the smell of cp soap

[krunt]

i make unscented CP soap. i have noticed that it has a distinct smell, and i don't really like it. it hasn't bothered me too much in the past, but for some reason, it IS bothering me now. you know, i'm lathering up in the shower, hot water flowing, and all i can smell is that 'natural' soap smell.

i have only ever rebatched once, however i noticed the soap that i rebatched, has almost no smell at all. it was an unscented CP batch (just like all my other batches), and i rebatched it in the crockpot for 4 hours on low. i can use it without being subjected to 'that' smell.

so i was wondering if heat/cooking makes unscented soap less smelly. it appears that way to me at this point, but i just don't have the experience to know for sure. if i were to HP my soap, would it be less smelly than CP soap?

i know i could add an essential or fragrance oil to hide the smell, but i want to keep my soap unscented.

many thanks in advance for any replies!

 

[IrishLass]

That's a good question. I've personally never noticed a smell in my unscented CP, but I do sometimes notice that my nose smells things stronger than it does at other times depending on what my scent receptors are saturated with at the time. Do you think that that's what could be going on?

If unsure, you could always make your next batch of unscented soap via the HP method and see how it compares with your unscented CP.

IrishLass

 

[new12soap]

I am not crazy about the smell of unscented soap, either, and the higher the olive oil content the less I like it. I almost always do HP and that plus a nice long cure definitely helps. Try HP, if that works for you, great. Otherwise you may want to play around a bit with your recipe and see if one oil or combination of oils is better or worse than another. You can always use a small amount of fragrance, even though you prefer unscented just a bit of scent will help neutralize the oil odors. Good luck, let us know how you do

e.t.a. I just thought about what i just typed, you can use cornstarch to anchor a sticky fragrance, I wonder if using just maybe a teaspoon of cornstarch or even baking soda would help? I haven't tried that, but may be worth a shot.

 

[krunt]

thanks for the responses irishlass & new12soap.

i did some of my own research last night and it seems the smell is related to the volatile aromatic compounds in olive oil. if the oil is heated at a high enough temperature for long enough, they will burn off, making the resulting soap less smelly or not smelly at all. i don't know what temperature or what time period is required, however. so extra virgin olive oil will produce a smellier soap than a refined olive oil, which has already been subjected to high temperature processing (among other things).

so using a heavily processed olive oil should produce a soap with very little (if any) unpleasant smell. i personally don't want to use heavily processed oils in my soap, so next time i make soap i will try heating the olive oil for a while, and see if it makes a difference in the finished soap. i'll just play it by ear at the time, as far as time & temperature goes.

i have other soap which has no olive in it at all, so i will have to use them again soon to see how their smell compares to the ones which do have olive.

 

[motherhues]

The smell of your unscented soap relies a lot on what oils you use in the soap. I can't stand the smell of palm oil in soap AT ALL. I wish I did, as I can get it locally for half the price of the coconut I have delivered, lol. As you discovered, overheating your oils before mixing your lye can also speed rancidity, which will make the soap smell aweful, too. Good luck figuring out how to make your soap palatable to your nose. It's a trial and error effort, most of the time, to find the perfect blend and way of soaping that pleases you

 

[krunt]

hi motherhues,

yes, i am just now realising the oils used in unscented soap determine what it will smell like. seems obvious but it just didn't occur to me. and i am also realising i don't like the smell of olive, unfortunately.

i have given more thought to my soap since i wrote my last post, and i think i am just going to drop olive altogether. rather than try to find a way around the smell, i'll just use oils that i am not as offended by. this morning i sniffed my soaps that have no olive in them, and they are really much more pleasant than my olive based soaps.

the soap that i heated is actually the least smelly of all the soap i have with olive in it. the smell is not noticeable at all when i'm showering with it. that's why i was going to experiment with heating my olive oil beforehand, to burn off the volatile compounds responsible for the smell. but i've now decided to just stop using olive altogether.

 

[Maythorn]

The only time I made unscented soap I put oats in it. It had a sort of grain smell but nothing else besides that.

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

I have noticed a slight smell before but BGF and hubby have always mentioned that tho they love my soap it has what they call a "lye" smell, but I bet it's the same thing you are talking about. They have told me that the longer it ages the less smell it has. But the last few months I have used less OO and more tallow and some other oils I had around - they have not complained about the smell with these oils. When I have used OO I did not use the extra virgin, just the basic OO I could get at Sam's/Costco.

 

[serfmunke]

Been a while since anyone posted in this thread, hopefully someone writes me back with their opinion, experience, and knowledge.

I have a customer who is very sensitive to scent. I gave him a bar of my unscented soap made of EVOO, Castor, Babassu, and Shea Butter. Apparently this has too much scent for him. I imagine the shea and EVOO are the main culprits of giving off a smell, is that correct? I was thinking of cutting the EVOO and Shea and using canola(refined) and maybe safflower? I am looking at other carrier oils also, some of those seem to have little scent like Sweet Almond, avocado, and grapeseed perhaps?

Now that I have written something I think I will try to create this scentless soap with the following:

Babassu, Castor, Safflower, Canola if mine is refined, Sweet Almond, Avocado, and Grapeseed

I just received a nice fresh order of all these oils. What do you think of the oil list. Are there any I should cut out? I will probably have a high % of Babassu to make a hard enough bar and then superfat to compensate, yes?

You are all a wonderful resource and I am always grateful for your advice

 

[msalex28a]

You can use rice bran instead of olive oil and it's cheaper.

 

[lsg]

I regularly use rice bran oil, it is cheaper than olive oil

 

[serfmunke]

Ricebran, good to know. I have all the aforementioned oils on hand and work with regularly. I have noted Ricebran though, thank you