Back around the turn of the (last) century, synthetic fragrances were just making their debuts. Soapmaking manuals and books for the time still gave recipes for scent blending based on essential oils.
My Manual of Toilet Soap-Making by Dr. C. Deite lists a number of scent blends for what were “traditional” toilet soaps at the time.
Here are a few that could be duplicated using the essential oils we have generally available to us now.
The amounts given in the book are for scenting a soap batch using 50 kilos of oil; I’ve adjusted them down so the amounts shown below are for a soap batch containing 5 kilos (11 pounds) of oil. The names of the soaps are as given in the book.
Standard Soap (White)
11 gr. ginger-grass oil
8 gr caraway oil
8 gr lavender oil
8 gr thymene
Standard Soap (Orange)
17.5 gr cassia oil
17.5 gr citronella oil
Alpine Flower Soap
10 gr oil of lemons
7.5 gr lavender oil
7.5 gr peppermint oil
6 gr sage oil
6 gr rosemary oil
3 gr cinnamon oil
Alpine Bouquet Soap
10 gr oil of lemons
8 gr lavender oil
8 gr peppermint oil
8 gr sage oil
6 gr rosemary oil
4 gr thyme oil
They all sound great, don’t they?
That sounds so wonderful. I enjoy reading old manuals and books from days when things were much less complicated. A 50 kilo batch of soap sounds HUGE….was it from a company that sold soap locally or regionally at that time or is there any other information.
Where do you find such wonderful old book? I will have to dig and research libraries for something like that.
Thank you for sharing.
-Donna
The book is about commercially making toilet soaps. It’s a translation from a German book, published in 1904. I found it, and several other ones, by searching used bookstores online. They weren’t cheap!
Marie
I am going to try to duplicate Sweetheart Soap. It was made by Manhattan Soap Company and since the first of 2009 is not longer available. If you have any helpful hints as to how I could find out the oils they used please email me
Gail