EO's don't scent skin?

[WickedlyNatural]

HI, all
First post here. Nice ta meet y'all! I've been reading and researching soap making since November, and finally made my first batch about 2 weeks ago. I've now made 5 batches, and I am in loooove! My question is on my latest batch, a sea salt bar scented with essential oils.
The soap smells divine, I've been sniffing it everytime I walk by it. But today, I just couldn't stand it anymore and had to try it out. It lathered up great, smelled great while I was lathering, but after rinsing, there was no scent left on my hands. My skin had a nice clean soap smell, but not the aroma of the EO's I used.
My recipe is
65% CO
25% OO
10% SheaB
Fine Sea Salt at 80% of total oil weight
Oh and I infused my coconut oil with dried parsley flakes for a light green color which sadly came out way too light but that doesn't upset me much.
The batch was a total of 20 oz, I used the 38% of oil weight water on soap calc since it is a salt bar and everything I've read said they set up and harden quickly.
My EO's were
4g Peppermint 1st
4g Lavender
2g Rosemary
2g Patchouli
The soap really does smell fabulous, it just doesn't leave any scent behind when rinsed off. I have used patchouli and 10x orange and that one leaves a nice medium level of scent on my hands, so is this something I can expect from Peppermint and Rosemary in the future, or should I have used more? I didn't want to use too much of the minty and camphorous and have it be irritating, and the patchouli was just as an anchor.

Thanks in advance! I've been reading a lot of posts here and love how helpful everyone is!

I think when I was mixing my EO's I added a little more peppermint and lavender because I thought they should be stronger, so 5g each?

 

[Obsidian]

Scented soap isn't meant to leave a scent on your skin, the scent is just to enjoy while you are washing. Some scents do linger for a bit but don't increase your EO amount trying to get it to stay on your skin.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

It's hard for me to be sure, as you swap units, but I think your total eo amount was 2% of the oil weight (12g from 566g)

As obsidian said, arbitrarily upping that amount can be dangerous, but many people use 5% in their soaps AS LONG AS IT IS WITHIN THE EO SAFE AMOUNT.

I made that caps as it is very important - while you can use 5% eo in soap, you also have to make sure that you don't use more of certain EOs than is safe to do so.

For example, 5% of your batch with clove eo is very dangerous, but 5% lavender is okay. 0.5% clove and 4.5% lavender would give you a total of 5% while not using an unsafe amount of clove.

 

[WickedlyNatural]

Thank you for your help, you two! My eo's add up to 14g if I add the extra I put it when blending, which comes out to .5 oz. I guess that could be a little underwhelming since my total oil and salt weight was 20oz or 566g.
So, another question. When making a salt bar where a large percentage of the weight comes from salt, do you base the safe eo amount on the weight of the oils or the weight of the oils and the salt? The salt does not take up as much volume, if I had used 20 oz of oils my mold would have been full to the brim or even overflowing, but with the salt and oils I had about 1/2 to 3/4 inch space from the top. It's a 4 inch square mold.

 

[biarine]

It's hard for me to be sure, as you swap units, but I think your total eo amount was 2% of the oil weight (12g from 566g)

As obsidian said, arbitrarily upping that amount can be dangerous, but many people use 5% in their soaps AS LONG AS IT IS WITHIN THE EO SAFE AMOUNT.

I made that caps as it is very important - while you can use 5% eo in soap, you also have to make sure that you don't use more of certain EOs than is safe to do so.

For example, 5% of your batch with clove eo is very dangerous, but 5% lavender is okay. 0.5% clove and 4.5% lavender would give you a total of 5% while not using an unsafe amount of clove.

Sometime I used 5% with lavender, frankincense and some citrus but not other oils.

 

[DeeAnna]

But even at a higher dose rate, the scent will not linger, because you're washing almost all of it off. If you want a longer lasting scent on your skin, make a complimentary lotion or perfume. These products are not washed off the skin, so the scent will remain on the skin longer.

 

[WickedlyNatural]

Thanks, DeAnna. That brings another question to mind though....if I use the recommended amount of eo in soap, and then also in a lotion, and then again in a perfume, and I exceeding the recommended usage because some traces may be left from the soap after showering, and then the leave-on nature of lotion and perfume? Seems like the more I learn the more questions I have!

 

[DeeAnna]

Yes, one could make the argument that some components of EOs can build up in the body from repeated use. That is why it's sensible to study up on the specific EOs you want to use to clearly understand their margin of safety.

For example, people have died from over using products containing wintergreen essential oil. It can build up in the bloodstream from heavy long-term use of a liniment (one female athlete died as a result of this) or it can interact with drugs for thinning the blood, as used by people with heart ailments. In the cases I've heard about (no personal experience along this line), it was heavy over-use and/or interaction of multiple products that got these people in trouble.

So ... if you want to make a set of products that all contain similar EOs, I would suggest (1) using a light hand with the amount of fragrance in these related products, (2) using EOs that are GRAS (generally recognized as safe), and (3) using the products with a good dash of common sense.

Also recognize that one's nose quickly gets desensitized to any fragrance, whether EO or synthetic. A fragrance that doesn't seem to last or be very strong to the wearer can be quite distinct and long lasting (and even headache making!) to everyone else.

 

[WickedlyNatural]

Thanks again! I am one of those with sensitive nose, and many synthetic fragrances, especially sweet ones, give me a migraine and nauseate me, even when I don't think they smell bad.
Again, thank you for the help and information, and I just realized I spelled your name wrong earlier, so I apologize for that!

 

[DeeAnna]

Call me Dee, DeeAnna, or whatever ... just don't call me late for dinner!