Frankincense and Sandalwood

[CLMP]

Hi everyone I'm wondering if anybody makes soap with frankincense or sandalwood I know it's expensive so I don't know if soap makers use it. I would like to ask for help to make a frankincense and a sandalwood soap. I'm wondering what it's like to work with does it speed up trace or is it slow moving enough to do a swirl? Does it color the batter? Also any suggestions of other essential oils to go with it. I don't know much about top, middle, and bottom notes but I'm going to try learning. I want to make some nice soap for the men in my family and those are the scents they said they would like. So I'm in need of much advice because I don't want to end up ruining my soap with expensive EOs.

 

[AliOop]

Are you (or they) open to using FOs instead of EOs? Here is a five-star rated FO from WSP that has both of those scents (plus a few more). If you don't want the additional notes in this blend, you can also buy just frankincense and just sandalwood FOs, and mix them together yourself. I have and like both of those from WSP.

With FOs, you'll get a longer lasting scent for a lot less money. Real sandalwood is unbelievably expensive, so you'd have to spent an outrageous amount of money to get enough to scent your soap -- as in, a couple of hundred dollars worth of EO for one very-lightly scented batch.

Even if you are able to spend that kind of $$$, I'd encourage you to use those pricey EOs in a lotion, so the scent would linger on their skin and be enjoyed much longer than it would in soap.

 

[CLMP]

Are you (or they) open to using FOs instead of EOs? Here is a five-star rated FO from WSP that has both of those scents (plus a few more). If you don't want the additional notes in this blend, you can also buy just frankincense and just sandalwood FOs, and mix them together yourself. I have and like both of those from WSP.

With FOs, you'll get a longer lasting scent for a lot less money. Real sandalwood is unbelievably expensive, so you'd have to spent an outrageous amount of money to get enough to scent your soap -- as in, a couple of hundred dollars worth of EO for one very-lightly scented batch.

Even if you are able to spend that kind of $$$, I'd encourage you to use those pricey EOs in a lotion, so the scent would linger on their skin and be enjoyed much longer than it would in soap.

Thank you @AliOop thats what I was worried about. Spending alot of money and then not much scent lasting. I actually just bought a sandalwood FO I just bought it smells nice but I find at least to me it smells a little bit feminine I wonder what I could add to it to make it more masculine. I'm going to try buying a frankincense FO too and see what that smells like. Do you know if the FOs speed up trace or not, there is no reviews for either I'll have to be the first. I always write reviews because I find it frustrating some times when I order FOs with no reviews.

 

[Zing]

I use essential oils and buy frankincense at a reasonable price. On the other hand, sandalwood is way outta my budget. When I win the lottery....

I like frankincense blended with fir needle, cedarwood, orange, cinnamon leaf, and myrrh. Once I did a frankincense, myrrh, orange blend and did not like it. Myrrh by itself smells sickly sweet to me so a little goes a long way. People like my frankincense lotion bars as well.

The men in my life like my cedarwood & bergamot blend. And what surprised me is that they also like soaps with some lavender.

Experiment, it's fun! Keep us posted.

 

[AliOop]

Thank you @AliOop thats what I was worried about. Spending alot of money and then not much scent lasting. I actually just bought a sandalwood FO I just bought it smells nice but I find at least to me it smells a little bit feminine I wonder what I could add to it to make it more masculine. I'm going to try buying a frankincense FO too and see what that smells like. Do you know if the FOs speed up trace or not, there is no reviews for either I'll have to be the first. I always write reviews because I find it frustrating some times when I order FOs with no reviews.

That's very interesting that it smells sweet. Is it just sandalwood, or does it have other scents mixed in?

Zing is correct about frankincense EO being much more affordable than sandalwood EO - appreciate the clarification on that. Whether EO or FO, the smell of frankincense can range anywhere from a bit medicinal to more of a smoky incense (hence the name). And different people experience the same FO differently, making it so hard to know whether you will like what you are ordering. My best advice is to read the reviews to get a sense of how others experienced that particular version. Sorry, that's probably not much help.

As for me, I love sandalwood mixed with frankincense. I also love it on its own, or mixed with vanilla. When I don't know what scent to pick, sandalwood is always one of the contenders.

 

[CLMP]

Sorry I had to step away for a few hours to run to the butcher's and than make dinner. Thank you lots @AliOop this is lots of good to know stuff I'm still trying to figure out what I should buy. But yes the sandalwood FO I have smells a little sweet kinda like a unisex smell I really like the smell of it I just think my older son might not think its manly enough for him lol, he is a log home builder and he's use to ruff and tuffing it haha! He is the one who wants sandalwood stuff I want to make him some soap and beard oil. @Zing thank you for your scent suggestions I might try some of those too, the cedarwood sounds interesting I wonder if my son would like that the log homes he builds are out of cedarwood, although he comes home smelling of cedarwood and chain saw gas ha ha! I will have to ask him!

 

[CLMP]

So I asked my son to smell a few different FO strips and one of them was the sandalwood FO. He told me he can't smell the sandalwood FO so strange it smells pretty strong to me. I looked up the sandalwood FO from my soap supplier and it says sweet, warm, woody, scent that's all it says about what kind of scent it is.

 

[CLMP]

All I have right now to try, is mixing palo santo FO, sandalwood FO and Applewood FO it actually smells pretty good.

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

@CLMP, have you considered using actual sandalwood powder for color? I used it years ago and got a very pretty red. Could be used for a single color or in a swirl.

Edit to add: There is also white sandalwood, which is the source for Sandalwood EO. And note that it’s possible for some folks can develop contact dermatitis over time.

 

[CLMP]

@CLMP, have you considered using actual sandalwood powder for color? I used it years ago and got a very pretty red. Could be used for a single color or in a swirl.

Edit to add: There is also white sandalwood, which is the source for Sandalwood EO. And note that it’s possible for some folks can develop contact dermatitis over time.

Oh wow I'll have to think about that. That sounds pretty interesting too. Do you mean the sandalwood powder causes the dermatitis just curious because my son works with cedarwood all day like he says he breathes saw dust all day and he said it burns his eyes,lungs, and skin. He jumps right in the shower as soon as he walks in the door. It's strange how plants and wood can burn you but then I guess you can get lye out of wood lol.. Oh @AliOop I took your advice and added a vanilla strip to my other smelly strips of polo santo FO, sandalwood FO, and applewood FO your right the sandalwood and vanilla smell really good together. The mix of all 4 of those smell really good and my son's like it. I've got my first cologne and beard oil scent lol. I just wish I new how applewood behaves in soap. Boy oh boy I'm having fun now lol Ive been soap making for 2 years and had no clue how fun it can be to play around with the scents. I usually only use 1 or 2 scents and that's it. Lol I'm going to keep working on this and I'm going to get some frankincense too to work with as my father wants frankincense stuff too. I'll keep everyone updated and if anyone has any ideas let me know!

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

I looked up allergies to Western Red Cedar dust and found a good reference. Since you are in the Pacific Northwest, @CLMP, I assume this would apply to your son.

 

[CLMP]

I looked up allergies to Western Red Cedar dust and found a good reference. Since you are in the Pacific Northwest, @CLMP, I assume this would apply to your son.

He just told me they all so use yellow cedar too!

 

[CLMP]

Oh my now I'm mixing sandalwood FO, Japanese cherry blossom FO, and vanilla it smells wonderful for me lol.

 

[CLMP]

@ScentimentallyYours wow the sandalwood powder is only 20 bucks on the Canadian Amazon Web site. I read about it it's supposed to be really good for the skin and it also lightens the skin and stops you from taning and it smells wonderful I bet that's a amazing ingredient to put in soap I'm going to try that too.

 

[Snappy]

Hi everyone I'm wondering if anybody makes soap with frankincense or sandalwood I know it's expensive ...

I love a bb fo - frankincense and myrrh... It is one of my best sellers (unisex), isn't a bank breaker, and behaves beautifully in cp with a slight tanning of batter that I take advantage of by using less of the clays or colorants. To me the fo just screams shades of browns!

. I want to make some nice soap for the men in my family

FO Sandalwood and vanilla is a great selling unisex combo in my area too but the eos didn't hold well enough in cping to justify the cost.

Maybe your son is "noseblind" to the sandalwood fo because of his exposure to different natural wood scents.

My husband has trouble with any fo pine scents and he's surrounded by different pine trees all day. They just didn't smell "right" to him.

 

[Snappy]

Cedarwood is a great partner with any citrus scents imo ... They just dance so well together.
Cedarwood does well with straight florals meaning just one flower scents (rose, honeysuckle, sweet pea). For me, those scents get cloying in the shower when used alone in cp soaping. Cedarwood waltzes them out of cloying territory.

 

[CLMP]

I love a bb fo - frankincense and myrrh... It is one of my best sellers (unisex), isn't a bank breaker, and behaves beautifully in cp with a slight tanning of batter that I take advantage of by using less of the clays or colorants. To me the fo just screams shades of browns!

FO Sandalwood and vanilla is a great selling unisex combo in my area too but the eos didn't hold well enough in cping to justify the cost.

Maybe your son is "noseblind" to the sandalwood fo because of his exposure to different natural wood scents.

My husband has trouble with any fo pine scents and he's surrounded by different pine trees all day. They just didn't smell "right" to him.

Your right he must be noseblind that's got to be it ha ha! Thank you for the great ideas.

 

[CLMP]

So I looked up contact de

@CLMP, have you considered using actual sandalwood powder for color? I used it years ago and got a very pretty red. Could be used for a single color or in a swirl.

Edit to add: There is also white sandalwood, which is the source for Sandalwood EO. And note that it’s possible for some folks can develop contact dermatitis over time.

I was just reading about contact dermatitis and it said it was common to get from sandalwood EO is there a difference in using the red sandalwood and white. Also I read that alot of essential oils cause contact dermatitis now I feel scared to use them.

 

[AliOop]

I wouldn't be too worried. Just stay away from the "hot" EOs, which are most of the spice notes. And whatever you do use, stay in the recommended usage rates on EOCalc.com. I'm super sensitive to so many scents and things, but even I can use all of the ones mentioned on this thread.