Scent transfer

[Silver]

Dear Soapers!

So, I just learned that scent transfer is a thing =/. I had two batches of soap curing on the same rack and unfortunately the scents got all muddied up. They must have been together for roughly three weeks... Any chance that the original scent of each batch will come back if I separate them? Right now I stuck one batch into a ceramic pot with a cotton ball soaked in the original essential oils that were put into that batch of soap, hoping to coax the right scent out.

Also, I have seen lots of pictures of beautiful curing cabinets that are almost as tall as a person. How do people cure their soaps in those cabinets without having the scents from different batches all mix up? Or is it that you have to cure the different scented batches separately? Is there a big scent transfer for fragrance oils as well, or is it only an essential oil thing?

Many thanks!
Silver

 

[toxikon]

I can't say I've ever experienced scent transfer! My soaps are all cured within a few inches of each other, but when I pick up each bar and give it a sniff, it's definitely the correct fragrance. I do CP and only use fragrance oils. I wonder if it's different from HP and EOs? I assume that separating them would solve the problem, hopefully it's just surface transfer.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

It's a good point to check - is it just when you sniff them, or in use, too?

 

[shunt2011]

I too have never exprienced scent transfer from storing on the same shelves. I have 15-20 fragrances (4-5 on each shelf) curing at any given time on the same shelves with no problem ever.

 

[cmzaha]

Even with my Dragon's Blood I will not get scent transfer, although I will not cure a soap such as my lavender or other milder fragranced on the same shelf as my DB, I will cure stronger scented soaps such as my various tobaccos, nag champa etc on the shelf with it.

 

[littlehands]

I've never experienced scent transfer when curing. However, I moved last year and packed all my soap together in about four different boxes, unwrapped and all stacked together. I now have hundreds of bars of soap that, while beautiful and visually varied, all smell exactly the same- just a generic soap smell. LOL Still good soap, but not much fun for gifting anymore. Oh well.

 

[kchaystack]

I have never had an issue with this either. I would take a bar of one of the soaps and go as far away as you can from the curing area - maybe even outside. Give your nose a break for a minute - maybe take some coffee beans to smell to reset your sniffer. Then see if you still smell that they have mixed. You might just be having scent fatigue.

 

[Silver]

Interesting, maybe it's just a particular type of essential oils that are messing with me then. After letting the batch sit apart for a bit, I can definitely tell that it was the peppermint EO which got transferred. I will keep my fingers crossed that after using it the original scent will come through.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

I would imagine that if there is some scent transfer, it would only be in the very surface of the neighboring soap. Since many of us plane and/or rinse when finishing soaps, we'd likely be removing any "contaminated" surface. Even if you don't do that, the first time you use it, the original scent that's mixed all through the bar should reclaim pride of place.

 

[Koric]

I've had scent transfer from my peppermint soap to soap right next to it on the curing rack. I figured the scent couldn't have gotten to far in the other bars. I put them in a zip lock bag for 2 or 3 days and they we all good to go. I've noticed it with other soap but no to the degree of the peppermint, and they cleared up all by themselves.

 

[navigator9]

I cure my soap on racks where they're not more than a few inches between them, and I have to say that I've never experienced scent transfer either. Maybe if they were stored touching one another, but even then, I would think that once you washed off the surface layer, any transfer would not be detectable.

 

[lenarenee]

It's curious that few seem to have this problem. I've experienced scent muddling many times because I do cure many different soaps on the same rack, and there's a good inch of space between bars. Unscented soaps are the most noticeable soaps affected so I cure then in a different part of the house.

So far I've noticed that florals like honeysuckle, jasmine, (the perfumey and slightly musky florals, not the sweet florals) and spicy scents tend to "share" their scent the most, my fresh scents like fresh bamboo don't seem to spread. Citrus scents - whether fo or eo haven't spread in my experience - and I make a lot of them. However....they seem to be the most affected by sitting next other scents, so I cure them in their own area.

BB's Arabian spice and RE's version of Salty Mariner (can never remember their name) are huge culprits in scent sharing. I have some 9 month old RE Salty Mariner, shrink wrapped, that had such a huge affect on the muddling of other soaps that people would tell me they all smell the same! But then, when I wash my hands with RE's Salty Mariner, the fragrance is on my skin all day.

With the soaps affected by scent transfer, I take a cotton ball dabbed with leftover fo from the bottle, and rub it on the soap's surface, and of course move it to another area to cure. This method works very well for me.

 

[IrishLass]

Very interesting. I'm part of the group that has never experienced scent transfer. Like most of the folks who have posted, I cure several different scents together on the same rack about 1/2" to 1" apart from each other, and they've always retained their individual scents for me without muddling.

For those that experience it, does the original scent bounce back once you wash with it? I would think that it would.


IrishLass

 

[Saranac]

I too notice scent transfer. The biggest culprit for me is my Lavender, Peppermint, and Rosemary bars. When I'm ready to package my bars I spray them down with Everclear and polish them up with paper towel. This is usually enough to clean-up the scent. I shrink wrap my bars just before they go out and the heat gun helps to reactivate the original scent.

 

[Susie]

I've had it. Just use the bars to "wash your hands" a few times. The other scents come right off. But do NOT put them near each other while they dry! I find that batches need at least 1 full inch between them to avoid it.

 

[Arimara]

Some of my unscented soaps have actually retained the scents from some scented soaps, albeit a light scent. Some here would probably not be able to smell what I can, however.

 

[christost7]

I have experienced scent transfering as well, to a bigger or smaller degree.

Most of the time it is the Spearmint EO (which I use a lot) lending its scent to unscented soap. It goes away after the firt use of the soap bar.

With most other scents, keeping the bars away from each other for a couple of hours usually does the trick.

 

[Silver]

Thank you so much everyone for sharing your experience! I will make sure to keep my soaps separated further apart then I did before and I will definitely cure the peppermint, rosemary and lavender heavy soaps (as well as spicy ones I imagine) separately. I do not yet use any fragrance oils, but I will also keep this in mind when I get my first batch. Its good to know that the scent bounces back after you plane / wash / scrub the soaps and I really like the trick of rubbing some fragrance on the surface of the soap afterwards. Thanks for your input everyone! Another soaping mystery solved =)

 

[dixiedragon]

I think Brewer is right. Even if some scent has "stuck" to the soap, I bet it will rinse off.

Also, is it possible that the soaps are in a box or on a papertowel or something, and THAT has absorbed the scent?