Real lavender

[KiwiMoose]

HI All,

My sister is forcing me (!) to take some real lavender from her garden and put it into soap. Now personally, I'm not a lavender fan, but she insists the everyone loves lavender and that I should make lavender soap. I do have some lavender EO that needs to be used up (so I can get it out of the house - yuck!)

So any ideas? Do I absolutely have to dry it first? Do I have to crumble it up? I had thought about making a decorative feature of it by putting a whole flower head on top of the soap bars (individually moulded) and pouring the soap around it until its almost covered, but the flower is still there. Will this end up just looking yuck after curing?

Any thoughts and ideas gratefully received. TIA.

 

[lenarenee]

Yup, it will end up looking yuck during and after curing. (blame the lye)

I'm with you on the lavender thing. You know how lavender is supposed to be relaxing? I find it highly irritating!

Now, you might be able to dry it, and then infuse with some oils - but you're talking many weeks time to do so. It won't provide a lot of scent, if any, by doing this however.

You could make soap, than after it's cured a while, use a thin layer of melt and pour poured or dabbed on top to act as glue to hold some real lavender on the bar.

 

[penelopejane]

You can infuse oil quickly by heating the oil and lavender in a double boiler - over water. Just to heat the oil very gently, not to boil or simmer it. It takes a couple of hours. You don’t get much scent at all if any.

Lavender can cause DOS in soap.

The lavender buds in soap will turn out like little brown mouse droppings. They don’t wash down the drain and they are scratchy.

 

[Relle]

I agree with PJ, if you want mouse poo in your soap, go for it .

 

[madison]

Lavender can cause DOS in soap.

I agree, few years back when I used Lavander EO in my soap they all got DOS, I don't use it anymore since then.

 

[dibbles]

You do need to dry the lavender if you want to use it in the soap. I'm not sure if it has to be dried when infusing, but I would dry it first. Make one batch, put some dried buds in it or on top, infuse the rest of it and use that oil, fragrance it with your EO and give it all to your sister. She will see that the lavender gets rather unattractive and you get all things lavender used up and out of your house. Lavender blends well with mint, orange, rosemary or lemon/litsea if you can't do it straight.

 

[dixiedragon]

You could mix the lavender buds with some MP and pour it over the top of your CP, and I think that will hold up better than mixing it with CP.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I agree with PJ, if you want mouse poo in your soap, go for it .

 

[sara.runs.wild]

I third the comment on lavender buds looking like mouse poo. I made some soap a while back and took it to a craft fair. No one bought any but there were many comments asking if it was mouse poop. If you could grind them you may get away with it, but I personally wouldn't use lavender buds as a decoration.

 

[CaraBou]

Use your EO to scent the soap and stage the bars with the flowers (beautiful photos). Then stuff the flowers in small satchets to accompany the bars to their "forever" homes

 

[SunRiseArts]

Lavender still goes brown on MP. I know that for a fact .... is just takes longer.

The only thing I have seen that works, is having the dry buds. Crush them, and put them as decoration on top of the soap. I did this before and they retain the color, and texture, but as son as you use the soap, it will fall off.

Personally l do not like doing that anymore, because who wants that clogging the drain?

But here is a picture from soap queen with other dry flowers. Is similar to what I did.

https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/wildflower-rebatch-soap-tutorial/

 

[KiwiMoose]

Lavender still goes brown on MP. I know that for a fact .... is just takes longer.

The only thing I have seen that works, is having the dry buds. Crush them, and put them as decoration on top of the soap.

But here is a picture from soap queen with other dry flowers. Is similar to what I did.

https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/wildflower-rebatch-soap-tutorial/

Very nice though isn't it? Very aesthetically pleasing.

Thanks all for your comments. I will make one batch of lavender with my remaining EO, colour it purple, leave out the real lavender, and give it to my sister and tell her that's the end of it.

 

[Lin19687]

Just take some Lavender from her, don't use it, and scent the soap.

 

[Dawni]

Take the lavender and infuse it anyway..... And use that infusion in other things.

I use lavender infused sunflower oil on my hair and every now n then mix it with mango butter n give myself a massage on the places I can reach lol

Or make balms.. That's what I plan on doing with another infusion, but this time I used olive oil.

 

[Chris_S]

You can infuse oil quickly by heating the oil and lavender in a double boiler - over water. Just to heat the oil very gently, not to boil or simmer it. It takes a couple of hours. You don’t get much scent at all if any.

Lavender can cause DOS in soap.

The lavender buds in soap will turn out like little brown mouse droppings. They don’t wash down the drain and they are scratchy.

Iv got some lavender FO is this likely to act in the same way it was bought from a soap supplier online so im hoping it will be ok and not as likely to cause DOS but can always go in my candles if it but wpuld be great to know my chances before i try it so i can make a small batch incase

Use your EO to scent the soap and stage the bars with the flowers (beautiful photos). Then stuff the flowers in small satchets to accompany the bars to their "forever" homes

Like that photo i added? i ordered lavender candle dye and got sent a bag of lavender buds and they said i can keep them so giving a few of these little bags as little gifts. and going to infuse a bunch of them after that

I agree with PJ, if you want mouse poo in your soap, go for it .

What a lovely imagine you have just implanted in my brain so thanks for that

 

[penelopejane]

Iv got some lavender FO is this likely to act in the same way it was bought from a soap supplier online so im hoping it will be ok and not as likely to cause DOS but can always go in my candles if it but wpuld be great to know my chances before i try it so i can make a small batch incase

It might not happen while you have it curing. It might not happen before you use it. It’s just that it is much more likely to happen than with any other fragrance.

The only time I’ve ever had DOS is in a lavender soap.

It’s just not worth the risk for me.

 

[Chris_S]

It might not happen while you have it curing. It might not happen before you use it. It’s just that it is much more likely to happen than with any other fragrance.

The only time I’ve ever had DOS is in a lavender soap.

It’s just not worth the risk for me.

Got you looks like its going to be used in candles and melts then pitty because i love the smell of lavender. I might just make a small batch with lavender and see what happens for the experience.

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

Got you looks like its going to be used in candles and melts then pitty because i love the smell of lavender. I might just make a small batch with lavender and see what happens for the experience.

Lavander EO was the first thing I used to scent my first soap. They are quite a few months olds now and non of them look like they will get DOS any time soon. I knew it was likely to happen, but did it anyway. It's still a toss, they might get it down the road, and that is why I plan to use the, up before they get too old, but still, I would just use it if you like. Just keep in mind it might happen or not.

 

[Chris_S]

Lavander EO was the first thing I used to scent my first soap. They are quite a few months olds now and non of them look like they will get DOS any time soon. I knew it was likely to happen, but did it anyway. It's still a toss, they might get it down the road, and that is why I plan to use the, up before they get too old, but still, I would just use it if you like. Just keep in mind it might happen or not.

Iv actually got a lavender fo though that i bought hoping it would be ok in soap as i had read about the issues regarding lavender eo thinking a fo would be a safer alternative. Im going to try a pure olive oil soap sometime soon might throw some in that iv had quite a few people say they really dont like lavender i always used to rub the lavender plants in my folks front garden when i was younger smells proper yummy to me

 

[CaraBou]

Like that photo i added? i ordered lavender candle dye and got sent a bag of lavender buds and they said i can keep them so giving a few of these little bags as little gifts. and going to infuse a bunch of them after that

Yes, that's it!

As for DOS, I haven't had that problem, but you could try adding a tiny bit of ROE to your bottle when you receive it to minimize the chance. It's certainly not a foregone conclusion that lavender soap will develop DOS.