My first FO is stalking me!

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JayJay

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I'm a beginner. After making some uncented soaps as well as some EO soaps I decided to jump into the FO world. I made my first FO scented bar. The scent is called something like soapy clean. I loved the initial whif... Well I THOUGHT I was in love. I had no idea that I would soon become suffocated by its relentless interjections into my life.

I made the batch, scented at the soap calc recommended level, molded, cleaned up, gelled, unmolded, and cut it into bars. I noticed the the smell was pretty strong, almost too much of a good thing. During cutting it almost became sickening. But since it was cold process I figured it would die out in curing. I happily closed the door of my craft room with the soap inside, relived that I would not have to smell it again until it became more mild.

Fast forward to the next day at breakfast, I suddenly smelled the soapy clean FO. But there's nothing but eggs on the table. I sniffed my plate. Nothing. Took another bite, smelled the soap again. Sniffed the eggs. Nothing but egg. Annoyed, I sniffed the table. Nothing. Then I smelled my hands. Soapy clean. Ah ha! Problem solved. I figured there was FO on a doorknob or something. I wiped everything down and went about my business.

The events of the week that followed had me questioning my sanity. I smelled FO about every third time that I opened the frig. I smelled it at work when I unpacked my lunch... Not every time, but maybe on days 2, 5 and 6. Not inside the dish of food. Just a general whiff. Sometimes I would randomly smell it while walking down the hallway of my home. While standing in the middle of my kitchen, I would get a random whif.... Very randomly. Some days I would go on a sniffing hunt, determined to find the source. Of course my hunts lead me nowhere. Not even close to finding it when looking for it. Then, When I least expected it, the smell would POP UP out of nowhere, BAM, leaving me ... Well...perhaps standing in my kitchen screaming something like this.

" Aaaaaaaaah! Why do you torment me you sick FO! Release me from your grip! It's over. I don't want you anymore! I thought I loved you, but I don't anymore! Maybe I never did!". :crazy::Kitten Love:Total agony.

Well I finally did get rid of it. But at this point I loath this smell. The last thing I want to do is lather my entire body with this stuff.

Please tell me that this has happened to some other people out there....I can't be this special.
 
Can you set the soap in some obscure corner of your house where you won't have to smell if for a couple of months?? Maybe the scent will change during cure (quite a few do), or maybe you'll recover from your fo trauma.

Or, maybe there's someone at work you don't like much....and you can give them "free!" soap and pass the soap torment on to them!

I can't speak to how "special" you are with fo's; but I'm going through something similar with eggs and bacon for breakfast. Used to be my go-to breakfast because it lasts me until late afternoon before I get hungry. But for the past month....blech!
 
Bahahaha..., I know exactly what you're talking about!! And I hope you didn't throw it away because in 6 months, when you take it out of isolation... You will love it again! Believe me!

Funny enough, this only happened in the beginning days of my soap making. I think that now my scent receptors have died from so much soap.
 
Sorry, JayJay, but I found myself chuckling picturing a ghost FO following you around, haunting you just enough to question your sanity, lol. :crazy:

I had that happen once with a particular FO I absolutely hated. I think it got stuck in my scent memory so kept popping up randomly, immediately making me feel really angry!

I hope you eventually make peace with your poltergeist so you can enjoy your soap. If not, I bet your friends will be pleased when you gift it to them!
 
Hahaha! Thank you all for making me feel less nuts! :D

I have it closed off in a room that I don't enter often. I hope that I will like it months down the road. If not, I will definitely gift it to someone else. :)

Next time I will go easy on the FO. Maybe if I wear a clothes pin on my nose while I make the soap, it will be a pleasant surprise when I smell it after curing.
 
Too funny!

And my phantom FO is Patch...at my moms....I hate the smell, and its gotta be 2 yrs old now, but I swear it follows me around my moms home when Im there :lol:
 
Glad it's working for you now, JayJay! What's the phrase? Absence makes the heart grow fonder.... I guess by separating yourself from it, you've gotten past the hate phase and your poltergeist has moved on!
 

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