Adding essential oils and menthol to meltable soaps. Anyone had sucess?

[K.T.]

Hi,

Almost a month-and-a-half of DE shaving under my belt, now, and I'm a lifer. A great morning ritual that I've been missing for years!

Like a lot of us, I started with the high-value VdH starter kits, the one with the Deluxe pink soap, two-toned bowl, and boar brush.

The VdH soap is very serviceable; it gives a very decent shave and does what is asked of it. I got my brother into wet shaving shortly after I started, and he doesn't feel the need to experiment with soaps or creams beyone the VdH at the moment. The Deluxe is serving him well.

I, however, find that shaving with the VdH soap is starting to become boring. I find that I look forward to lathering up with Proraso with much more eagerness than I do with VdH. I think it's mostly because Proraso has a scent that I find comforting and relaxing, and I like the menthol cooling effect, too. In fact, when I go back to the VdH, I find it a very solid shave, but a boring and uninspired experience. I just don't get the sensual exprience that the Proraso eucalyptus scent and menthol cooling provide me. VdH feels bland and soulless without a nice scent to it.

Which got me thinking - since I bought several VdH pucks for a very reasonable price in bulk and don't want them to go to waste, maybe it's possible to add in some essential oils and ground-up menthol crystals to the soap when I melt it into my soap bowl.

Has anyone tried this and had success with it? I know that some add essential oils to the lather after it's been whipped, but are the essential oils stable in the soap if melted in this way, or will the scent just evaporate quickly? Are there stabilizers that need to be added (I hope not!). I'm looking to start with eucalyptus oil and menthol crystals to emulate that Proroso effect.

Thanks for your insight.

Best,
K.T.

 

[Raj]

I normally melt the glycerine soap in a microwave (few seconds) and when it starts to get liquidy, I add essential oil/scent and some times menthol. Let it cool and harden in a plastic container of choice. Produces great lather and smell.

 

[thirdeye]

One note of caution, when adding menthol to your soap be careful not to go overboard as it will act as a drying agent and your lather will dry out way to fast on your face.

 

[wwp512]

I was wondering the same thing, adding some essential oil to the VdH soap. Heck, its cheap enough to experiment. I have some Young Living Essential Oil (YLEO), which are not cheap, and supposed to be very pure and highly concentrated.

I recalled YLEO literature saying something about not heating their oil in water, so I'm wondering what will happen if I try to put the EO while the soap is still in liquid form.