Problems with FO

[MadTeddyBear]

Last friday I tried a batch of soap with The Perfect Man from nature's garden. From what I can tell nothing went wrong making the soap, but a few hours after it was put in the mold it smelled awful. I'm not sure how to describe it, seemed like a hint of what the FO was supposed to smell like and an overpowering sickly odor. Today I can barely smell anything and what little I can smell seems to vary from bar to bar.

The recipe used was 35% lard, 30% OO, 20% CO, 10% cocoa butter, 5% castor and 3% sodium citrate added to water. Fragrance was a little under 3%. Soap was divided in half and colored with 1 tsp each of titanium dioxide and activated charcoal.

Is this something that can normally happen with FO or did I make a mistake? I also used the same recipe with 5% fragrance of peppermint EO on Saturday with no issue.

 

[Obsidian]

Some scents just smell weird to certain people. I've used perfect man and it smelled great for a very long time. It did fade some but even at a year I could smell it.

Did you use any milk? Is you cocoa butter deodorized? Sometimes additive can make things smell off.

I had a gardenia scented soap get ruined from using virgin cocoa butter. The two scents just didn't blend well.

 

[jcandleattic]

ITA with Obsidian. Perfect man in my recipe smells almost exactly the same in a bar of soap as it does oob. I don't use lard or cocoa butter though, so maybe one of those oils is throwing the scent off? Not sure.

 

[MadTeddyBear]

No milk but I am using undeodorized cocoa butter, if I try again I can remove that from the recipe. I could also try to get some palm oil to try instead, but the raw lard really doesn't have a smell to it.

 

[shunt2011]

I use coconut milk, Shea butter and lard. perfect Man is hands down my second best seller to men and women alike. I can’t keep it in stock sometimes. Maybe it’s your cocoa butter mixed with it.

 

[Candybee]

You may want to wait a couple days and revisit the scent. Occasionally some fragrances smell off for a while before they cure.

 

[Obsidian]

I use lard, it doesn't make FO smell different. I'm betting its the cocoa butter. Since you didn't use much. maybe the smell will improve with time. I suggest using deodorized butters for soap.

 

[SaltedFig]

It depends on the cocoa butter, but some are blended and have unexpected additives (like colors) that aren't listed. I have had that with one particular cocoa butter source (it stunk for a while, as the additives reacted with the lye, then it settled down and the smell went away), so for this reason I would also agree with the others that it is likely to be your cocoa butter.

I also second Candybee's suggestion to wait a bit and revisit the scent - for exactly the same reason (the smell might disappear, which means the FO smell may become pronounced again).

 

[MadTeddyBear]

Thanks everyone! I ordered another small bottle to try again, this time without the cocoa butter I have and adjusting the recipe so it's at 5% to see how that turns out. I've also been keeping all of my failures in case they do improve with time. Worst case is the qualities that turned out well can be tested over time to see how they do as they age.