Increasing scent longetivity in cold process soap

[foresthome]

I have a problem with some of my scents fading away after a year or so. It is the worst with essential oils, especially citrus oils. I read that a lower PH may help. Has anyone tried adding citric acid to their soap to increase scent life?

 

[shunt2011]

This subject comes up often here. There is no proven way to make or anchor EO's especially citrus. If you're getting a year then you are lucky I couldn't get citrus EO except Lemongrass to last 6 months. Cubea Litsea can help some.

 

[IrishLass]

Also, you won't be able to lower the pH of lye-based bar soap with citric acid to any appreciable level without it also having an adverse effect on the stabilility of your soap. Here's a great conversation between chemists that will help explain why trying to lower the pH of lye-based soap is not a good idea: https://chemistscorner.com/cosmetic...how-can-i-lower-the-ph-in-cold-processed-soap

Like Shari said in her post^^^, if you're getting a year of scent longevity with your EOs in your soap, that's pretty awesome! Generally, many (not all) EOs, but especially the citrus EOs, don't last much more than 3 to 6 months. That's one of the couple of reasons I choose not to use EOs in my soap.

When it comes to FOs, the best 'remedy' that I have found to work is reading as many FO reviews that I can get my hands on, and then purchasing only those that have a proven track-record sticking around longer than a year. I have garnered several such 'keeper' FOs over the years.


IrishLass

 

[DeeAnna]

...a great conversation between chemists that will help explain why trying to lower the pH of lye-based soap is not a good idea...

It's nice to know I'm not alone regarding this issue.

 

[lsg]

You can use 15x orange essential oil. You can also try using litsea cubeba along with citrus EOs to anchor them.
This from Wholesale Supplies Plus: "Some of the best anchor scents include patchouli, ylang ylang, litsea cubeba, vetiver, clove, rosewood, neroli, balsam peru and sandlewood essential oils. This method is commonly used for anchoring essential oils. For example, lemon essential oil is typically paired with lemongrass, list cubeba or lemon tea tree essential oil for the strongest lemon scent."