Sounds like it is time to get a new husband that is curteous of your hobbies. :bathtub:


Hehe just kidding - mostly
 
Sounds like it is time to get a new husband that is courteous of your hobbies. :bathtub:


Hehe just kidding - mostly

Nah, he tolerates all my hobbies exceptionally well. He just hates patchouli, I've known that for years so I try to be respectful of that. As far as the other scents go, he just has to deal with lol.
 
I did a swap soap that still smells, though it has faded a lot (or I have nose fatigue, which isn't too far fetched). I love the blend.
40% cedarwood
20% patchouli
10% juniper berry
20% french lavender
10% dark vetiver

I have no recommendations for blends with Patchouli. I just want to highly recommend LP's Cedarwood blend. It is so lovely! I'm grateful she opted to share it and I can't imagine anybody not liking it. My swap soap still has a strong scent at 9 months.
 
Hello. This is my first post. Hope you don't mind me tossing in my 2 cents. I have used Patchouli with Lemongrass and Lemon EO's. This is one of my favorites! I use all three in equal parts. Very citrusy! I make mostly HP and the scent sticks very well.
 
Back
Top