First thing in the morning (after my coffee), I usually sit down to reply to emails and messages. And every now and then I’ll come across something that I think I need to share with you. This is one of them.
I often use fragrances that tend to accelerate. For some reason, I’m just drawn to these particular scents, which is why I’ve figured out some nifty tricks how to work with them.
Fragrances and essential oils that tend to accelerate are usually your florals and spices, so anything cinnamon, clove, rose, jasmine, ylang ylang, etc. The exception to this rule is lavender, which behaves nicely.
Question
Hi there, spotted a recipe with spice in – orange cinnamon CP on your site – I’ve been trying to make pumpkin spice, one successful batch and one failed accelerated batch, spotted that you said whisking? Does this work to avoid accelerating with spice blend CP? Adam
Answer
Hi Adam! Yep, if you use accelerating fragrances or essential oils don’t use the stick blender, or just use it for about 3 seconds only, which is what I do. And then I just whisk it until it’s completely emulsified. Your soap will still accelerate, but not as quickly. Depending on the amount of fragrance/eo, you probably won’t be able to do much colourwork though. Other tips to reduce acceleration is to make sure your lye is completely cooled down to room temperature or even fridge temperature. It’s better to have your oils as cooled down as much as possible as well, and then force gel in the oven afterwards. I usually have my oils at close to room temperature too. Add the fragrance to the oils to dilute, rather than adding it to the soap. Avoid butters or use only minimal butter amount in your recipe, and instead add some sunflower oil, which I find helps slow down as well. Also don’t add any sodium lactate – that seems to be aiding the acceleration, I recently found out by accident. And if you use accelerating fragrances/eo, blend them with non-accelerating ones, or even ones that tend to slow down, such as citrus, mint or lavender essential oils. It’s why I’m using orange in this particular recipe. Also if using eos, such as clove and cinnamon, keep them under 5%. All that said, some fragrances are just impossible to work with, and there isn’t much you can do. I hope this helps!
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