Fragrances started to harden soap

[Carl]

I have a lot of small bottles of fragrance oil sitting around the house from when I made bar soap. When making bar soap, you wind up with a million bottles of fragrance oil that all have about 1/2 ounce in each bottle.

I also have a gallon jug of Liquid Soap that I made several weeks ago. It has been behaving very nicely and is nice to nice, but it was never scented or colored.

Last night I decided to use up the fragrances instead of wasting them and I poured about 8 oz of liquid into plastic PET bottles. I made up (6) 8 oz bottles with pumps. I then put 1/4 oz of fragrance oil into each bottle.

When I woke up this morning, 4 of the 6 bottles had huge chunks floating at the top of the bottle. Shaking the bottle a little was not enough to make them dissolve.

I'm guessing it was the fragrance that cause this, but where did I go wrong?

 

[BattleGnome]

Can you post pics? Did you use polysorbate or another solubolizer?

My guess is that you need a binder like polysorbate to combine the fragrance with the soap. I’m not sciencey enough to explain the whys but my guess is that could be your problem. The second option is that you used the exact wrong fragrances for some reason. I don’t think there is an exact wrong fragrance for liquid soap but you never know

 

[Carl]

Sorry, don't have any pictures. I'm not home today. I did not use PS.

The base soap that I've had is Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Castor Oil, Safflower Oil, and Avocado Oil. I did add Liquid Germall Plus to that several weeks ago, but it has been fine.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

It might help people if you could say which fragrances from which suppliers - I'm no LS expert, but it might help the troubleshooting

 

[Carl]

It might help people if you could say which fragrances from which suppliers - I'm no LS expert, but it might help the troubleshooting

Just a local supplier (Their name is on the bottle, CandlesAndSupplies.net)

Ocean Mist, Jelly Bean, Coolwater, Sweet Pea all had the problem.
Blueberry Cobbler seemed to be fine.

 

[jcandleattic]

Just a local supplier (Their name is on the bottle, CandlesAndSupplies.net)

Ocean Mist, Jelly Bean, Coolwater, Sweet Pea all had the problem.
Blueberry Cobbler seemed to be fine.

Some scents are not compatible with LS unless an emulsifier is added. Scents will definitely change the viscosity of LS, so take that into consideration as well.

Candles and Supplies are a great supplier and they have quality scents. I'm thinking it just needs to be warmed up a bit and an emulsifier added, and that will help.

 

[DeeAnna]

You need to start testing the fragrances in small samples of your liquid soap. Some fragrances thin liquid soap, some will thicken it, others will change the texture -- chunky, stringy, etc -- and some fragrances don't do anything. I cannot predict what will happen without testing.

 

[Carl]

Thanks for the replies. My main objective was to start using up all those small 1/4 oz leftover bottles of fragrance. You seem to never use exactly the entire bottle.

I have some PS80 here. I guess I will try it next. The only thing I don't like about PS80 is that if I ever do start selling someday, it's another ingredient I have to add to the list. I feel like people today want to see less in the ingredient list. Especially things they don't know.

 

[DeeAnna]

If there is obvious separation due to the soap breaking down into fatty acids or the fragrance not being soluble in the soap, then, yes, PS80 makes sense as a solubilizer/emulsifier.

But fragrance can cause the soap to get clumpy or stringy, and that is a texture or thickness change, not separation. This can be fixed -- or at least improved a bit -- by thorough stirring to break up any clumps and mix the soap well. That's why I don't scent LS in the bottle -- I always scent it in a bowl or pitcher so I can use a spatula or whisk.

Let the soap stand for a few days and see how it behaves. Sometimes I also have to add a bit more water to adjust the thickness.