soapsandscents

To Smell or Not to Smell? That Is the Question: Essential Oils vs. Fragrance Oils

When shopping for handcrafted soaps, many people opt for the products with their favorite aromas. Whether you prefer floral scents or culinary essences, traditional soap makers like Soaps & Scents use a combination of essential oils and fragrance oils to achieve the feel and smell customers crave. Read on to learn why artisan soap crafters utilize fragrance and essential oils in soap.

The power of aromatherapy

Our loyal customers come to us because they love the essential and fragrance oils in soaps we craft. For fans of aromatherapy, you already know the numerous reasons to use essential oils. If you’re new to this self-care practice, aromatherapy triggers desired emotional responses in a person to help them relax, get energized or find balance.

That’s why the scent of bath products matters so much. You want to use soaps, lotions and other items with the aromas that help achieve your wellness goals.

The benefits of fragrance oils

There’s a variety of reasons we incorporate fragrance oils in soap along with the essential oils people love. To produce fragrance oils, experts mix aroma chemicals, essential oils, extracts and resins. Many fragrance oils combine up to 80 different ingredients to create unique aromas.

One reason soap makers rely on fragrance oils is that they have a longer-lasting effect than essential oils. Unlike essential oils, which tend to fade during the cold process of making soap, fragrance oils remain fragrant for more time.

Additionally, fragrance oils are required ingredients in making the most beloved smells for bath products. There’s no strawberry essential oil, but that’s one of the most popular scents people look for in soaps. With more than 200 varieties of high-quality fragrance oil aromas available, we’re able to test the various smells throughout the task of small-batch soap production.

The benefits of essential oils

Essential oils play a pivotal part in small-batch soap making. These 100 percent pure additives give fragrance oils their unique bouquets. To ensure we’re making and selling the finest soap, we must combine essential oils, fragrance oils and other ingredients. These elements work in unison to thoroughly clean your hands or body while also smelling terrific.

Research demonstrates the direct correlation between essential oils and the successful application of aromatherapy methods. With these natural derivatives, we’re able to help customers seeking aromatherapy wellness solutions while indulging in decadent but affordable bath products.

Crafting your favorite small-batch soaps

Soap making is both an art and a science that demands creativity and precision. Incorrectly combining essential and fragrance oils yields unusable products. But a keen understanding of the cold-process method allows us to produce truly dreamy soaps.

Since 1994, Soaps & Scents has perfected the cold process for handcrafting small-batch soaps and other spa products. We’ve spent years working with fragrance and essential oils in soaps to master the best methods for incorporating these materials into our products. Shop our selection of soaps, hand cleaners, spa products, candles, loo de toilette and gift sets to find the ones in your favorite scents. Contact us now if you have any questions about how we craft our products.

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soapsandscents

How to Prepare a Proper Bath: The Secret Is in the Scent

Is there anything more soothing than soaking in a bath after a long, stressful day? Even though many people love taking a long, luxurious bath, everyone approaches this task a little differently. The method of preparing a bath is as unique as the person doing the work.
While you should create the bath environment that most meets your needs, there is a process we recommend to ensure you get the most out of your 30 minutes of peaceful alone time. Find out here how to prepare the perfect bath!

Five steps for preparing a decadent bath experience

Maybe you’ve been taking baths for years but never figured out exactly how to make it your own personal spa experience. Perhaps you’ve wondered about what to do with all of the bath bombs, spa products and candles you keep receiving as birthday or holiday gifts. With this easy step-by-step tutorial, you’ll prepare luxurious essential oils baths that you won’t want to get out of for as long as the water is warm:

  • Set up the space: Before you turn on the faucet, make sure you have everything you need. Burn some candles and turn off the bright overhead lights to create a calming mood in your bathroom. Pick some relaxing music to play in the background. Have a good book to read. Make sure you have fresh towels and a bathrobe waiting for when you get out.
  • Fill the tub: Everyone enjoys a different temperature for their essentials oils baths. Ultimately, when you start filling your bathtub, you want the water temperature to be a little warmer than what you prefer. By the time the tub has filled enough, the water will have cooled to the right temperature.
  • Add your products: This is the fun part: you get to add your favorite bath products! But don’t get too wet and wild with it—adding too many different products could result in an oily residue on your skin post-bath, or even skin irritation. Only opt for one or two bath supplements at a time, such as bath bombs, Epsom salt or essential oils.
  • Stay hydrated: Your bath is the right temperature and you’ve added your selected products—now it’s time to soak. As you luxuriate in the tub, make sure to drink water. Your body will naturally sweat out a lot of toxins, which can dehydrate you. Of course, you can enjoy some wine or a cocktail with your bath, but have a cool glass of water nearby, as well.
  • Moisturize: Once you’ve finished your soak, revitalize your skin with deep conditioning treatments such as whipped body frosting or small-batch body lotions.

The most important part of preparing the perfect bath is having all of the necessary supplies on hand. This includes soaps, lotions, bath bombs, whipped body frostings, scrubs and candles enriched with essential oils. Soaps & Scents has spent more than 25 years creating small-batch bath products using high-quality ingredients and the finest fragrance and essential oils.
Ready to soak away in an essential oils bath? Shop our catalog of bath and spa products. Feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions about our products or process.

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soapsandscents

Why Soap Is the Best Holiday Gift

It’s hard to believe we finally made it, but 2020 is rapidly coming to an end. Many retailers swapped out their Halloween decorations for Christmas décor on November 1. The merriment and festivity of Christmas and the winter holiday season is nearly upon us, which means it’s time to consider what you’re getting for everyone on your gift list. Before making any present purchases, consider these reasons why soap makes such a good gift during the holiday season.

Give the gift of soap this year

Most people rack their brains trying to think up gifts to give neighbors, acquaintances and coworkers. Instead of driving yourself crazy coming up with something creative, read through these reasons to gift soap for Christmas, Hanukkah and other holidays:

  • People always need soap: This year, we learned how quickly soap products can become unavailable when demand is high. Big soap manufacturers couldn’t produce their products fast enough to keep them on the shelves at grocery stores and big box retailers. Shoppers in need of liquid, foaming or bar soap turned to small soap businesses because they continued to hand-make high-quality products packed with nourishing and natural ingredients.
  • Soap is personal: Perhaps your neighbor grows a garden full of gardenias every summer. A bar of handmade gardenia-scented soap shows that you appreciate their beautiful flowers and notice how much they love them. Personal touches like that set your gifts apart from the rest.
  • Everyone uses soap: Everyone needs soap multiple times throughout the day, regardless of their age, gender, nationality, political affiliation or race. All too often, gift recipients never use the items they get. That’s not likely to be the case with high-quality soaps. Maybe they save the soap you gave them to use when guests visit, or perhaps they indulge in long baths and reserve the special soap you gave them for those occasions.
  • The gift of luxury: You expect to find vats of unscented hand soaps in convenience store restrooms. Richly-scented moisturizing soaps are more often associated with boutiques, high-end hotels and luxury spas. Most people won’t treat themselves to the luxury of high-quality soap. Luckily for you, that means you can give it as a gift!
  • Support small businesses: Large soap manufacturers often prioritize quantity over quality. Soap makers with their own small businesses believe in creating luxurious soap products, unlike what you’ll find at a drug store or supermarket. Handcrafted, all-natural soaps make thoughtful gifts, and buying these products from local businesses supports the enterprises that need it most.

Now that you know all of the reasons soap makes a good gift during the holidays, it’s time to find a soap shop that hand-makes a variety of products to accommodate everyone on your list. The soap maker you buy from should use the highest quality ingredients to create their various products.

That’s why so many people shop at Soaps & Scents. Our 20 years of experience has taught us how to craft the most luxurious bar, foaming and liquid soaps. We also make soaps in the shape of cupcakes, perfect for the person on your list who loves to bake. Contact us now if you have questions about ordering online or want to visit our soap store in El Cajon, CA.

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