Daring to Blend

No one should learn to run before they learn to walk.  I get that.  But now that you know how to walk, how about daring to jog?

When I started making soap, I joined a couple of groups in facebook.  I remember seeing pictures of Sorcery soaps and thinking to my self, in amazement:  “How in the world did she do that?  You can do that with soap??”

Then, I would dismiss the idea of ever pursuing that, I would say, “that looks way too complicated, I just want to make soap!” or ” I do not want to invest that much time on it.”

Because when I started, everything was new, the safety guidelines scared me, and I had no idea what I was doing but wanted to learn.

Now that I have learned the basics,  I see that the designs that intimidated me initially, look doable.  However, blending fragrances was something that up to this point I had avoided.  Yes, I had heard about it, I had read about top notes, medium notes, etc.  But it sounded way complicated.  ” I am not a perfumer!” I said to myself.

The only blends I had made were:

• of spearmint and chocolate.  And that was born out of an error.  I had overcooked a spearmint-fragranced hot process soap, so I had many flakes on top that did not stick to the rest of the soap.  So I used them as confetti in a chocolate fragranced soap.
• Peppermint and almond:  Because I really wanted peppermint cane or bark, but it was out of stock, so I thought I would do my own, I put the peppermint on the red and the almond on the white portion.
• almond and vanilla:  my second batch.  I did almond on one half and vanilla on the other.
• Cedarwood and spearmint:  For my second hot process batch, because I did not like cedarwood alone.
• Lemongrass and lavender

Did you notice the pattern?  They were usually done with sweet related fragrances that I was sure (and had read) would go well together.  And for the most part, it was only two fragrances that were added individually to one part of the soap.  So they were not really blended.

Then I realized I was in the month of June.  And that in 3 months, it would be 1 year since I bought my first essential oils. I had read somewhere that you should use Essential oils within 1 year or so.  And I have a few I had barely touched:  Cedarwood, Litsea, Palmarosa, etc.  Why was that?  Simple, I did not like them.

And if I may add, they were expensive.  Which is what made me decide I would use essential oils only for hot process soap.  And I have not made hot process soap in a loooong time! Because I found it time consuming.  You see,  I wanted to be all natural with my soaps when I started, but this being a hobby, I quickly realized it was not viable for my purse.  And then, considering that soap is a wash off product, I determined I would reserve the Essential oils for lotions or oils that stayed in the skin only.   I wish I could only soap with EO’s though, they are fantastic! Here is what changed my mind for the emerald soap batch:  Litsea EO.

Why?, you may ask.  Well, Litsea is a citrus, and citrus are usually cold pressed extracted, which are not recommended to stay on the skin because they cause photo sensitivity.  (More information here)

So if I cannot use citrus EO’s in lotion, I must use them in soap!  (Or in cleaning solutions) But then I remembered the time I made the lavender/lemongrass soap.  It smelled really nice, but my boss had complained it had not stayed in his skin.  (I was thinking, “it is soap, not perfume”).  However, he had a point.  I had read somewhere that top notes are the first to be smelled and the first to “evaporate”.  And I had also read that citrus fragrances are classified as top notes.  So, I took a deep breath, and to the web I went to learn!

I found this site, and this list especially helpful at explaining it.   If you really want to learn more, read  this forum thread. Armed with that information I made a list of the notes my blended fragrance needed to play (Base, medium and top), next to it I wrote the percentage recommended for each, and then I looked at my fragrance list and chose a few from each category.   It looked like this:

Top notes 15-25%

Middle notes 30-40%

Base notes 45-55%

Then I added the EO’s or Fo’s I had that could go into each category

Top notes 15-25% Litsea

Middle notes 30-40% Rosemary, cypress, geranium, basil

Base notes 45-55% clove, cassia, rosewood, sandalwood, cedar wood

Then I grabbed some Qtips and ziplock bags.  I dipped some qtips in my choice of EO’s and put them in the sealed bag.  After a few minutes I opened it and smelled.  The Litsea was strong, it still is.

I looked up how much cassia I could use since I knew it can be irritating in the skin. And from there it was a matter of math. I estimated I needed 2 oz of EO’s total. I wanted the base note (cedar wood) to be 60%. So I calculated 60% of 2 oz.

First, 60/100= 0.60.

Then 2 x 0.60 = 1.20 oz So that is how much cedarwood I needed.

And that was it!  I was hooked with the process.  I did a few adjustments and I am looking forward to mixing new fragrances.  For my next purchase, I will be looking into buying more fragrance formulators rather than finished fragrances, to play some more.

If you have fragrances you do not like, try mixing them with some you do like, you may be surprised!  (I would suggest to try them by at least opening the bottles, keeping them together, and smelling the combined fragrance in the air).  Let me know if you do give it a try!