Thread: Making my own soap?

My first ever shave soap was ordered off of etsy.com and it was a fresh leather and cavandish pipe tobacco scented soap. It has become the favorite scent of my wife and I. I was going to order some more because I am running low but lo-and-behold the seller no longer makes the soap. I since have started to make my own soaps in an effort to try and re-create this scent. While I have some nice smelling vanilla and spice tree scented soap and some cedar & sandalwood soaps I am having trouble figuring out what to do to make the leather and pipe tobacco scent. I was thinking that I am going to have to make an infused fragrance oil. I am just not sure if infusing pipe tobacco is a wise choice and also how could I get a leather scent short of dropping leather in heated oil (unless that's a viable option). So far for making my own soaps I have used a goats milk soap base with added glycerin and shea butter and coconut oil and kaolin clay finally topped off with essential oils for the scents. So I've never had to make my own scents before and thats where I'm getting stuck. Any help will be much appreciated and heck If it turns out good I'll send you a puck.

I too make shave soaps myself. As for scents, the best consistent result can be obtained with essential oils and this is true for tobacco and leather scents as well.
I do sometimes use infusions: they are good but not as effective as essential oils which however are long lasting.

Do you know where I could get leather EO's and Pipe Tobacco EO's? Also I am looking for some Bentonite clay if you know where I could get some. I don't know if you use clays in your soap or not.

I buy my essential oils at a local shop in my city. I am sure you can buy them on Internet too and in this case you should make sure you are going to buy natural essential oils and not synthetic ones.
I do use bentonite and it makes a difference in shaving soaps in many ways. It is very easy to find as I use it for making wine so I always have plenty of it. You can buy it in shops specialized in enology supplies. Bentonite is also used for cleaning and filtering liquids such as fruit juice so it certainly is available in other shops too.
I also use kaolin but I think bentonite works better as it is more slickly and creamy.

Thank you you've been a great help. Hopefully I can find something as far as the scent goes.

Originally Posted by cosperryan

Do you know where I could get leather EO's and Pipe Tobacco EO's? Also I am looking for some Bentonite clay if you know where I could get some. I don't know if you use clays in your soap or not.

Just type in bentonite clay in at amazon.com. They have everything you need to make soap and they have the clay you need. They also have great prices on lye to.