Any experiences making chamomile infused soaps?

[sam444]

I want to infuse dried chamomile flowers into the oils for my CP soap recipe. Has anyone done this before? I've done oil infusions with paprika, alkanet root, and comfrey, but these were all meant to color the soap. I'm looking to infuse the oil with chamomile so that the scent remains intact. I've tried using chamomile fragrance oil, but it smells so artificial and not like the chamomile I was imagining.

If anyone has experience with this, I'm wondering what is a good ratio of dried chamomile flowers to oil for the infusion, and what percentage of the total oils should be infused? Thank you!

 

[Kcryss]

Sadly, the scent will not stay.
I've been trying to find a way to get a White Sage scent and no matter what I do ... it doesn't last and no one has a FO for White Sage.

 

[DeeAnna]

I agree with Kcryss. An infusion does not work to scent soap.

Here's why --

We normally add concentrated fragrance oils or pure essential oils (EOs) at 3% to 6% of the total weight of fats. So for a batch with, say, 1000 grams of fats, a soap maker would want to use at least 30 grams of EO (3% dosage). And even then, the scent might be relatively faint, especially for EOs.

A generous yield of EO from distilling botanical material is perhaps 1% at best and is often much lower than that. In other words, you might distill 1 gram EO rom 100 grams of botanical material if you choose the right material to distill and you've got good equipment and enough expertise.

Based on these assumptions, to get 30 grams of EO at 1% yield, you'd need at least 3000 grams (over 6 pounds) of botanical material. I doubt the extraction yield for an oil infusion is close to that for distillation. But let's say for the sake of argument that it is the same -- a 1% yield.

Based on these generous assumptions, you'd have to infuse at least 3000 grams (6 pounds) of chamomile into 1000 grams of oil to get a reasonable amount of fragrance chemcials in the oil to scent your soap. That's impractical.

 

[AliOop]

I've tried using chamomile fragrance oil, but it smells so artificial and not like the chamomile I was imagining.

Have you tried chamomile essential oil?

 

[sam444]

I agree with Kcryss. An infusion does not work to scent soap.

Here's why --

We normally add concentrated fragrance oils or pure essential oils (EOs) at 3% to 6% of the total weight of fats. So for a batch with, say, 1000 grams of fats, a soap maker would want to use at least 30 grams of EO (3% dosage). And even then, the scent might be relatively faint, especially for EOs.

A generous yield of EO from distilling botanical material is perhaps 1% at best and is often much lower than that. In other words, you might distill 1 gram EO rom 100 grams of botanical material if you choose the right material to distill and you've got good equipment and enough expertise.

Based on these assumptions, to get 30 grams of EO at 1% yield, you'd need at least 3000 grams (over 6 pounds) of botanical material. I doubt the extraction yield for an oil infusion is close to that for distillation. But let's say for the sake of argument that it is the same -- a 1% yield.

Based on these generous assumptions, you'd have to infuse at least 3000 grams (6 pounds) of chamomile into 1000 grams of oil to get a reasonable amount of fragrance chemcials in the oil to scent your soap. That's impractical.

Wow thank you for the explanation! Now I understand why the EOs are much more expensive.

One other question, do any of the beneficial properties an an herb remain if they're infused into the oils and used in soap?

 

[sam444]

Have you tried chamomile essential oil?

Not yet because they're so expensive. But I'm sure that would give me more of the natural scent I'm looking for.

 

[BWt]

Wow thank you for the explanation! Now I understand why the EOs are much more expensive.

One other question, do any of the beneficial properties an an herb remain if they're infused into the oils and used in soap?

@sam444 the delicious smells from plants are from “terpenes”. Terpenes exist in plants to attract pollinators or deter predators. In my opinion and am not a chemist, when lye destroys the scent it may also be damaging the terpenes which are responsible for the scent. I recommend trying another scent manufacturer as some are better than others. Recently ordered multiple one ounce fragrances to try from a new to me provider. Am extremely pleased with the woody resinous scents I tried. Here is a new scent they have. I am going to give it a try as well. Good luck with your chamomile soap adventures! Chamomile Tea Fragrance Oil

 

[BWt]

Not yet because they're so expensive. But I'm sure that would give me more of the natural scent I'm looking for.

Here is a supplier with chamomile infused Jojoba. Four ounces at $21. Yes essential oils are pricey. Have you considered making un scented soap and oven rebatching to add the chamomile. Perhaps your chamomile addiction on rebatch could be an extremely strong chamomile tea. Thinking of cost effective work arounds. I make coffee soap with a fabulous scent by rebatching soap made with over the top strong refrigerated coffee in the lye solution instead of water. Also use homemade coffee infused soap oils (freshly ground coffee beans into oil and let sit for a few weeks). These two give color and some scent. Then rebatch with my own infusion of super strong coffee. Perhaps this would work with chamomile?

 

[Kcryss]

One other question, do any of the beneficial properties an an herb remain if they're infused into the oils and used in soap?

Some may potentially remain; however, soap is on your skin for such a short period of time that it is unlikely to have any real benefits.
It would depend on the chemical you are attempting to keep around as to whether or not it would be unsaponifiable. Even if the lye monster doesn't eat it, it would likely change the properties of the chemical you are trying to keep around, IMHO.

 

[DeeAnna]

I want to echo what the others have said --

If an EO has beneficial properties, we don't know if those properties survive the process of saponification as well as long exposure to the alkalinity (high pH) of the soap itself. There are a lot of unsubstantiated claims, anecdotal stories, and wishful thinking about this ... and very little sound science research into this matter. Not to mention the problem of researching hundreds if not thousands of EOs.

If assuming the beneficial properties do survive, another issue is that soap isn't on the skin long enough, given the way we typically bathe, for the EOs or other beneficial additives to actually do much good.

If producing products that contain EOs with medicinal properties is your goal, IMO you're better off to put the EO in a leave-on product (lotion, body butter, etc.) so it's on the skin long enough to do some good and also so the EO is not exposed to a high pH environment.