neem soap

[Maria]

I am thinking about making a soap with neem oil. I bought some neem to make a spray to use on our potbellied pig's skin condition and I am impressed with how quickly it has healed up his problem areas. Seems like it would be helpful to many skin conditions.
To me, neem smells like a combination of raw oysters, baked garlic and sulphur. Any thoughts on a fragrance or essential oil mix that could makes this smell close to tolerable? I would add the neem last after the soap is cooked. Maybe I should just leave it fragrance free and hope the smell fades with time.

 

[Overthemoon]

To me, neem would be wasted in soap, like most expensive and special oils and additives. Even after the cook, lye is still working and all oils are eaten equally. This is why I leave special additives, my favorite right now is simple rose water, out of soap.

 

[carebear]

I use neem in my soaps and I like it for my adult acne and backne.
I actually like the smell of it. Neem soap (I use 10%, and add at the beginning with the other oils) does smell just like the oil!

Adding after the cook might spare it the impact of the lye although soap as such is a high pH environment and I don't know about the stability with that in mind (tho as I said above, I find it useful in a skin-treatment soap so I'd say it survives); adding it while the soap is still raw, though, is really no different than adding it at the beginning.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I like it in soap too. If you're going to use the soap on piggy, then I wouldn't worry too much about the odour. Better to smell the neem rather than use an essential oil that would irritate piggy's skin. :wink:

If you want to know what I use to cover the smell of Neem in soap for me, then I use a combination of Rose Geranium, Lemongrass, Patchouli plus whatever else takes my fancy at the time.

 

[Maria]

Thank you carebear. I think I will start out with less than 10% since the smell bothers me and I am adding it last. I did notice some of the commercial soaps made with neem were using 10% too. Maybe if I let it sit for a while, I won't notice the smell. If that doesn't work maybe I will add some neem to a lotion.
Actually the soap is not for Wilbur. The spray seems to be working for him. I have eczema and my husband gets a little acne now and then.