Will dried flowers be enough to fragrance my cold process soap?

[DMack]

Hi hoping someone can advise...

I’m new to soaping so learning every batch which is great but also looking to avoid making obvious mistakes and wasting ingredients

I’m interested to know if dried herbs and flowers can be used at the trace stage and what level of fragrance one could hope for. I have lavender and mint I collected from my garden and want to know if oils need to added to enhance the fragrance or will the herbs be enough by themselves? If anyone has experience of just using dried herbs/flowers I’d love to hear your stories good and bad

cheers

Deb

 

[AlexanderMakesSoap]

I don't have any direct experience with using dried whole flowers, though I have used powdered herbs, and I am very doubtful there will be any scent from the dried flowers noticeable while soaping. My 2 cents.

 

[amd]

Nope. Dried flowers will not be enough to scent soap.

 

[KimW]

I've found that if you first make a Melt & Pour base, then melt that base and add aromatics such as dried flowers like lavender, the scents come through like a champ. Dried flowers, especially lavender, will also often retain some of their color using this method, rather than turning completely brown. However, in the normal soaping processes I've never experienced the scent of even the most aromatic flowers making it through to the finished bar. Some essential oils, yes, but dried flowers, no. But, that's just my experience. Some folks, including me, don't like the scratchiness of dried flowers in a soap. Maybe you could try a very small batch to see if you like it, even if you know the scent will likely not come through?

 

[GemstonePony]

In general for soap involving lye, the lye will burn the flowers and no fragrance will remain. There are very few flowers that can retain even their color in cold or hot process soap. Essential oils are extracted from much more plant material than you could possibly hope to fit in soap, and even those fade over time as soap is, by definition, an alkaline salt.
It's possible you could initially have more luck in Melt and pour, but the botanical materials will break down over time, and the organic matter will usually become brown and decompose as the bar is used.

 

[DMack]

Great thanks for the replies. I’ll put them to some other use instead and stick with oils for smelliness

 

[MelissaG]

Put them on the top for decoration. Alot of people do that. You can also use them for infusions, tinctures, hydrosols, etc.