Why I Started Soap Making

A few years ago I was looking for a present for my mum, she loves rose scented toiletries and so I went out to buy a rose scented gift for her.

I went into Brighton to the posh cosmetics shops. To my astonishment all of the high end soaps I picked up, were scented with fragrance oils, even though they were marketed as all natural. Further more, they ingredients of the fragrance weren't declared on the packaging. I had assumed that cosmetics labelled as natural would be scented naturally as well. I looked at all the shops and found the same thing. My mum prefers natural products, things with herbs in, so I didn't want to get her something artificial.

I decided to make my own own soap, as a present for my mum. I had worked as a laboratory technician for around 12 years at the time, so this was simple enough for me. It wasn't until I went to purchase Rose Essential oil or Rose Absolute that I realised why manufacturers use fragrance oils, it was horrendously expensive, the best price i could find was £20 per ml and I needed 15mls to make a 500g batch! After a bit more research I found rose geranium essential oil, which smelt nice and rosy and used that instead. This is still a favourite of mine and after some initial testing I paired it with Vanilla CO2 oil, which is extracted from the plant to give a very close approximation of a natural rose oil and makes up part of my permanent collection.