Do you remember the post about soap? Well, here’s another one, because some of you seemed to be interested in this off-topic :-).
I thought why not try something new an make scented soap? The easiest and safest way appeared to be making hot process soap from soap flakes. Hot process means: You melt old soap or a new, unscented bar of soap. I bought unscented curd soap for the experiment, the brand name is Dalli (non-perfumed dalli care curd hard soap). It’s very basic soap for all kinds of purposes, and it is rather soft and easy to grate and work with. I am pretty sure there’s something similar available everywhere.
Linked below is a very nice tutorial video from “Elly’s everyday soap making”. She has a small soap business, so she is working on a level of professionalism I can only dream of. But this procedure is so uncomplicated and safe that it’s easy to follow the steps. What you need is a cheese grater, a bain-marie (or a pot-in-a-pot-cooker), some essential oils you like and soap. And time! You don’t want to do this in a hurry. It can take a while, so better get a good audio book ready.
Just in case you don’t see the embed, here’s the link. Make sure to leave her a like!
Youtube Video: How to use soap for making new soap
If you only want to use your soap to scent your wardrobe and never use it on skin, you don’t need to worry about an essential oil dosage that might irritate your skin. But if you want to take a dive into essential oils and their use in soap or aroma therapy, here’s a lot of information: Everything you want to know about essential oils
There are some basic rules, for soap making as well as making your own perfume (or oil blends for a diffuser) though.
The scent of some essential oils fades rather quickly. Those are mostly citrusy oils, the first scent impression you get. They are called top notes. Other oils last longer, the richer and often flowery scents. These are heart notes, or middle notes. Those heart notes define the main character of your soap’s scent. Then there are base notes, those oils last longest. They are often woody and deep, Sandalwood or Vanilla for example.
To be honest, I felt slightly overwhelmed by all the information and blend options. Sure, I do know some scents from baking or flowers, but other than those I know to smell nice together? I wouldn’t know what blends well. So I did what I always do when I dive into something new. Research it and attempt to structure it.
The result is this: It’s an incomprehensive list of the more common oils and some blend suggestions, according to the information out there what blends well with what. I didn’t test them all. Essential oils are expensive, and I didn’t want to waste what I have on scent-tests with random combinations. I narrowed my testing down to the combinations that have been tested by others and seem to be well-blending. I went by the heart notes I wanted and looked for matching scents for the top and base notes to go with them. I colored them according to their use, I found it easier to work with the information that way. Some cotton pads, some drops of oil together: I found some favorites pretty quickly.
So if you want to make some Lavender soap e.g., you can see which top notes and which base notes might blend well, and try if you like the smell of those together.
If you try this the first time, you might want to take notes. How much soap flakes, how many drops of oil, etc. If the result isn’t satisfactory, you can grate it and make a new attempt.
I hope I didn’t bore you, I had fun making these! The darker one is an Orange-Lavender-Cinnamon mix, and I added a pinch of nutmeg (yes, the spice). That’s where the brownish spots come from. It smells lovely and rich. I did follow Elly’s instructions to get rid of the air bubbles, but obviously wasn’t that successful. The lighter one is a Tangerine-Neroli-Cedar mix with one drop of food-coloring. This is so much fun! Lots of Christmas gifts for my friends :).
Have fun! The next post will be about dolls again, I promise!
