Experiment: Scent Fixing & Gel Phase

[Jamesh388]

Hi all

My first post here - thanks for having me

I thought I'd jump right in with a question: has anyone found that essential oil scents fix better in non-gelled CP soap? It just occurred to me that the heat generated in gel phase (apparently up to 180F!) might cause some evaporation of essential oils..

I've been trying to improve the scent strength of my CP soaps and tried the usual recommendations (maximum usage rates and fixing with kaolin clay). But I've still found that some essential oil soaps I've bought have stronger scents than mine. All my soaps are gelled and having tried everything else to improve scent, I just wondered if this could be a factor...

A picture of my curing "purple haze" soap attached for your trouble

Much appreciate any thoughts or advice!

James

 

[VikingChick]

Welcome! I’m not sure I have a good answer for you, but I wanted to say that I love your purple haze soap!

 

[AliOop]

Welcome! I too like the purple haze!

Have you tried anchoring your scent blends with a bit of a base note, such as cedarwood, oakmoss, or even patchouli? (PS - don't hate on me if you hate patch - it's you, not me).

 

[Jamesh388]

Welcome! I too like the purple haze!

Have you tried anchoring your scent blends with a bit of a base note, such as cedarwood, oakmoss, or even patchouli? (PS - don't hate on me if you hate patch - it's you, not me).

Thank you! Haha, I like Patch too Yes, I do use base notes on all my soaps, and coincidentally this one does have patch in it. Smells great, just wish it was a little stronger.

 

[AliOop]

Thank you! Haha, I like Patch too Yes, I do use base notes on all my soaps, and coincidentally this one does have patch in it. Smells great, just wish it was a little stronger.

Yup, that is the issue with EOs - it is hard to get a strong, long-lasting scent.

In some prior posts by a former SMF member, SavageDaughter, she shared how she makes a slurry with EOs and dry additives, and lets that marinate for a few days. Apparently that works well for her, and a few others here who have tried it. Personally, I rarely plan far enough ahead to let anything marinate for hours, let alone days, but perhaps that might work for you? You can search for her posts by putting her name in the search box, like this:



PS - just realized I never answered your actual question. I gel all my soaps so unfortunately I can't say whether the scents are stronger in non-gelled soaps. Your theory about the extra heat causing some of the EO to dissipate sounds reasonable, but maybe you could mitigate that by tightly covering the soap throughout the gelling and until it has fully cooled.

 

[Jamesh388]

Yup, that is the issue with EOs - it is hard to get a strong, long-lasting scent.

In some prior posts by a former SMF member, SavageDaughter, she shared how she makes a slurry with EOs and dry additives, and lets that marinate for a few days. Apparently that works well for her, and a few others here who have tried it. Personally, I rarely plan far enough ahead to let anything marinate for hours, let alone days, but perhaps that might work for you? You can search for her posts by putting her name in the search box, like this:

View attachment 79802

PS - just realized I never answered your actual question. I gel all my soaps so unfortunately I can't say whether the scents are stronger in non-gelled soaps. Your theory about the extra heat causing some of the EO to dissipate sounds reasonable, but maybe you could mitigate that by tightly covering the soap throughout the gelling and until it has fully cooled.

Thanks very much for the suggestion - I usually add kaolin clay to my EOs just about an hour before, so I might try that the day before and see if it helps.

 

[lsg]

With citrus EOs, it is best to blend them with another (basenote) EO. For instance, I use a combination of orange and cedarwood EOs. Litsea cubeba and vetiver EOs are also good anchors for citrus EOs.

 

[Shelley D]

I'm team "Slurry"! I thought EOs were going to be the answer to my prayers for scents in soap since in can't use fragrance oils, but soon learned their scents don't last. And then I read about the magical Slurry that could help anchor the scents and I mixed up a jar of lavender EO and whole dried lavender buds in castor oil with Brazilian purple clay ~ and omg that soap still smells lovely and those bars are a year old now

 

[Jamesh388]

I'm team "Slurry"! I thought EOs were going to be the answer to my prayers for scents in soap since in can't use fragrance oils, but soon learned their scents don't last. And then I read about the magical Slurry that could help anchor the scents and I mixed up a jar of lavender EO and whole dried lavender buds in castor oil with Brazilian purple clay ~ and omg that soap still smells lovely and those bars are a year old now

Sounds like a winner! I do slurry but just the EO's in kaolin clay and only an hour before, so I'm definitely going to try preparing that a day before.

But I'm curious about your addition of the castor oil and botanicals. Does adding castor oil to the slurry help with the fixing? And I don't use dried flowers, but I do use oatmeal - I wonder if adding some to the slurry would help...?

 

[Shelley D]

Sounds like a winner! I do slurry but just the EO's in kaolin clay and only an hour before, so I'm definitely going to try preparing that a day before.

But I'm curious about your addition of the castor oil and botanicals. Does adding castor oil to the slurry help with the fixing? And I don't use dried flowers, but I do use oatmeal - I wonder if adding some to the slurry would help...?

I really think it does ~ not sure about the logic behind it, other than maybe it actually gets infused with the scent also but I had tried just clay and EOs and it didn't seem to work but the slurry sure did. I think the buds absorbed some too ~ plus, after it has been sitting in the jar for a day or 2 (I think mine was in for a week, to be honest), I hit it with my SB to break up the whole buds into little specs and I could smell it then

 

[Montuckygirl]

So for other botanicals that might help fix scent in a slurry, would walnut shells or other powdered botanicals with clay work to fix scent possibly? What about things like arrowroot powder as an addition to a slurry?

 

[justsomeguy]

So for other botanicals that might help fix scent in a slurry, would walnut shells or other powdered botanicals with clay work to fix scent possibly? What about things like arrowroot powder as an addition to a slurry?

I use arrowroot powder for my slurry. Works very well for me. 1tsp ppo.

 

[Jamesh388]

Update: I have made a test batch of the same soap, but made sure it didn't gel: early indications are that it does smell stronger than the same soap that gelled. So may be on to something Time will tell if the downsides I've heard about are significant (ie: mainly that they don't last quite as long as gelled soaps..).

 

[Ekuzo]

Update: I have made a test batch of the same soap, but made sure it didn't gel: early indications are that it does smell stronger than the same soap that gelled. So may be on to something Time will tell if the downsides I've heard about are significant (ie: mainly that they don't last quite as long as gelled soaps..).

That’s interesting, got me curious

 

[Tammyfarms]

I really think it does ~ not sure about the logic behind it, other than maybe it actually gets infused with the scent also but I had tried just clay and EOs and it didn't seem to work but the slurry sure did. I think the buds absorbed some too ~ plus, after it has been sitting in the jar for a day or 2 (I think mine was in for a week, to be honest), I hit it with my SB to break up the whole buds into little specs and I could smell it then

I was wondering how you managed the lavender buds. I have read if you put them in soap they turn brown and look like mouse . Breaking them up is a great idea.

 

[Shelley D]

I was wondering how you managed the lavender buds. I have read if you put them in soap they turn brown and look like mouse . Breaking them up is a great idea.

I was already aware of that and was planning on hitting it with the SB. The intended purpose of using whole buds was twofold: 1) whole, I was hoping they would help absorb and anchor some of the scent, and 2) after blending they would be gritty and serve as an exfoliant. And since the purple slurry was so dark, they weren't very noticeable In my original plan, the purple was going to be swirled throughout the soap, so it wouldn't have been overwhelming ~ but I made the mistake of trying too many new things in one recipe and ended up with a mottled mess ~ my purple slurry thickened too quick so when I went to pour it into the batter in the mold to make a swirl, it instantly hardened ~ like the crack topping over ice cream So I just broke it up in chunks and mixed it all together now I have a lovely dirty looking soap (because the green and natural mixed together) with dark purple chunks ~ but it does smell AMAZING! And it has been a full year since I made that batch.

Edit to add original pics! The 1st pic shows the amount in the jar and the 2nd shows what it looked like after I gave it a shake
The third is what my soap looked like after I stirred it all together

 

[Tammyfarms]

I was already aware of that and was planning on hitting it with the SB. The intended purpose of using whole buds was twofold: 1) whole, I was hoping they would help absorb and anchor some of the scent, and 2) after blending they would be gritty and serve as an exfoliant. And since the purple slurry was so dark, they weren't very noticeable In my original plan, the purple was going to be swirled throughout the soap, so it wouldn't have been overwhelming ~ but I made the mistake of trying too many new things in one recipe and ended up with a mottled mess ~ my purple slurry thickened too quick so when I went to pour it into the batter in the mold to make a swirl, it instantly hardened ~ like the crack topping over ice cream So I just broke it up in chunks and mixed it all together now I have a lovely dirty looking soap (because the green and natural mixed together) with dark purple chunks ~ but it does smell AMAZING! And it has been a full year since I made that batch.

I made a “meat soap” that should have been a rustic red and natural swirl. Instead the batter thickened quickly, I gave it all a quick swirl and glopped it into the mold. I didn’t mention to anyone that it looked like meat and no one seemed to mind but I still have one bar left and it still looks like meat to me. The FO was baked apple and it does smell pretty good. I would take a dirty looking soap if I could get lavender to stick. Am definitely going to try this.

 

[Shelley D]

I made a “meat soap” that should have been a rustic red and natural swirl. Instead the batter thickened quickly, I gave it all a quick swirl and glopped it into the mold. I didn’t mention to anyone that it looked like meat and no one seemed to mind but I still have one bar left and it still looks like meat to me. The FO was baked apple and it does smell pretty good. I would take a dirty looking soap if I could get lavender to stick. Am definitely going to try this.

I would use a meat soap that smelled like baked apples!
I think my slurry came to trace too quickly because 1) it was a floral EO, and 2) my recipe had a few rich butters in it and it was a new recipe for me so I wasn't familiar with how it worked as a recipe before trying to add things to it. If I were to do it again, I would probably use crushed buds in the slurry to avoid having to SB it later, to avoid speeding up trace. I might also try a lighter oil ~ I used the castor oil intended for the recipe and it's pretty thick by itself so I might try it with Sweet Almond oil next time. Also, I would be more patient ~ I portioned out the soap batter that I was going to mix with the slurry and mixed it all together right away, which is why it came to trace before I was ready to use it. Wait until it's the right time for each step for sure! The purple was meant to be the last color added so I should have waited until then to mix the slurry into its batter, then poured right away ~ lesson learned!
The slurry is definitely a game changer for scent ~ but there is a learning curve

 

[Tammyfarms]

I would use a meat soap that smelled like baked apples!
I think my slurry came to trace too quickly because 1) it was a floral EO, and 2) my recipe had a few rich butters in it and it was a new recipe for me so I wasn't familiar with how it worked as a recipe before trying to add things to it. If I were to do it again, I would probably use crushed buds in the slurry to avoid having to SB it later, to avoid speeding up trace. I might also try a lighter oil ~ I used the castor oil intended for the recipe and it's pretty thick by itself so I might try it with Sweet Almond oil next time. Also, I would be more patient ~ I portioned out the soap batter that I was going to mix with the slurry and mixed it all together right away, which is why it came to trace before I was ready to use it. Wait until it's the right time for each step for sure! The purple was meant to be the last color added so I should have waited until then to mix the slurry into its batter, then poured right away ~ lesson learned!
The slurry is definitely a game changer for scent ~ but there is a learning curve

I see you added pictures! I would definitely be happy with that lavender soap. Thanks for the other info as well. I was thinking of using my coffee grinder on the lavender buds before adding them to the slurry.