Lavender EO

Fireside · Oct 14, 2020

I added lavender essential oil to my liquid soap recipe, which was nice and clear but a little on the thin side, and it immediately turned the soap cloudy and thick (so thick that it doesn't move). Does anyone know why this happened? I read that lavender EO is a good EO for liquid soap. And, is my so-thick-I-can-turn-it-upside-down soap salvagable?

Zany_in_CO · Oct 14, 2020

Hello, Fireside and Welcome!

Soooo many questions, soooo little time. It would help us to help you if you go to the Introduction Forum and tell us a little about yourself, especially your level of soap making experience. Also, there's about as many different ways of making LS as there are LS'ers!

Please share a little about the way you make LS or share a link to a video or recipe. It is unusual in my experience that Lavender EO turns the soap cloudy and as thick as you describe. Hmmm. My question there is, who is your supplier, i.e., where did you buy it?

Fireside · Oct 14, 2020

This is my second attempt at LS. I've been making CP soap for years, mainly for fun but I have sold some of it. I used a recipe and instructions from Wholesale Supplies Plus (Learn to Make: Liquid Soap From Scratch), which is where I get most of my supplies, mainly because they offer free shipping. The lavender 40/42 EO is from Wellington Fragrance. My recipe used 5 oz coconut (from Big Lots), 5 oz olive (from Costco), 4 oz rice bran, 4 oz sweet almond, 3 oz castor (the last three from WSP). I used a negative 7% superfat (as suggested in the recipe) and three times the weight of the KOH (5.12 oz) for the distilled water for the lye solution (15.36 oz) because that's what the recipe said to do. I diluted the paste with distilled water at 100% of the paste weight (so 41.5 oz). When the paste wouldn't fully dissolve after over 24 heated hours, I added a bit more distilled water (after looking on this forum for help) and that seemed to do the trick. I poured the soap into a pitcher and let it sit. When I went to pour some into a bottle I noticed a layer of sediment at the bottom of the pitcher. Again, looking here for advice, I learned that that's not a big deal and to just pour the top layer of soap, which I did. It was beautifully clear and amber in color. I used 2% of the soap weight for the amount of EO, and as soon as I poured it into the soap the cloudiness and thickness occurred. It just kept getting thicker with time. Attached is a picture of my "liquid" soap. I also added a few drops of liquid color (Strawberry Stained Glass from WSP) but I don't think that contributed to the disaster.

I can't do anything with this stuff as is (except maybe as a room freshener--it smells good) so I'm wondering if it can be turned back in to liquid soap. Thanks!

Zany_in_CO · Oct 15, 2020

Thanks for introducing yourself, @Fireside. I appreciate it. Feel free to PM me if you want help with this recipe.

Zany_in_CO · Oct 16, 2020

Deleted

Fireside · Oct 17, 2020

Zany,

I'm so bummed you deleted your lengthy analysis of my LS endeavor. I didn't have time to respond earlier and I was going to try to get to it today. If I PM you, do you still have that info?