Teach Soap

Hello all, I was curious if anyone here had any experience with using floral absolutes, as opposed to essential oils or fragrance oils, in their soaps, particularly in melt-and-pour soaps. I would like to try a Jasmine absolute soap, but have not read much except a few vague references elsewhere on doing so, and have no real good indication of the level(s) at which to use such an absolute in soap. Being that absolutes are NOT oil based, I did not know if they might not work or mix evenly into soap like the essential oils.

This would be, I should add, strictly for personal use, and not for sale.

While I know some of you will probably feel that it it would be an extravagance, if not almost a crime, to use floral absolutes in soap, if my estimation is correct that the Jasmine absolutes I have are roughly 10 to 15 times more potent in aroma than an average essential oil, this actually makes their use in soaps, cost wise, roughly on par with many of the essential oils, or at least on par with some of the more expensive essential oils such as ylang ylang or frankincense, which I note are not infrequently used in soaps.

I had thought of using Jasmine, Orange Blossom and possibly Tuberose absolutes in some melt-and-pour soaps; the latter one is particularly expensive, but in compensation it is particularly pungent, so only a VERY small amount would be needed, I would think.

if the absolute is made with ethanol, it should mix with oil.

try taking a small amount of absolute and mixing it with a light carrier oil such as grapeseed or sweet almond oil and see if that holds. if it does, you can make fresh batches when ever you need it and stretch your absolute.

keep good notes for yourself as to the ratio of absolute to oil and which oils work better for you.

LMK how it goes.

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~Shell

kewl. just so you know, regular FOs and EOs are used at around a rate of .25 oz per 1lb of MP soap.

good luck! i'd be interested in hearing about it.

if anyone else has any other advice to give, please do.

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~Shell

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

How does that work out as a percentage Anne Marie?

It's far easier for me, as I can convert it straight to grams and mililitres. (My head has a wierd relationship with imperial and metric weights and distances... I think of long distances in miles, but I know the length of the door to my room is 2 metres. I measure my own weight in stone, but if I'm making a cake I usually think in grams... bizarre I know! Makes sense to me to use grams in soap and lotion making as its easier to deal with percentages and a mililitre and a gram are equivalent measures when dealing with liquids or solids)

In lotions I tend to go with 1-2% Essential Oils, but I think I use a lot less than that in soaps (depending on the size of the batch). These days I tend to make a blend up ahead of time, and then I can measure it in pipettes or 5 ml teaspoons. It also means I know each batch will smell the same.

I'm quite excited about testing out the herbal infusion method from your video with the lip balm later this week! (Though I'm going to use some different herbs, but keep the jojoba and use it in a lotion). I have trouble explaining this excitement to non-soapy people. They look at me with perplexed impressions when I describe making my own herbal infusion as "exciting"...

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"The question is: does it work on stage? If it works on stage, does it fit the theory? If it works on stage, but doesn't fit the theory; throw out the theory." Bertolt Brecht