Help please! Soap smells like fish.

[K.A.A.]

Hi! I'm very new to this and just tested my first batch which was a peppermint and pine scented cold process. I used coconut oil, olive oil, and lard for this soap. The soap smells wonderful until it gets wet. Once wet it smells like fish. My husband says I don't smells like fish but the bar most definitely does. Any ideas on what happened? Should I cure it longer?

Thanks in advance!

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome, K.A.A.!

How old is your soap at the moment? Oftentimes, newly made soap can emit all kinds of weird smells that eventually cure out. I've had different soap batches that at first smelled like ammonia, some like hair perm, and some like bad doggy breath, etc..., lol, but they eventually cured out to smell nice.


IrishLass

 

[K.A.A.]

Thank you!

The soap is 2 weeks now. I thought it was 3 weeks but I looked at my calendar incorrectly.
I will let them cure for a few more weeks then try them again.

Thank you so much for the advise!

K.A.A.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

So sorry, [USER=34740]@K.A.A.[/USER], My crystal ball seems to be on the fritz. Before shooting in the dark as to what may be wrong, it would be helpful to see your recipe, what process you used? any additives? fragrance? and anything else you can think of.

 

[K.A.A.]

View attachment 42802 So sorry, [USER=34740]@K.A.A.[/USER], My crystal ball seems to be on the fritz. Before shooting in the dark as to what may be wrong, it would be helpful to see your recipe, what process you used? any additives? fragrance? and anything else you can think of.

The basis of the recipe and the process is in the post above. I did add some peppermint tea to it. No colorant and the fragrance was a pine scent. I really don't remember what brand or anything. I was given it by my mom.

 

[Relle]

Welcome K.A.A. .

The KAA here is Oz was the Knifemakers Association of Australia that was formed by dh and myself.

 

[K.A.A.]

Welcome K.A.A. .

The KAA here is Oz was the Knifemakers Association of Australia that was formed by dh and myself.

Thank you! That's really cool! My K.A.A. isn't anything awesome like that, just my initials .

 

[Zany_in_CO]

... the fragrance was a pine scent. I really don't remember what brand or anything. I was given it by my mom.

Ah-hah! I'm guessing that's what is making your soap smell fishy. Not all fragrance oils do well in soap, think Michaels, Hobby Lobby, JoAnns, Walmart, etc., so there may be some morphing going on. Hopefully it will neutralize over time.

ETA: Peppermint Tea can add a soothing feel to your soap, but the fragrance doesn't survive the lye process. That's true of most teas... even if it is infused in one of the oils in the batch.

 

[K.A.A.]

Ah-hah! I'm guessing that's what is making your soap smell fishy. Not all fragrance oils do well in soap, think Michaels, Hobby Lobby, JoAnns, Walmart, etc., so there may be some morphing going on. Hopefully it will neutralize over time.

ETA: Peppermint Tea can add a soothing feel to your soap, but the fragrance doesn't survive the lye process. That's true of most teas... even if it is infused in one of the oils in the batch.

Thank you!
I think she got it from Walmart but I'm really not confident on that at all.
That strange part is that
the bar smells nice until its wet then it gets the fish smell. Now that the bar is dry again it smells great.

As far as the tea I knew the scent wouldn't stay . I really just added it for the feel and the speckles it adds to the soap. The pine scent I used has a slight minty smells so I thought it would go together really nicely.