Month: April 2017
Lavender in Soap
Let us talk a little bit about lavender, specifically lavender essential oil. Lavender is one of the most versatile of all essential oils, and one of the most well-loved. It is calming, and balancing. The word itself is derived from the Latin lavare: to wash. The plant is a member of the mint family. It’s botanical name is Lavandula angustifolia.
I was surprised how much there was to know about the essential oil. There are many different grades and varieties.
There is a standardized version, referred to in the industry as 40/42, which specifies the required levels of linalool and linalyl acetate that must be present. These are the main constituents in lavender essential oil, and are what make up much of its scent. Standardizing keeps it consistent, but also commercializes it, depriving it of any real character.
Like the grapes used in wine, lavender derives much of its character from where it is grown. There is French lavender, Spanish, South African, and more, each having a distinct scent. The highest quality lavender essential oil comes from Bulgaria, and that is the oil we use. It is also the most expensive, especially when buying organic.
Besides the essential oils there are also lavender fragrances. We use plenty of fragrance oils, to be sure, but most of the lavender ones smell noticeably fake to me. I certainly have no plans to use lavender fragrance oil in our soap.
All this to give you a little insight into what makes our lavender soap smell so wonderful, and why it costs just a little more. One of my great pleasures is to watch someone pick up a bar of soap, draw in its scent, and close their eyes in quiet satisfaction. If you like the smell of lavender, you will love the smell of our lavender soaps.
Thank you for your business!
John
Soap Notes — 22 April, 2017
Some recent soap notes for anyone who is interested. I place them here in an effort to keep the product pages themselves clean and simple.
Coconut Lily – No.09
We have not poured this one in a while, and it is scheduled for the next round of pours. The inclusion of calendula petals requires that we pour these as slabs and hand-cut the bars. I will list the size on the product page as soon as that is done, but it should approximate the size of our regular bar. I will also update the image at that time.
As a fun note, I poured a large batch of this “Lily” fragrance for last Christmas in base No.35 (a mild base that I have since retired). They all sold immediately (except for 2 that I hid). No one cares what the base is if they really love the scent. (Is there a lesson here?)
Coconut Coconut
I played with calling this “Coconut Squared,” but then wondered whether I would be the only one to find any fun in that.
I always enjoy pointing out that testers who agree to know nothing about the soaps before they test them are often surprised to learn that this soap is made only from coconut oil and coconut milk. It has often tested at or near the top in every category. If pouring soaps solely in coconut oil did not present its own set of challenges I might wonder why we poured anything else.
These bars were originally poured in a coconut fragrance that probably would have sold better on the beach than in the Midwest (plainly we are not near a traditional beach). I will update this product page as soon as one or more fragrances have been decided on, but wanted to leave this here for you to know about… and also as a reminder to me.
Peppermint!
Bars available in No.28, and No.88 for now… and probably No.10 in the future.
It appears that all of the peppermint bars we have in No.28 were made with coconut milk, and probably that will become standard. A number of the bars have macadamia nut oil as well, but this addition did not really seem to improve the formula, so coming pours will not incorporate it.
Future batches will be in Base Nos. 10 and 28, with perhaps the No.88 shampoo bar if it sells well. No.28 bars will continue to be made with coconut milk, while No.10 bars (still to be poured) will not, although they will probably include some clay.
The No.88 bars presently available are regular size, with a few “Tub” size. The tub size are hefty and average 6-7 oz. each. The regular bars were made with green tea, while the Tub bars were not. Sorry for the confusion, we were still experimenting.
Peppermint Silk No.170 with Coconut Milk
I have really gone back and forth on whether to keep pouring No.170. It is a great formula and utilizes high quality oils in good proportion, but it has not tested better than the original No.08 which is what it was designed to do. Even at 170 batches poured there was still a lot to learn (and there always will be).
I will probably retire this formula, or tweak it some in the weeks and months ahead when I get anxious to experiment again. I already know where I would change it. The thing is that we already have so many great bars that we really don’t need another formula, and no one’s complaining. So maybe it’s time to just sit back and enjoy life for awhile.
Sandalwood Chamomile
A little history… This bar was first poured in base No.10, adding green tea and ground chamomile. The ground chamomile turned out to be kind of scratchy, and we worried that it would cause this bar to be designated hand soap only. As it turned out however, most people were not only fine with the slight abrasiveness of the bar, but found it desirable, along with the highly appealing sandalwood fragrance. This has turned out to be one of our all around best sellers.
Yogurt Lavender Calendula
This bar is presently out of stock, but will be available again next month (May). The bar size will probably change a little bit, and I will post new images at that time.
Now to share something that I thought was interesting (I think lots of stuff is interesting). During testing last year I poured many trial batches with yogurt, and many with cream. I was curious to see how they would compare. Although I didn’t care one way or the other, I assumed that the cream would be the winner. Surprisingly, it turned out to be the opposite. And this is totally why we do blind testing!
That’s it! Thanks for visiting Alma Soap Co. today.
John
