New here and have a question

sfreitag · Apr 1, 2008

I am so glad to have found this site. I am enjoying reading through all the posts very much. I have been making MP soap on and off for about 5 years now and am getting ready to try my hand at CP soap. I have noticed that all of the CP soap I have encountered has the same underlying scent to it. Someone from another message board said it was the oils in the soap I am smelling. My question is, can you recommend oils that have the least amount of scent to them? I would love to make CP soap because of the skin loving ingredients it can contain but would prefer it not to have the oily scent to it.

Thank you!
Stacey

IanT · Apr 1, 2008

stay away from crisco or oils with a large amount of unsaponifiables, this means that there will be extra molecules from the oil left in the soap and would make it smell slightly like the oils it came from (although I dont usually mind it...if you scent right you can pretty much use any oil thats not overwhelmingly stinky)

thats my 2 cents! I hope that helps!

Marianne · Apr 6, 2008

Hi, I'm new at the forum too.
I have used many different oils and fats for soapmaking and found that strange oil smells have come from Tallow or Lard. I now use only vegetable oils. I do sometimes add in some crisco but it is usually one of 3 or 4 oils and I have never experienced a smell from it.
High grade olive oil will have a smell but I am usually buying the cheapest which doesn't really smell like much of anything.

Marianne

WilsonFamilyPicnic · Apr 6, 2008

adding essential oil or fragrance oil will cover up those scents. most unscented soaps do have a similar smell which to me is not unpleasant, just smells like soap.

Woodi · Apr 7, 2008

Hi! The only way I've found to disguise the oils smell in unscented soap is to add honey, at 1 tsp ppo (per pound of oils) and sometimes oatmeal will also add its own scent to soap.

Otherwise, I love scenting - mostly with essential oils, although I cannot resist a good fo.

arjay · Apr 7, 2008

i can't stand the smell of olive oil, and i found that i really didn't care for the scent that it left in my soaps, so i just stopped using it entirely. the soaps i make without it have no discernable odor (to my nose, at least,) and i like them better overall. maybe if you can identify which starting material(s) you dislike, you can formulate a recipe that smells better to you.