Salt bars scent holding power

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seven

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i've noticed that my salt bars seem to smell stronger than the rest of my soaps. i remember, at one time i was doing a 300 gr batch and i was using a 5ml sample bottle (less than 2%). scent is still strong till now (4+ months). always happen with my salt bars. is it coz of all the salt that acts as an anchor to the scent? or am i imagining things? my last batch i was using 2% EO coz it was meant for a facial soap, and i don't need a strong scent. it smells really strong at the moment, something that would not happened with my normal soaps.
 
what is a dentric salt? i believe i was using a regular sea salt, and another time, a himalayan salt.
 
It isn't your imagination, my salt bars hold scent extremely well and true. It is the only soap that has been able to hold a true "Ocean" scent. I use ordinary fine sea salt at 25% and about half as much FO as in other recipes.
 
My salt bars also hold the scent much stronger than regular bars, not sure why? I usually super fat at 20% and wondered if that had anything to do with it, or if it is the salt. The batch that I made last weekend I used sea salt, but threw in a few tablespoons of dendritic salt to see if it would boost the fragrance even more.
 
I do not find that salt bars hold fragrance better, in fact I up my fo % to 7.5. When using primarily sea salt I find in a few months I do pick up distinctive sea salt smell. Which is why I stick to citrus, green or ocean fragrances for salt bars. I just recently cut a salt bar that is 3 yrs old with Vanilla Sandalwood fo and there is no vanilla sandalwood left just the salty sea fragrance. BTW it is the best salt bar I have ever used...;)
 
hmmm... mixed results... so, i'm not imagining things. or does it only happen with certain scents? with my last batch i was using tea tree and lavender, and at 1st the tea tree smell was overpowering, but now it has subside a lot and the lavender is getting real strong and i quite like how it smells atm.
 
Mine hold the scent better as well. I have some with plain sea salt and some with Himalayan. 7 different batches now, all with the same result of top shelf whiffy staying power. It's yet another reason I love salt soaps. Salties are such a bargain and they work a treat. Now you have me wondering as to why too. I just went with it lol
 
i love them as well, Derpina. sadly, it doesn't sell well over here, bugger, as i love making them. i don't think many ppl know about it. i've had one customer raised her eyebrows as i explain what a salt bar is. and another thing, the **** thing sweats like crazy down here, it's gonna be a challenge packing and shipping it.

okay, back to the scent... i think we need DeeAnna to perhaps give a lil insight from science pov. my lil mind thinks it was the salt that's giving the medium for the scent to stick, but of course, that could be totally wrong! :D
 
Yeah high humidity is a problem here too. I had to clue friends and family in on them (I had no idea about them myself until recently), now everyone is hooked.

The salt would seem like a good suspect and the only other major variants is the very high level of coconut oil and high SF. I haven't made one with citrus yet but now thinking it would be a good test. I use 100% salt ratio btw if it matters. Started with 75% then upped it. All lots smell stronger then normal though.
 
Mine hold the scent better as well. I have some with plain sea salt and some with Himalayan. 7 different batches now, all with the same result of top shelf whiffy staying power. It's yet another reason I love salt soaps. Salties are such a bargain and they work a treat. Now you have me wondering as to why too. I just went with it lol

How long have you kept your Salt bars Derpina? I find the fragrance will hold about 4 months then start fading. I do have a small selection that I always make and use the same fo for the holding power in the salt bars. I have made a lot of salt bars over 5 yrs and sell a lot of them but stick to 3 fragrances. Tea Tree mixed with litsea and grapefruit will hold quite well.
 
I hosted the essential oil and scent retention additive swap in 2012. We used clays, corn starch, and sea salt to test scent retention. This was for EOs (no FOs). Most of us agreed that the salt was the most effective to hold the scent. Better than corn starch or clays. These were small quantities of salt tough, not enough to give a soap a salt bar character. Maybe 1 TBS PPO or in that range.
 
Why would the extra SF keep the FO/EO scent better, do you think? The salt I can see/understand although I don't know if it holds up scientifically.
 
Nevada this scent blend sounds divine!

I make salt bars too, but do not account for the extra weight of the salt, so my scent gets a lot more 'diluted' on a greater weight of soap (and a little more volume). Still, a similar scent blend seems as strong in the salt bars as for my 'regular' soaps, even distributed over more soap.

This is very un-scientific (I would need a control with a scent weight proportional to the soap weight - and made at the same time) - but it would support that EOs seem to hold better in salt bars. I use FOs in some soaps, but not in salt bars.
 
Can I use a higher percentage of EO to account for the added weight of the salt? I used one ounce EO per pound of oil weight and then just added 75% sea salt. But could I have used 1.5 ounce or more of EO? I like a strongly scented soap but want to remain safe.
 
Can I use a higher percentage of EO to account for the added weight of the salt? I used one ounce EO per pound of oil weight and then just added 75% sea salt. But could I have used 1.5 ounce or more of EO? I like a strongly scented soap but want to remain safe.

Depending on what EOs you are using, that is about double the recommended amount. 1 oz ppo is about 6% fragrance, it is not usually advisable to exceed 3%. Some EOs can go higher but many are irritants at far less.

I have never heard of anyone adding the weight of the salt to their formula for determining fragrance load.
 
My salt bars are a lavender-spearmint blend, and I have also noticed they are very strong if I used the same % as with other soaps. And the scent stays a long time. I have some that are at least 3 months old, and they're as strong as when they were a week old, and that's out in the open air, not packed in a box or wrapped.
 
mine is left in the open air too coz the sweat, and still the scent stays..
 
How long have you kept your Salt bars Derpina? I find the fragrance will hold about 4 months then start fading. I do have a small selection that I always make and use the same fo for the holding power in the salt bars. I have made a lot of salt bars over 5 yrs and sell a lot of them but stick to 3 fragrances. Tea Tree mixed with litsea and grapefruit will hold quite well.

My oldest salt soap is only a couple of months old. I'll keep a check on it, should be interesting.
 

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