Vanilla, Vanilla, Vanilla
Sometimes you find a really great fragrance oil, you use it in your soap, and it turns out beautifully. You feel like you've made the best bar of soap that will ever be made. Who wouldn't want to use this bar? It smells great, feels great, and looks great. But then- you check on it a few days later, only to find out that brown patches have formed all over each bar. What could have happened???
Vanilla happened- or vanillin, to be more specific. See, most fragrance oils contain anywhere from 0.4% vanillin to 20% vanillin. Vanillin is the organic compound that gives vanilla its flavor. It's part of the reason the vanilla pods that grow on orchids turn from a light green to a dark brown. The problem is, it can have this same effect on your soap.
This happened to me with my first loaf of The Lemon Cream, one of our best sellers. When I was designing the look of the bar, I wanted to make the majority yellow with a cream stripe across the top. It worked out almost exactly how I wanted it. The stripe wasn't perfect, but I'd never attempted a stripe before, so I decided it wasn't too bad for a first try. It smelled great, too, which didn't hurt.
A few days later, though, those dreaded brown spots showed up. Since I was new to soap making at the time, I had never thought to check the vanilla content of the fragrance oil. But after I started researching what had happened to my beloved soap, there it was- the oil I used had a 1.25% vanilla content. It's not really that much, but since I was trying to make a lighter bar of soap, it really showed up.
Since then, I've reworked the look of the bar so the brown doesn't show up as much. It's still there in the slightest bit, but it's not nearly as bad as the first batch. Thanks to The Lemon Cream, I learned a valuable soap making lesson- Always, always, always check your vanilla content!
AK
Vanilla happened- or vanillin, to be more specific. See, most fragrance oils contain anywhere from 0.4% vanillin to 20% vanillin. Vanillin is the organic compound that gives vanilla its flavor. It's part of the reason the vanilla pods that grow on orchids turn from a light green to a dark brown. The problem is, it can have this same effect on your soap.
This happened to me with my first loaf of The Lemon Cream, one of our best sellers. When I was designing the look of the bar, I wanted to make the majority yellow with a cream stripe across the top. It worked out almost exactly how I wanted it. The stripe wasn't perfect, but I'd never attempted a stripe before, so I decided it wasn't too bad for a first try. It smelled great, too, which didn't hurt.
A few days later, though, those dreaded brown spots showed up. Since I was new to soap making at the time, I had never thought to check the vanilla content of the fragrance oil. But after I started researching what had happened to my beloved soap, there it was- the oil I used had a 1.25% vanilla content. It's not really that much, but since I was trying to make a lighter bar of soap, it really showed up.
Since then, I've reworked the look of the bar so the brown doesn't show up as much. It's still there in the slightest bit, but it's not nearly as bad as the first batch. Thanks to The Lemon Cream, I learned a valuable soap making lesson- Always, always, always check your vanilla content!
AK
My beautiful first batch of The Lemon Cream
And the same batch a few days later...
The Lemon Cream 2.0 hides the vanilla better than the first batch
The Lemon Creams side-by-side
If you'd like to purchase a bar of The Lemon Cream, they can be found here.
That’s really cool! Great information. I think they’re both beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThanks, glad you like it!
Delete