Safely Increasing (and Maintaining) Scents in Soap

In my previous blog post about losing lavender, I talked about the scent fading in soaps. Today, I’m going to share some of our favorite ways to maintain scents in finished bars of soap. Here’s our favorite list of physical techniques to help maintain or increase scents in your soap.

Wrapped bars of soap with dried lavender.

• When storing your soaps after curing but before sale/use
  • Store each different scent in separate boxes or storage totes. All boxes and storage totes should allow some air exchange.
  • Place a few drops of the fragrance or essential oil onto a Sachet Card, cardstock paper, or clean piece of cardboard. This will help the scent stay in the outer layers of soap that dry out and need scent rejuvenation.
  • Lightly spritz the inside of your packaging with a room spray of the same scent. Your package scenting spray can be made with Polysorbate 20 or 80, alcohol (like Everclear or Vodka), or the Spray Clear Emulsifier. Cyclomethicone can be used, but has a higher potential to leave visible “oil spots” in your packaging. The alcohol option will be the least likely to leave visible oil spots.
    • If packaging your soaps with paper cigar bands, in paper or cardboard boxes, lightly spritz the inside of the packaging with a room spray with the same scent.
    • If using shrink bands, insert a lightly spritzed business or product card on one side of the soap before shrinking the band around your soap.
• When displaying your soaps for sale
  • Regularly refresh the spray on your packaging with the same spritzing concept as listed above.
• When shipping your soaps
  • Layer with tissue paper, cardstock, or Sachet Cards that are scented with the same scent as the soap.
  • If possible, try to ship separate scents in separate boxes.
  • If you must ship 2 to 5 soaps of different scents, separate each different scent with paper and individually bag the soaps to reduce odor cross-contamination.

Have you tried any of these options? Do you have another tip for increasing and maintaining scent in your soaps after they have been made?

Eleanor gave her favorite method of keeping scent in soaps by adding clay at the time the soap is made. As promised, a special goodie box is heading her way!

Next week, let’s talk about the dog days of summer and fun ideas!