How much eo in cold process soap

If you want more of one or the other, you can add more from there. A small amount of Patchouli does definitely help to retain citrus scents. It gives citrus scents a warmer smell. Maybe put the fragrance into the salt first. I know it works wonderfully in bath bombs and such and the addition of a bit of salt would produce a slightly harder bar, which is also a plus. Just enough to hold the fragrance oil adding your super-fatting oils to that at the end of your trace.

Holding soap fragrance is a concern for all of us and a great conversation. You can definitely try it out though! Salt bars are nice and firm and provide a bit of exfoliation. I love your fragrance oils and Energy is a favorite with everyone. I would like to make soap that scents your skin. I have found if I buy soap from various manufacturers it smells wonderful AND that scent clings to your skin. My cold process soap, lotions I bought a lotion kit from you last year and everyone loves the recipe…thick and creamy and body butter smell amazing but the scent does not cling to your skin for very long.

I am wondering if it is because the milled soaps add the fragrance after the saponification process. Is there something to add that makes the fragrance cling to your skin longer? You can increase the usage rate slightly!

That may help it last a bit longer. If you use more than the strong recommendation, it can cause skin irritation. I would recommend sticking within those guidelines. Another thing you can do is make a perfume with the fragrance in your soap!

That way if you love the scent, you can smell it all day. A perfume spray would be really cute in a gift set as well. That is definitely my favorite fragrance. You may also like Coconut Cream Fragrance Oil. I m big fan of yours…I have learnt a lot from your tutorials…now I m actually selling soaps …getting good feedback as well… So thought of thanking u…thank u so much…. That is such a huge accomplishment. Thanks so much for your sweet message.

The first I used a cappuccino fragrance that smelled wonderful right up until I went to cut into it, to which I found it smelled less like cappuccino and more like… playdough? I asked others to smell it and they said it kinda smelled like cappuccino but just very mild. I thought maybe it had just faded really bad, which I thought weird since it had only been a few days, and also wondered if maybe after curing for a few weeks it might smell better.

I settled with thinking it must have been a poor fragrance oil, and set out to make my next batch. This second batch I used a buttercream fragrance oil, and again it smelled amazing for the last two days.

What would cause this to happen? Maybe not enough fragrance oil to meet the larger amount going into the bigger mold? Rancid oils create an unpleasant smell in soap that sort of reminds me of playdough. Several things can cause DOS, including oils past their shelf lives, a really humid environment, and even the water you use.

I can help you pinpoint the cause of DOS! Thanks Stacy. I just looked at my oils, and are no expiration dates on the tubs, though they look and smell fine. I contacted my supplier and waiting for a reply about when the dates would be, though the website guarantees good for one year after purchase and I only purchased them a few months ago.

And I stored them in my cellar, where it is a bit cool, and had my mold wrapped in a thin towel. There is no orange spots or anything on the bars, they are a smooth color all the way through, and the playdough smell is very mild. I was hoping I could try and save them with a rebatch or something, but if something is gone bad I guess I will not be so lucky. When the milk reacts with the lye, it creates an odd smell — it sort of smells like ammonia.

As the soap cures for weeks, that smell should start to fade away. Also, the good thing about that is the bars are still totally fine to use! To help reduce that smell, we like to keep the milk nice and cold. To do that, we recommend freezing the milk before adding the lye. Then, when the soap is in the mold, we recommend popping it in the fridge or freezer for hours to keep in nice and cold.

Nothing else has changed since I found that playdough scent in my soaps. Are you using any fragrance in your batches? Maybe not enough but I never had this smell before. The playdouh scent seems to fade a little since the beginning of the cure, about two weeks. I hope it will continues to fade and let the place to my essential oils scents! Today I try a batch with Milky Way molds lined with coconut oil. I will see if it can make a difference.

I would recommend making a small test batch without the essential oil to see if you still notice that scent. That way you can find out if any of those are causing the smell! It will turn into soap in the molds, and may not help them slide out easily.

Instead you can use cyclomethicone! It happens a lot with oatmeal, milks and even beer. But once the soap is fully cured, the stink always goes away. So my advice would be to just leave it to cure for a few weeks. Thanks for the great tip Debra! Beer and milk mixed with lye do smell a bit odd. I know these comments are older, but I hope this helps. I make mostly goat milk soap. The play dough smell is VERY normal. It is almost a bit like ammonia which always goes away during cure.

It is just part of the saponification process. Some of my recipes and fragrance combinations have it stronger than others. I also noticed that my 10lb logs have it worst at cutting time on the surfaces that have not yet been exposed to air. But again, it does disappear usually in the first week or two of cure and the expected fragrance settles in nicely. My question is kind of the opposite of holding scent and more about how it fades or how I might bring it down a bit. I made my first loaf cold process oven process with rose water, rose infused olive oil, coconut oil, castor oil, a little jojoba and a little apricot oil.

I also added a handful of rosehips and dried rose petals with rose clay. My issue is that I added too much essential oils. I was adding geranium, a little patchouli and lemon to enhance the rose… I used a fragrance calculator to tell me how much to use but had a problem with my scale not registering the weight as I added it to my mix.

So, I ended up with a geranium bomb. Do you think the scent will calm over time? I have definitely scented some of my batches quite heavily — I learned quickly that peppermint essential oil is quite strong! I would recommend letting the soap cure for a couple of weeks. As it sits, it may mellow slightly. For a strong scent, you can add 0.

For melt and pour, you can add 0. This number will vary based on what oil you choose. For instance, Cherry Almond Fragrance Oil is really strong. The max we recommend is 0. Learn more in the Using the Fragrance Calculator article. Each one has a maximum usage rate that is deemed safe for bath and beauty products. Using more can cause skin irritation. Cold process is a harsh environment, as it goes through several pH changes. Straight coconut fragrances and citrus essential oils like lemon tend to fade.

The good news is you can still use them for melt and pour soap, scrub, etc. Lemon essential oil adds a crisp scent to this Marbled Melt and Pour Soap.

Super concentrated orange 10X essential oil is a good option too. They're specifically formulated to last in soap. You can also make your own - it's called anchoring. In the Bentonite Clay Soap, we anchored lime essential oil with earthy patchouli essential oil to help it stick. Some makers like to use kaolin clay to help with scent retention.

The theory is that it holds onto the fragrance or essential oil and makes it last. Each fragrance and essential oil has a flashpoint.

It's used to determine shipping restrictions - if the oil is heated to the flashpoint and it comes in contact with an open flame, it can ignite. Some makers also believe if a scent is heated to that point it can burn off and fade. If you make hot process soap, you may want to stick to high flashpoint oils.

To ensure the scent stays strong, cure soap in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight. That's thought to help the bars absorb some of the scent as it cures. Just remember that fragrance oils and plastic do not get along, so be sure your cotton ball is not sitting on a plastic surface.

We test all of our fragrance and essential oils and include performance notes in the descriptions. From there, experiment with blending and usage rates until you find the best option for your recipes! Find DIY bath and body projects here! Bramble Berry Inc. Search Catalog Search. Shop by Product. Additives and Lye. Exfoliants and Powders. Bramble Berry Exclusive. Body Care. Hair Care. In the EU you may use Nutmeg essential oil in up to 0.

Providing you have the proper cosmetic assessments, cosmetic insurance, and have submitted the product to the EU cosmetic database. I generally use the EU guidelines for all my handmade soap, regardless of whether they are destined to be sold or not. Question, if you use photosensitive oils i. Or does this only apply to roller blends?

Most of it washes off in the bath or shower. What about prcentage of essential oils dor children 7 and up and 4 years to 7 years? All base on soap weight? Lavender for one. It might actually be better to make unscented soap for kids though anyway.

Thanks for sharing such a important information. This is really useful and helps a lot. I want to say Thank You again. In my experience, some essential oil scents are difficult to maintain in soap especially citrus oils.

Do you prefer to CP or HP your soaps and do you add clays to help fix them? There are a few things that can help fix the scent of essential oils — clays, orris root powder, and even oatmeal pieces in my experience.

Some essential oils are more tricky though — lemon, orange, and tangerine can fade quickly. Even then, they do fade a bit. Hi, I have never made soap before and am wondering how do you go about getting your soaps seen by a chemist and what sort of charges would they be.

Many thanks and a wonderfull website on the many different things you do. The way it works in the UK is that you send your recipes to a chemist who offers the service. Hi Sarah , I am having little confusion in soap making if I want to try some essential oil blends in soap making ,for example lye,water, coconut and olive oil all together if I trace and weight for small batch gm to test the essential blends how much I should measure it , in drops or tsp or in gram ,plz guide me and also natural clay how much I should add for gram I can multiply for big batches.

Past 1 year l am learning and reading kindle books and watching YouTube still little clarification needed. Sorry for to big text Thanks Jaya. Hi Jaya — Tanya here no Sarah :. When calculating a recipe technically, you should always measure by weight, not volume. Different essential oils will have a different volume measurement for the same weight. Hi Helen. Thank you for the info. But which EU law are you applying?

Would you mind share the link with us? You cannot legally sell handmade soap to customers in the EU without having your recipes certified by a chemist. Hi Tanya. Sorry about that I got your name wrong.

I need more help here. So are you saying that all the handmade soaps in the market without chemist certification is illegal? Yes and if anything happens, your insurance would not cover you. It is really shocking that so many people are unaware of the law. There are also strict laws about labelling and declaring ingredients. So if you only use two essential oils like cedarwood and vanilla what would the percent be? Any thoughts.

I like the tooth pick idea. Thanks Cheri. Vanilla is a fragrance oil rather than an essential oil. As for mixing, the top, middle, and base ratios are a guide but not a rule. Use the toothpick method to create a blend that you and others like and then go for it :.

I love your site. It is wonderful. I am trying to mix my own essential oils. Can I mix just two flavours? Or must it be top, middle and base? The top, middle, and base recommendations are purely a guide. There are many middle-top and middle-base blends that work well. Hi, first of all let me just say thanks! I love your website and all the info you provide. Any more info on this, e.

Hi Tanya, Can rosewood be used in CP soap making? Many thanks Wendy. I just came across your website and new to soap making, this list has really helped me out with my blends but I wanted to make a soap with Pink Grapefruit, Lavander, Rosemary and sweet orange. Would i devide the 2 top notes and devide the 2 middle notes. I have probably done this all wrong. Please could you give me some advice.

Also are these percentages based on grams? Sorry confused maybe a soap recipe of yours would be ideal as an example. Hi Becky! Have you ever tried the toothpick test before?

In your case, get five toothpicks. Seal it up and then in a minute or so, have a smell to see if you like the blend. You can choose a base note like cedar or ginger, or bulk up your middle note essential oils to cover the difference. Thank you for posting this information!

Further to this, I would like to clarify. My mold makes 3 lbs of soap. Hence the total amount of melt and pour soap base would be 48oz. Do I need to dilute the essential oil blend in a carrier oil like sweet almond oil before adding to the melt and pour base? If you want to use teaspoons for subsequent batches, work out how many teaspoons equate to those particular weights when you make the first batch.

No need to dilute essential oils in carrier oils before adding to soap. Carrier oils are meant to dilute essential oils before you put them directly on your skin think massage oils.

I just discovered your site and love it!!! I am brand new at this soap making craft and am very excited! I tried to simply copy and paste, but it did not work. I appreciate your information and time that you have put in for this site. I look forward to hearing from you. Is there a recipe I can use or. Home What's New! Contact Info Privacy Policy. Soap Making Essentials. How much essential oil do I use?

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