I have been soaping for many years and have tried and tested many different types of essential oils and fragrances. My soap base is usually olive oil as it has become my favourite type of carrier oil to soap with it. It gives a nice slip and feel to the skin and added with certain oils for cleansing and suds effect, it is my perfect little bar of soap for daily showering.
One of the challenges I faced throughout my soaping journey is to make the scent last longer in the bar of soap and for the scent to last a bit longer on the skin after showering. I like the scent to linger on in the shower area thereafter as well and all these expectations are quite hefty to fulfill given I work with all natural base ingredients. There are many soap makers out there who uses some clay in their soap to “anchor” the scent in the soap bar so that it can last longer and remain a strong scent, of which I tried but it doesn’t seem to work for me. Well, it may last a week or two longer but that’s it, the scent still fades especially when you use essential oils in your soaps.
Essential oils are chemical compounds extracted from the plants, roots or whichever part of the tree or plant that has been distilled and the end product you get is potent. Use it wisely and correctly, essential oils serve to support the human’s body physical healing as well as mental healing. Everything in this world must have a balance, likewise it goes the same for essential oil usage. If it is used too much it can pose hazardous to one’s health or if used too little, the effect may be minimal or none at all.
A cold process soap bar has a pH of about 8-11 depending on the type of oils used. My soaps are olive oil based and the pH is usually about 8 – 8.5. I used to add essential oil to the soaps for scent and I found it usually lasts for about three weeks to four weeks and then thereafter you are left with the original soap scent. I can’t say if the benefits of the essential oil can still provide nutrients to the skin since the soap pH is quite high. So the alternative is to use fragrances which we know are made synthetically. Depending on the type of fragrance, you only need to add about 5% of the total soap formula for a generous strength of scent and will typically last for a few months.
My personal preference is still using essential oils and I always make fresh batch of soaps to sell. That way, the scent is still aromatic and gives a pleasure during showering. So if you happen to stumble onto cold process soaps with very strong scent, ask the seller if the scent is from essential oil or fragrance. Remember, usage of essential oil has a safety limit and it cannot be used too much in the soap or lotions or creams or the likes.
Let me know if you want to know anything more about cold process soaps by commenting below. Have fun in your soap making!
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