Working with natural spices

[gsc]

As an alternative to synthetic fragrance oils I thought I would use ground spices we would normally cook our food with; i.e. cloves, ginger, etc. I had also thought of usihg whole dry spices in my lye water then strain before combining with oils. Has anyone done this and how did the scents "stick"? If I used ground spices I was thinking about adding the spices at light trace (CP method).

 

[dixiedragon]

I've done it. It's a very very light scent - your nose has to be touching the bar. I've used powdered ginger and not really smelled anything, but I do get a faint scent from clove, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice. It's more potent if you do HP and add the spices at the beginning.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

How are you controlling the risks? At certain amounts, these things can be dangerous - how do you make sure that you aren't essentially over the limits?

Also, for things like spices you can also use the EO rather than the FO

 

[shunt2011]

And too much of some will be extremely scratchy to the skin.

 

[Susie]

Tried this. Very disappointed. Spices in the water result in very low scents and scratchy bars if you use enough to get some scent. Spices infused into the oils do not give off scent. EOs are more cost effective and scent effective.

The only exception is paprika infused in oil used as a colorant. But that is a discussion for another post.

 

[gsc]

whole spices

Has anyone tried using whole spices in the lye water then strain before incorporating lye into oils?

 

[Nikolye]

i have read somewhere today actually that if you take your spice and mix it with a tad bit of soap at trace then mix it into the batch it works a treat to reduce the clumping of powders and some scent remains. i would like to try it actually, in small amounts so its not scratchy or of course burn your skin off :???: but i like mild scent if any. I actually have a question myself... as i said i'm not a big scent person and have only started scenting because everyone else wants me to. i've added honey to chamomile tea base and flowers things like that. tonight im trying coffee and cinnamon, im curious to how much cinnamon eo would you use? i have some and i figure id cut the amount in half of what i would use of any other oil just to be safe.. and coffee grounds? im going to brew strong coffee to use as my water but how about the grounds themselves? to scratchy?

 

[FlybyStardancer]

The cinnamon EOs I've looked at call for .5% as the max safe use. (For comparison, many FOs can be used at up to 5-6%, ten times as much as cinnamon!0

 

[DeeAnna]

I grind coffee as fine as my grinder will do it. Then pass the ground coffee through a fine kitchen strainer. The powder and finer bits go into the soap; the larger bits are discarded or get made into a pot of coffee.

 

[Arimara]

I grind coffee as fine as my grinder will do it. Then pass the ground coffee through a fine kitchen strainer. The powder and finer bits go into the soap; the larger bits are discarded or get made into a pot of coffee.

I have a manual grinder than can grind coffee to almost a powder. Would you still recommend a strainer?

 

[DeeAnna]

It's really your call. Some don't mind some scratchy bits, but they bother me. I set my burr grinder on the finest espresso setting, but I also strain the ground coffee to reduce the chance of bigger pieces in my soap. A tiny papercut scratch on my cheek from a single rough bit "learned me that lesson." Burned like the dickens.