more newbie questions, help much appreciated

hi--still trying to sort out things to do a first batch, and still have some questions i havent found answers to on the forum (yet?) . advice much appreciated

1: re: soap moulds: i really like the diameter of the bars that a pringles can would provide, but im confused about how its ok to use one since they are lined with foil, and all soapmaking instructions say to avoid all metals except stainless steel.... has the lye already reacted by the time you pour it into the pringles can, so its ok at this point? i guess i coudl try to line it with parchment paper...? the same goes for juice boxes etc as molds. all foil lined. is this ok somehow?

2. re: essential oils: before doing enough research, i bought some (pricey) lemon essential oil because i wanted to do a lemon and green tea, and also a small bottle of fennel--which was also pricey considering you have to use the whole bottle, which i didnt realize ahead of time. should have done my research first, but didnt. after further research, i also see that citrus oils really dont hold up through the process; the scent gets destroyed by heat... so..did i just waste the 20 euro i spent on these oils? bleh. OR, something im wondering about but havent seen anywhere on the forum is whether you can just make soap then rebatch and fragrance at rebatching so that the scents will hold. Is this a possibility? I prefer to use only essential oils, not fragrance oils, but I see that a lot of the scents dont seem to hold up to the soapmaking process and/or fade quickly afterwards.... wouldnt (?) rebatching and adding the scent then be an easy solution?
although, i have also come across a fair number of posts of people who hate rebatching and it seems time consuming, which i dont really want if i were to do it with most of my batches... but also, i have a food dehydrator that works great for melting things like chocolate and goes up to about 160 degrees F, so im wondering if that would be an easy way to simplify the rebatching and make it less of a hassle?

basically, is rebatching to help keep scents feasible, or is it just too time consuming to be practical?
i wonder if it would be a good way to retain some of the therapeutic properties of essential oils or herbal infusions too...(?) although i guess with soap being a wash-off product, theres probably not much time for the oils to do any work anyway.

(the essential oils here are insanely expensive, and shipping from the states is usually mad crazy. but ive now found relatively inexpensive NOW brand essential oils (which i was looking for anyway because i knew they were affordable), and the shipping on iherb looks reasonable, as long as i dont end up having to pay huge tax costs for receiving the package, which sometimes happens in italy or ireland)

anyhow, thanks for any tips and thanks for having this great, friendly, information-filled forum

kaybee

I can help with the mold question. Yes you must line them. Freezer paper works well too.

As far as eo's I don't know I only use fragrance oils.

I recently made lemon/lemongrass and the aroma lasted beautifully. I soap at 125 degrees.

Hi,
about soap molds: I don't know a lot about them. I usually use wood box and line it with baking paper.
about essential oils: what is pricey for one, isn't pricey for another. I think, in our country the prices of EO are high (let's say 3-6 euro for 10 ml bottle) and I can't find bigger packaging of EO. My friend from Croatia bought for me 1 dl packed lavender EO for 25 euro, and scent in CP is fine and takes long.

I can't help more, but I asssume that Zhuliya will be more helpful.

kaybee said:

2. re: essential oils:

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It's not just the heat that destroys the citrus essential oils, it is the pH of the soap. Even if rebatching, the pH is still the issue, and they will fade. I still use citrus oils in many of my soaps (with clay), but use them up quickly because the citrus will fade!
I have made orange soaps with 10x orange (or tangerine) that I love, and "mojito" soap with spearmint/peppermint/lime. While the lime is faint and fades fast I can still smell it in there while showering. I also like clove/sweet orange.

If you are looking for a citrus-like smell that will stay around, try lemongrass or may chang (litsea cubeba). They smell lemony and cheerful but are not true citrus and stay strong for a long time.

Hope that helps some!