Lingering scent control — aka, managing the aftermath of cp making marathons

[Ephemerella]

Hi all! Hope this is the right place to post this!

I had a bit of a CP free-for-all over the last few days and made 7 batches. Ha!

The scents I used were really far-ranging (that's half the fun of soapmaking right? Half making something pretty, half making something skin nourishing, half making something creative, and half making something that makes you smell amazing... teehee).

But, now I have "ghosts of batches past" hanging around the house. As it's fall, and really quite chilly, I can't open the windows. But, air effects are the least of my issues. My soap-making rampage is having some serious aftereffects. So, I ask the collective wisdom of SMF:

• How do you mitigate lingering scents in your silicone molds?
• How do you deal with drying/curing multiple batches in proximity with wildly different scent profiles? Will espresso start wafting and stick to my delicate floral bars?
• How do you get the combined aroma of earth (that batch came out nice!), and dollar-store men's cologne (that batch went in the trash! FO did NOT reflect the glowing reviews) out of the dishwasher?!? Seriously, I've done 4 loads of dishes this week and it still smells like Ron Burgundy holding a sack of dirt in there.

Luckily I have the house to myself this week, but I have to do damage control stat, otherwise, Mr. E is going to show up and his nasal passages are going to implode.

Thank you!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

it still smells like Ron Burgundy holding a sack of dirt in there.

How do you mitigate lingering scents in your silicone molds?

Try 1 tablespoon A&H Washing Soda in 16 oz. boiling water. Soak 5 minutes. Save the stuff. You can use it for other things... like removing wax from Pyrex cups after making lip balms.

How do you deal with drying/curing multiple batches in proximity with wildly different scent profiles?

The operative word is "proximity". Don't do that!

How do you get the combined aroma of ... out of the dishwasher?!?

A box of Baking Soda removes odors from the fridge. Maybe try that in the DW over night. Then use some of it in the dispenser to run a load of dishes too. Might work. Not sure.

dollar-store men's cologne (that batch went in the trash!

ACK!

I've yet to meet a batch that couldn't be saved... at least give us a chance to try! You could stick it in box and banish it to the basement or garage until we figure something out...

Two things come to mind...

1) You may not like the odorific scent but you never know whose nose it's going to appeal to, Ron Burgundy, for example.
Right out of the mold is too soon to pass judgment. JMHO.

2) Salting Out Soap is an old fashioned method that's ideal for removing a fragrance.

 

[dibbles]

How do you mitigate lingering scents in your silicone molds?

Don't worry about it. I only use silicone molds and the lingering scent has never transferred to the next batch.

How do you deal with drying/curing multiple batches in proximity with wildly different scent profiles? Will espresso start wafting and stick to my delicate floral bars?

My soaps all cure on the same shelves. Usually I can leave some space between batches, but they are still pretty close. I've not had a problem. Once cured and put in boxes for storage, I don't mix soaps with different fragrances.

I don't put my soap dishes in the dishwasher, so I can't help with that.

 

[Ephemerella]

Try 1 tablespoon A&H Washing Soda in 16 oz. boiling water. Soak 5 minutes. Save the stuff. You can use it for other things... like removing wax from Pyrex cups after making lip balms.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. That's a thought, thank you! @Zany_in_CO I'm going to give that a go tonight.

A box of Baking Soda removes odors from the fridge. Maybe try that in the DW over night. Then use some of it in the dispenser to run a load of dishes too. Might work. Not sure.

As well as this, thank you!!! @dibbles I generally don't use the dishwasher either, but the smell of earth scent was SO pungent I thought I'd just do a quick run and be gone with it... and that little plan backfired on me. On a separate note, I'm starting a new thread on how to manage clean up.

The operative word is "proximity". Don't do that!

Unfortunately, I only have so much room. You see... I am a woman of many hobbies, of which Mr. E is understanding of... to a point. : ) Horses, archery, hunting, fishing, off-roading, gardening, cheesemaking, quilting, volunteer work in all said disciplines, and now soaping... to name a few.... some (Mr. E) might say cray cray, but I just consider myself a renaissance woman : ) ..... and the potential for one helluva garage sale should the day ever come.

So, my adventures in soaping have a limitation on space, and I have to make it work.

Don't worry about it. I only use silicone molds and the lingering scent has never transferred to the next batch.

So far, I have found this to be the case, thank goodness. I'm pretty pleased with BB's molds, they clean up well and are sturdy physically and smellically. : )

I've yet to meet a batch that couldn't be saved... at least give us a chance to try! You could stick it in box and banish it to the basement or garage until we figure something out...

Ok.... the gorilla in the room... So can I say I did my due diligence in this area. I pursued these forums for rebatching. I youtubed. I pinterested (and found some gorgeous confetti creations!!! omg!!!), and I sleuthed this forum and found (and considered for a hot second) the salt method.

Full. Stop. NO. This soap is UNSAVABLE. Maybe...

Over the past few days I have made some flawed, but otherwise lovely soap. I present Exhibit A:
Cedar and Cardamom Soothing and creamy. Darn TD spots. This padawan has much learning to do.
Autumn Leaves and Blackberry The batter accelerated so I didn't quite get the design I was after, but it's a decent bar.
White Tea and Sandalwood Omg, almost Ryan Reynolds Rolling Worthy the bar didn't get quite the aesthetics I was after but is a solid product for this newbie.

And now...... Ron Burgundy.... duh duh duuuuuuuhhhhh......

This monstrosity was supposed to be a brown/black hombre with a bright blue top. WELL. AC is NOT my friend and turned GREEN. But wait... that's not all... in addition, it accelerated massively. So, I didn't get my hombre pour... I got this holymolygetitinthemoldnow! So, trying to save the disaster, I was all like "oh, I've got this pretty blue bit that I can flow over the top of this craptastic disaster" so I did, and the color came out great because it didn't have the FO. But then I had my reserved drizzle, which I just *had* to use, so I did and it totally ruined the only salvageable part of the whole endeavor. I present Exibit B, C and D.

I even tried shaving off the top, hoping to save at least the pretty part. But nooooooooooo. That dreadful muck of AC and whatever hoodoo the FO is, sunk into the only lovely part of this soaping effort and RUINED it for EVAH!!!

Sooooo...... in the spirit of your ACK! This soap hasn't been transported to the recycling YET. But... the soap is cruddy to begin with (it's a RB heavy recipe that feels gummy and still soft 3 days later), the scent is and the color is.... just, I don't know, I'm sure I could find a way to confetti it... but... at what cost? The loss of $20 of oils & butters, and possibly ruin another batch? I kinda want to send up the white flag on this one....

But... I'm also morbidly curious to your thoughts on salvaging it.

 

[MrsZ]

I think they're all pretty! Even your "disaster" batch. I'm always looking for another men's fragrance; would you mind sharing what FO you dislike so much so I don't accidentally buy a nasty one?

 

[dmcgee5034]

I like them all! And there you go again invoking Ryan Reynolds @Ephemerella!

 

[KiwiMoose]

Hmmm - I didn't see creative writing in your list of hobbies? Clearly very talented in that too!

 

[artemis]

I don't know, I'm sure I could find a way to confetti it... but... at what cost? $20 of oils?

I personally can't stand rebatching, so confetti is the way to go for me. I shred the disappointing soap and put the shreds away for future use. I don't treat it as a way to save that particular batch: the shredded soap is just another ingredient/technique I have.

There's more than one way to use the shreds. I add a small amount to batter bowl, pour a little into the mold, add more confetti to the bowl, pour a little more, repeat. This makes it look like the confetti is falling down through then soap.

For Halloween one year, I used black shreds pressed into the top of my soap to resemble dirt. Skull soaps

Another variation on confetti is called Ciaglia (did I spell that right?). That is a very pretty way of using up a lot of shreds at once and produces a bar that resembles granite.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

thank you! @Zany_in_CO

You're welcome!

Another variation on confetti is called Ciaglia (did I spell that right?).

Rebatch Ciaglia Method

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Ok.... the gorilla in the room... So can I say I did my due diligence in this area.

Full. Stop. NO. This soap is UNSAVABLE. Maybe...

"Maybe" = There's hope!
No need to decide now. Some of us, including me, have put a nasty batch away and forgotten about it... only to discover it months later... not so bad after all.

 

[Ephemerella]

Oh my! You guys are all so amazing and supportive, not to mention wildly creative and talented! @artemis those skulls are adorable!

@MrsZ your avatar soap is just lovely! And yes, the culprit is Nightfall from Nuture Soap. Now, to be fair, the scent was agreeable out of the bottle (ok pushing the boundaries of what I find agreeable, because I despise cologne, but I was willing to try coloring outside the lines), so perhaps it will mellow. AND I did know it would accelerate and discolor, so I planned accordingly and wasn't shocked when it started turning to pudding. I thought maybe I could get away with a layered/hombre design going from naked/natural (which would discolor to dark brown as the label says) to black with the help of AC. I thought the brown/black/blue stripe would look sharp and masculine. It was stupid of me to try to save that last bit, I knew better as I started trying to pour it. Mea culpa.

The real surprise was the bright green hue. And its little parting gift? A bright, neon green lather. The photo doesn't do the lather color justice. It's shockingly lime colored. Which I guess might be fun, for like a kid... but who wants their 8-year-old smelling like a quaffed Ron Burgundy headed to a Saturday night disco?

@KiwiMoose Ha, thank you so much! I'm in marketing and had a think-shop yesterday with a bunch of creative writers. The lead creative is famous for her unfiltered flamboyant language. I guess a bit rubbed off on me. I went back and tamed some of my borderline language in the OP : )

@Zany_in_CO You are such a wealth of help and knowledge, thank you! So, I have chopped up/grated previous bars before playing with effects, etc. But this bar is gummy, I think it may just crumble if I try that. I could slice it up into matchsticks and do something fun with that... and I very well may. If I can find a scent to compliment this FO, that brings out the best in it.

And, that Ciaglia is GORGEOUS and I'm going to find a way to do that. I LOVE it!

So Ron Burgundy avoids the circular filing cabinet... for now. And besides, when Mr. E and his sharp nose show up and he gets a whiff of that FO, he's going to think I marched a small army of Chippendale dancers through here. So I can present the odoriferous Ron B as proof. "I was just trying to make something special for YOU honey" bats eyelashes. : )

Thank you all so so much!

 

[TheGecko]

How do you mitigate lingering scents in your silicone molds?

I've been using silicone molds for over three years and have never had a scent transfer from an old batch to a new batch. But if it bothers you, you could try Baking Soda or coffee grounds I suppose.

How do you deal with drying/curing multiple batches in proximity with wildly different scent profiles? Will espresso start wafting and stick to my delicate floral bars?

I've never had this issue and I have cured a bunch of different scents on the same tray. I cure in my garage so there is plenty of air circulation. I leave at least a finger width between each bar. I don't store different scents together in enclosed space.

How do you get the combined aroma of earth (that batch came out nice!), and dollar-store men's cologne (that batch went in the trash! FO did NOT reflect the glowing reviews) out of the dishwasher?!? Seriously, I've done 4 loads of dishes this week and it still smells like Ron Burgundy holding a sack of dirt in there.

First of all, don't be so quick to toss soap that smells bad after saponification. Autumn Harvest smells like a chemical experiment gone wrong for a good three weeks and then it turns into some warm and lovely. Curing isn't just about water evaporation, there is still a chemical/structural process that goes on for several weeks...hence the real reason for curing. I thought for sure I had wasted a lot of money...I bought a pound before I actually made soap with it because the 1 oz bottled smelled so wonderful...only to have it turn very dark brown and smell horrible (and hence the reason I ALWAYS test FOs).

As for the dishwasher...another issue I have never had but that could be because I clean off my soaping stuff before putting it in the dishwasher. With that said, dishwashers, like washing machines can get a little 'musty'. About four times a year I turn up the water heater and toss a bit of bleach in both and run two cycles through. And I do something similar with my coffee maker, but I use white vinegar instead of bleach.

And for getting multiple scents out of the house, I just brew a pot of strong coffee.

 

[Ephemerella]

@TheGecko Thank you sooo much! This is so encouraging. The curing process is challenging for this newbie : ) I made my first batch of soap ever in May, and keep a couple of bars of all of my soap and watch what happens over time. There is a definite change in color, fragrance, hardness, lather/bubbles, but didn't realize that FOs can change (aside from fading) over that long of a range of time.

It's tough when you get excited about creating something, but then have to wait FOR EVAHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhh to see what you actually got : )

It's part of it though! Thanks to you all, I'm continuing learning!

 

[TheGecko]

but didn't realize that FOs can change (aside from fading) over that long of a range of time.

Oh yeah...for better and sometimes for worse. I can't remember what FO it was, but it smelled really nice and then turned kind of bitter over time. And sometimes when a scent appears to fade, just washing with it can refresh it. I have a bar of GMS that is a good 15 years old...found it in the back of a drawer three years ago...Black Raspberry Vanilla. The scent was faint, but as soon as I washed with it, the scent was refreshed. Now it wasn't as strong as it was when I bought it, but it was enough to make for a pleasant bathing experience. I only use it when I go on vacation.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

"I was just trying to make something special for YOU honey" bats eyelashes. : )

Works for me!

 

[Ephemerella]

Sooooooo, I gave Ron a little sniff today, and... he's starting to mellow down and resemble what I initially liked about the FO.

You guys are so right, and talked me down off a soap-crisis-ledge! Thank you!

It's amazing how these smells change over time. I have one FO that I LOVED out of the bottle. Made the soap, and it immediately smelled mushroomy... for weeks. I was so upset I stuck it in the back corner so I wouldn't look at it and cry. I sniffed it today too, and it's better! This soap is like 5-6 weeks old.

Another FO I loved out of the bottle, loved it in the soap. Bars were hard and shiny in 2 weeks, bubbles and lather were great, so I started using it and gave some away. I loved the smell so much, it was my daily bar, until one day it smelled moldy. I thought it was the soap lift it sits on, so I scrubbed that, scrubbed where it sat. Nope... it's the soap itself. I sniffed the remaining unused bars today too and I can just catch a hint of moldy smell. This soap is pushing 6 weeks old too. And it was such a great smell. So sad! And I have to reach out to my friends and apologize!

I guess I'm going to have to put an 8-week time frame on bars before I give any of it away.

I read someplace on here a while back, I forgot who said it, but that you owe it to yourself and the entire soaping community to only put out good products, even if its just gifts, as the bar you give away has the ability to color the receiver's perception about homemade soap on a whole... and I'm taking that seriously.

 

[TheGecko]

I read someplace on here a while back, I forgot who said it, but that you owe it to yourself and the entire soaping community to only put out good products, even if its just gifts, as the bar you give away has the ability to color the receiver's perception about homemade soap on a whole... and I'm taking that seriously.

My rule of thumb is that I won't sell anything that I wouldn't buy myself.

And I'm one of those terrible people who don't rebatch or save my scraps...I toss the scraps and soap that doesn't (pardon the pub) make the cut go into a 'donation' box. When it gets full...some soaps go to a local homeless shelter, some go to the local food bank and some to a DV shelter.