Essential oil smell completly gone!

[SoapBro]

3 days ago i made my first goats milk soap, i added my usual amount of lavender essential oil to it and allowed it to gel,
24 hours later while cutting it smelled GREAT and quite strong, now, just 3 days later, the soap has no smell at all!

this is a first for me, the lavender used was especially strong and i've tested it thoroughly in gelling soap and it never fails.

what do you suppose could have happened? :-?

 

[MorpheusPA]

Gremlins.

I have nearly perpetual problems with scent extinction in my soap, to the point that I toss it in and don't count on it lasting through cure. That's true with EOs and FOs. I've learned to appreciate the somewhat earthy scent of the soap itself.

I do find gel phase is harder on scents than non-gelling. Although some additives (like activated charcoal) can cancel scent, goat's milk isn't one I would expect to do so.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Milks can increase the heat in a soap, so if you did your usual routine with this one then it might well have gone a lot hotter than you normally go.

 

[SoapBro]

Milks can increase the heat in a soap, so if you did your usual routine with this one then it might well have gone a lot hotter than you normally go.

but it had a very good strong smell After gelling was already finished, 24 hours after in fact. :-?

 

[girlishcharm2004]

Sometimes I believe that a soap has lost it's scent and prepare to pitch it, only to find that my nose has been deadened to the smell since it cures in my house. When I take it out of the house (say, leave it in the garage), then I find the scent magically comes back. I heavily rely on how many grams I put in the soap to know I've scented it enough, or I would surely "over-scent" it if I had to depend purely on smell.

Not saying you have a bad nose... but if you happen to cure it in a location closer to your living quarters than you normally do, it may be a matter of desensitising.

 

[SoapBro]

Sometimes I believe that a soap has lost it's scent and prepare to pitch it, only to find that my nose has been deadened to the smell since it cures in my house. When I take it out of the house (say, leave it in the garage), then I find the scent magically comes back. I heavily rely on how many grams I put in the soap to know I've scented it enough, or I would surely "over-scent" it if I had to depend purely on smell.

Not saying you have a bad nose... but if you happen to cure it in a location closer to your living quarters than you normally do, it may be a matter of desensitising.

i'll have to test this theory with a third party smeller..

 

[Susie]

Not to mention the fact that your soap scent may magically come back after the end of cure, and with a use or two. I often think that my scent is gone, only to magically find it again in the shower. This is especially true of milk soaps for some reason.

 

[Dorymae]

I second that. Try this, take one bar and put it in a paper bag. Put it somewhere, in a drawer, anywhere, for 24 hours. Then go get it and smell the soap in the bag. You should be able to tell then if all scent has gone, if it faded, or if your nose just got use to and ignored the scent.

 

[SoapBro]

Not to mention the fact that your soap scent may magically come back after the end of cure, and with a use or two. I often think that my scent is gone, only to magically find it again in the shower. This is especially true of milk soaps for some reason.

I second that. Try this, take one bar and put it in a paper bag. Put it somewhere, in a drawer, anywhere, for 24 hours. Then go get it and smell the soap in the bag. You should be able to tell then if all scent has gone, if it faded, or if your nose just got use to and ignored the scent.

will do! also this soap feels GREAT better then any other soap i've made, so smooth, guess i'll be making more goat milk soaps in the future :grin:

 

[JimSteel]

I'm in the same boat. I only use EO's and they seem to go quickly(grapefruit, anyone?). Question is, how do you market and sell something that is supposed to have scent, but barely smells like anything by the time it's done curing.

 

[Susie]

Citrus EOs are notorious for fading. I have tried fixing them with clay, litsea, and cornstarch without much improvement. I have started using lemongrass EO in my CP to lend a "citrusy" note, and saving my true citrus EOs for liquid soap.

If you have no reasons not to use FOs, just go to those for citrus scents.

 

[cmzaha]

I second what Susie mentioned about anchoring the scent, I do not find that clays etc help anchor. Interesting I do find grapefruit holds well and lemongrass or litsea hold the best of citrus eo's. Litsea is my favorite. What percentage are us using, I use grapefruit at 6%. Sometimes I add in a little patchouli

 

[MorpheusPA]

Sometimes I add in a little patchouli

This. Oak moss, litsea, and lemongrass also seem to stabilize a scent (lemongrass is the weakest).

Soaps that don't gel seem to hold scent a little better than those that do. I made a gardener's soap last night, and gelled about 12 bars of it (the other 11 were in plastic molds that can't be heated). As of today, the gelled soap has no detectable scent, but the ungelled does smell faintly of rosemary.

 

[houseofwool]

I find lime sticks well, particularly when mixed with peppermint.

Mojitos, anyone?

 

[CelestaMoon]

I'm in the same boat. I only use EO's and they seem to go quickly(grapefruit, anyone?). Question is, how do you market and sell something that is supposed to have scent, but barely smells like anything by the time it's done curing.

i made these grapefruit soaps but the smell has almost 100% disappeared. smelled soooo yummy for a good week or 2 and then they gave up :thumbdown:

 

[SoapBro]

Well i can confirm now that while the smell is practically gone when the soap is dry, when you wash your hands with it you get a burst of smell from the lather, so i guess its not really gone.