As with soap colorants, there aren't too many soap-scenting ingredients available in your pantry. Honey lends its color as well as its sweet smell to cold processed or handmilled soap. Vanilla extract works medium to well depending on what else is in the soap. Like all additives, soap scents will last longer and be more true in handmilling than in cold processing. You will also only need to use half as much of the additive in handmilling than you would in cold processing. Your most natural choice for soap scenting is essential oils. While essential oils are 100% all-natural and safe, they are hard on the environment. It takes a large volume of the plant or flower to make just one ounce of essential oil. Furthermore, many essential oils use plants and flowers that are grown unsustainably with pesticides. To get organic, sustainable essential oil, try: Local Harvest, CreationHerbal.Com, Essential Aura, and Mountain Rose Herbs (voted “Green Business of the Year” by Co-Op America, offers bulk ordering). As a general rule, add 1/2 ounce of essential oil per pound of cold-process soap.
Your other choices for soap scenting are called fragrance oils. While essential oils are natural, fragrance oils are synthetic. This is not usually a health hazard, except that many people are allergic or find that synthetics irritate their skin. There are fragrance oils available in any conceivable “flavor,” which is a limitation of using essential oils. As a general rule, add 1/2 ounce of fragrance oil per pound of cold-process soap.
In handmilling, which is far less “precise,” you'll just scent the batch until it smells about right to you. Generally, 2-3 drops per ounce of handmilled soap is good.
For more information on this and other soapmaking topics, go to How2MakeSoap.Net. This website also offers free soapmaking video tutorials, pictures of the soapmaking process, free beginner soap recipes, and a 50-page soap “how to” ebook for $12.99. The ebook includes 39 one-pound soap recipes, 60 soapmaking pictures, and details on how to make your own soap recipes.
