I’m new to soap making, and I’d like to earn about using crushed dried herbs in my soap to provide scent. Is this possible to do without using essential oils? I’m looking to make lard soap with Ashe Juniper (Cedar) and/or Fragrant Sumac (Rhus aromatica). Thanks
Making Lard Soap Scented With Fragrant Sumac and/or Cedar
- Thread starter Luke P
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Adding dried plant material is not really the best option. The saponification process usually turns plant material a dirty grey or brown color and the fragrance does not survive. You might try infusing oil with herbs. Using hot process use heavily infused oil for a superfat at the end of the cook.
I have no experience with candles, but can confirm that I’ve not found any natural plant materials whose scent comes through in soap.
Some folks can smell unrefined shea butter and cocoa butter in their soaps. Neem oil and pine tar are two additional oils whose scents definitely survive saponification, but neither may be the type of scent you are seeking.
Some folks can smell unrefined shea butter and cocoa butter in their soaps. Neem oil and pine tar are two additional oils whose scents definitely survive saponification, but neither may be the type of scent you are seeking.
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I will probably try out that pine tar scent. Do you have a specific recipe you would recommend I try for a hot process method with pine scent?I have no experience with candles, but can confirm that I’ve not found any natural plant materials whose scent comes through in soap.
Some folks can smell unrefined shea butter and cocoa butter in their soaps. Neem oil and pine tar are two additional oils whose scents definitely survive saponification, but neither may be the type of scent you are seeking.
Hi Luke,
Pine tar is not a scent per se; it's a strongly scented ingredient for which the scent carries over into the finished soap. You can use pine tar in pretty much any soap recipe as long as you run it through a soap calculator. I like to follow the process in this video (she also provides a recipe):
I have able to get a little bit of herbal scent to carry through from infused oil to cold process soap using this approach (alcohol intermediary) to make a very strong infused oil. I used 91% isopropyl alcohol.
