Scenting CP soap without EOs?

[Rahmi]

I'm looking for an easy way to scent my soaps, without using EOs or FOs.
I'm not looking to heavily scent them, just to have a whiff of smell, something mild other than none at all. It would be great if it the smell could last for 4 months or so.

I've read a bit on infusing the oils, but would there be other ways?

Thanks!

 

[Obsidian]

Short answer is no, nothing besides eo or fo will scent soap. Infused oils aren't good either, any scent will be gone in 2 or 3 days.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I’ve had luck with the scent holding for orange peel wax. It still smells really good in HP soap I made over two months ago where I used it as a post cooking addition and in three different batches of CP soap I made a couple of weeks ago where I used it at 3% or less in the oil portion of the recipe. I used a monoi de Tahiti infused coconut oil in HP and it still smells great a couple of months later. I haven’t had a chance to try it in cp soap.

 

[szaza]

Spirulina at a high percentage holds up a fishy smell for quite long, but I don't think that's what you're going for[emoji14] I've used soap from a soapmaker who added Chinese medicine. The soaps had wonderful colors and scents that were apparently only from those chinese medicines, though I have no clue at all what they were. It could be a direction to look into..

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

Cocoa butter plus cocoa powder for chocolaty smell, though some people cant smell it.

 

[SoapSisters]

I think unscented soap has a nice, clean, "soap" smell. If you're looking for something subtle, you may want to try unscented soap and see if that works for you.

 

[Saponomancer]

Pine tar soaps and pine rosin soaps have a pretty strong scent! I enjoy it
Neem soap also has a strong scent but I don't like that one, heh.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I’ve had luck with the scent holding for orange peel wax. It still smells really good in HP soap I made over two months ago where I used it as a post cooking addition and in three different batches of CP soap I made a couple of weeks ago where I used it at 3% or less in the oil portion of the recipe. I used a monoi de Tahiti infused coconut oil in HP and it still smells great a couple of months later. I haven’t had a chance to try it in cp soap.

I was reminded that the soap I made with Monoi de Tahiti is a cp soap. The scent is holding at nearly 3 months.

 

[foggyfir]

I've made a few beer soaps that have a faint smell of grains.

 

[Rahmi]

I used a monoi de Tahiti infused coconut oil in HP and it still smells great a couple of months later. I haven’t had a chance to try it in cp soap.

Thanks! How did you infuse it? With heat or just let it soak? I have quite a lot of this growing in our apartment but no one uses it for scenting. Not that I know of. this flower is the same kind of frangipani flowers, I'm assuming? I just Google the Pic and it seems similar.

Thanks all!

Dragon girl, I have pine tar resins and will look that up.

Soapsisters, all my soaps so far has been unscented. That's why I want to explore

 

[dixiedragon]

Is there a reason you don't want EOs or FOs?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Thanks! How did you infuse it? With heat or just let it soak? I have quite a lot of this growing in our apartment but no one uses it for scenting. Not that I know of. this flower is the same kind of frangipani flowers, I'm assuming? I just Google the Pic and it seems similar.

I bought an infused oil on Amazon. It may be a simple infusion although one website call it an “enfleurage.” A process for making it is described here. There’s a Wikipedia page with more information here.

 

[dixiedragon]

I get a very light sweet scent when i use 5% beeswax and 1 tablespoon honey PPO. I also get a very light scent by hot processing with ground spices - cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice.

 

[Hils67]

I’ve used calendula infused olive oil in unscented goats milk soap and resulting soap has a faint earthy smell from the calendula. I like it, but my partner isn’t keen. I would describe it as a warm hay smell. I just infused a jar of dried calendula flowers in olive oil and set to warm for a couple of hours in a slow cooker. Also gives the soap a more beige colour.

 

[Rahmi]

Thanks all!

dixiedragon, I mostly wanted to avoid the cost.

I get a very light sweet scent when i use 5% beeswax and 1 tablespoon honey PPO. I also get a very light scent by hot processing with ground spices - cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice.

How does a 5% beeswax behave? I'm about to make some beeswax soap and all the readings told me to do a max of 2-3%. Thanks!

 

[dixiedragon]

When using beeswax, you need to soap hot. A lot of people have issues with honey soap but I think that's a combination of the honey and the Honey FO or Oatmeal Milk and Honey FO. I've come to prefer to hot process honey beeswax soap, but you can cold process it as well. This thread lays out my process for hot process. I used 10% beeswax in this which I don't recommend, but you can follow the same process and use 5%. It makes a wonderful, soft gold, bar of soap with a sleek feel.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/hot-process-honey-soap-experiment.57877/

If you want to scent soaps strongly, you're going to have to pay $. That's just the nature of the lye monster. You can use hot process, and since most of the lye is used up after the cook, you can use less FO/EO.

 

[Hans_Hanssen]

Personally, I also do not like EOs too much. The production of EOs consumes large amounts of energy. Once in the soap, the lye kills most of the scent, and of what is left over in the soap after 3 months, 95% goes down the drain. Not very eco-friendly. But there are quite some alternatives: You can grind whole leaves or petal, for example from roses, lavendar, etc. Or you can mix spices (cinnamon, anise) or dried fruit (orange peels, etc.) with shea butter or cocoa butter. After some weeks the scent is absorbed by the fat and you use it as an ingredient with your soap. I also made good experience with peanut oil (which is cheap, too) and palm kernel oil for a mild, natual scent. Good luck!

 

[Greenthoughts]

Dried chamomile + lavender flowers with cocoa butter adds a light sweetish scent,
I also second the coca powder and coca butter givingva slight chocolate scent

 

[Iseleigh]

I've been thinking about experimenting with leaving soaps sitting somewhere with a strong ambient aroma to pick up scent. I did it on accident with a coconut milk soap a few years ago. The coconut milk soap picked up a very light scent of some nearby Ivory soap, and it permeated the entire bar. It would take a while for the soap to pick up the scents around it, but you could try. I'm going to try with pipe tobacco and coffee grounds since I'm having a hard time finding FO's that I like for those.

 

[Hennyfer]

Poplar buds infused in oil work pretty well, not a strong scent but nice. I was disappointed with my balsam fir experiment- infused fresh branches in oil and used a strong tea of needles to make the lye solution. It smelled like... nothing much. I do CP, the best scent was poplar bud oil with no gelling.