Hi, Ive been making cp soap for over a year now and prefer to use essential oils if Ican, however a couple of my citrus bars seem to develop a rancid smell after curing (it usually develops in about week 7 or 8 of the cure). It seems to mostly happen in any bar with Lemon or Bergamot in it. There is no obvious DOS on the bars and I have purposely formulated them to avoid it as I live in an area with high humidity. All my other soaps seem to be fine. Has anyone else has come across this problem? I've googled it extensively but I couldn't find anything.
Citrus essential oils going "off" in CP soap
- Thread starter zoeparris
- Start date
I never have had that happen- could it be related to a particular brand or type? Or amount? I tend to use bergamot and orange, not lemon, but I would think it would be similar.
ChemicalPyros
Member
In my experience, Limonene and Citrale (molecules present in the citrusy fragrances) can undergo the reactions like the fatty acids and may form esters and other compounds that may not smell nice. I would advise you that you use fragrances without limonene and/or citrale. or maybe consider adding rosemary extract as an antioxidant.
Thanks so much for your replies! The last batch I produced are still ok, for the moment at least. They are into their 6th week of cure and I'm keeping a very close eye on them. Humidity levels have dropped somewhat recently due to our central heating kicking for the winter. I'll try a test batch with ROE to see if it makes a difference and let you know how it goes.
