Lavender and peppermint eos thicken my liquid soap too much

poramor · Oct 16, 2020

I scent my liqud soap with equal parts of lavender and peppermint eos, 1.2% of the diluted soap. The soap stays clear but it gets too thick and clumpy and though it improves after a month or more, I wonder if there is a way to reduce its viscosity without having to reduce the percentage of eos. The soap formula has similar ammounts of olive, coconut and sesame oils and smaller ammounts of wheat germ and castor oils.

DeeAnna · Oct 17, 2020

Yes, various EOs can cause viscosity and texture changes in liquid soap.

Have you thought about adding more water?

poramor · Oct 17, 2020

Thank you DeeAnna for your suggestion. I know adding water is an option but I would prefer not to lower the scent. What percentage of this eo mixture would you add to maintain a nice fragrance?

DeeAnna · Oct 17, 2020

I normally scent liquid soap at 0.5% to 1% based on the weight of finished product.

poramor · Oct 17, 2020

I was hoping there could be some sort of catalyst that could make the liquid soap less viscous doing the opposite of what adding salt does. I saw a thread a whie ago that stated that adding aloe vera could achieve this but that experiment I don´t know how it turned out in the long run.

Zany_in_CO · Oct 17, 2020

You can add 1-2 tablespoons of grain alcohol or isopropyl alcohol per 16 oz. of LS to thin it. Don't overdue it. While the right amount boosts lather, too much flattens it.

Another option is Polysorbate 20 or 80. Its function in liquid soap is to make FOs/EOs water-soluble. If t'were me, I'd weigh out 16 oz. or so to test. The polysorbates are best added to the fragrance before adding to the soap.

USE RATE: I use different scents for each 8 oz. container of LS. I first weigh 8 oz. into a Pyrex cup. Nuke for 45 seconds to warm it. Add 10 mls Poly to 10 mls water, stir gently, then add 2.5 mls fragrance and stir. I find that 1 part fragrance to 3-4 parts Poly is enough to get it completely dispersed into the soap. YMMV

With both the alcohol and Polysorbate, it is best to warm the LS before adding it. Wait at least an hour before deciding to add more if necessary. Allowing it to set overnight is even better.

HTH