BrewerGeorge
Well-Known Member
The wife and I took an anniversary trip last weekend to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg (Tennessee) area. During the trip we went through lots of little stores selling all kinds of stuff, including handmade soap.
I've never really been exposed to much artisan soap beyond my own, but I was seriously underwhelmed - especially by the (lack of) scent. I usually scent my soaps at the medium to medium-high levels according the the calculators but most of the bars I was seeing for sale at $10/each had barely any discernible scent at all. This observation carried across 12 or 15 different "brands" of soaps, 50 or 60 bars total. Sometimes I couldn't tell the different "flavors" apart except by their color, and even those with noticeable scent were much lower than mine. Most were beautiful and professional looking (if they weren't obviously HP or rebatch) but didn't smell.
Is this typical of soaps generally for sale? I know that scent is generally the most expensive part of a batch of soap; do most sellers skimp on it?
Interestingly, I saw one brand - the most expensive one I saw - bragging about being "Only soy and canola oil. No coconut or palm!" So far apart from what I've learned from here makes good soap. These were little 2-1/2 or 3 oz cubes for sale at the Paula Deen store, gorgeous swirls and laser-like cuts, but I have to wonder if they're going to sprout orange spots after they get wet. Not much scent, either.
I've never really been exposed to much artisan soap beyond my own, but I was seriously underwhelmed - especially by the (lack of) scent. I usually scent my soaps at the medium to medium-high levels according the the calculators but most of the bars I was seeing for sale at $10/each had barely any discernible scent at all. This observation carried across 12 or 15 different "brands" of soaps, 50 or 60 bars total. Sometimes I couldn't tell the different "flavors" apart except by their color, and even those with noticeable scent were much lower than mine. Most were beautiful and professional looking (if they weren't obviously HP or rebatch) but didn't smell.
Is this typical of soaps generally for sale? I know that scent is generally the most expensive part of a batch of soap; do most sellers skimp on it?
Interestingly, I saw one brand - the most expensive one I saw - bragging about being "Only soy and canola oil. No coconut or palm!" So far apart from what I've learned from here makes good soap. These were little 2-1/2 or 3 oz cubes for sale at the Paula Deen store, gorgeous swirls and laser-like cuts, but I have to wonder if they're going to sprout orange spots after they get wet. Not much scent, either.