Why I Use Essential Oils in My Handmade Soap (It’s Not Just About the Scent)

If you’ve ever picked up one of my soaps and thought:

“I expected it to smell stronger.”

You’re definitely not the first.

We’re used to many commercial bath and body products having fragrances that fill an entire bathroom, so it’s easy to expect handmade soap to do the same.

But creating the strongest scent possible has never been my goal.

When I started making soap and skincare, I became much more interested in understanding the ingredients I was using and learning how they worked together in a finished recipe.

That’s where essential oils became part of the process.

Essential Oils Are More Than Just a Scent Choice

Essential oils are concentrated aromatic extracts derived from plants. Depending on the oil, they may come from flowers, leaves, woods, herbs or citrus peels.

And there are so many different scent profiles to work with.

Lavender can be soft and floral. Sweet orange and grapefruit are bright and fresh. Peppermint and eucalyptus give a completely different experience, while oils such as frankincense, rosemary and cedarwood can bring deeper, earthier notes.

Part of the fun of creating a new soap is experimenting with combinations until I find one that fits the product I'm imagining.

Sometimes that means one essential oil.

Sometimes it's a blend.

And sometimes essential oils aren't the right choice at all.

Essential Oils, Fragrance Oils & Unscented Products

I think it's important to be transparent about this.

Not every Christa's Creations product is scented exclusively with essential oils.

Some of my recipes use essential oils. Some specialty scents use carefully selected fragrance oils, particularly when I'm trying to create an aroma that can't realistically be achieved with essential oils alone.

And some products are intentionally unscented.

You'll find the scent ingredients listed with each individual product so you can choose what works best for you.

Why Can Essential-Oil Soap Smell Lighter?

This surprises a lot of people.

Cold-process soap is created through a chemical reaction called saponification, where oils and an alkali react to become soap.

After the soap is made, it also needs time to cure.

Some essential-oil aromas can change or become softer during soap making and curing, particularly more delicate scent notes. Different essential oils also behave differently in soap.

That means a handmade essential-oil soap may not have the same strong, persistent fragrance you associate with some commercially scented products.

For me, that's okay.

I want the whole bar to work together—the soap recipe, the lather, the appearance and the scent—not have the fragrance overpower everything else.

Less Scent Doesn't Mean Less Care

A lighter scent certainly doesn't mean less effort went into making the bar.

Quite the opposite.

Many of my artisan soaps begin with grass-fed beef tallow combined with carefully selected plant oils. Depending on the recipe, I may also incorporate clays, sea salt, botanicals, colourants or ingredients I've grown and prepared from my own PEI garden.

Then comes the scent blend.

I test different combinations and amounts to find something that complements the particular soap I'm making.

Every recipe is a little different.

That's one of my favourite things about making soap in small batches.

Everyone Experiences Scent Differently

Something else I've learned is just how personal scent can be.

A blend one person considers strong might seem quite subtle to someone else.

Some people love bright citrus scents. Others gravitate toward florals, mint, warm vanilla-inspired scents or deep woodsy blends.

That's why Christa's Creations doesn't have one single scent style.

I enjoy creating variety.

My Philosophy

When I'm developing a new soap, I'm not asking:

“How can I make this smell as strong as possible?”

I'm thinking about the whole bar.

How will it feel?

What kind of lather am I looking for?

Which ingredients fit the recipe?

What scent complements everything else?

And sometimes the answer is no scent at all.

That's what I love about making artisan tallow soap here in Prince Edward Island. Every batch gives me the chance to create something a little different while keeping the same small-batch approach behind Christa's Creations.

Thoughtfully made. Carefully chosen. And never just about the scent.

— Christa