Gen Two Development: Bar 1, part 1.

I very much restrained myself when setting up my sopamaking as an actual business.  I have WAY more than six ideas for soaps, but I knew I'd wind up just endlessly fiddling around with formulas and not actually getting around to selling anything.  But now I can begin working on a new set of soap!  So here's one of them:

The concept:

This soap is for a specific vtuber who has agreed to work with me!  She's pretty cool, and I want everyone to watch her, but I can't say who it is just yet.  I can say I had this specific idea for her, though, since before I began this business.  I'm not going to reveal anything about what the soap will look like in the end, that will really give it away.  She has a specific shape associated with her, and that shape will be embedded in the middle of the soap.  But I'll tell you about the ingredients and fragrance.

I want to make a sort of soothing cooling soap, something that you'd want to use in a summertime heatwave, or maybe just after you've shaved.  I have added carrot seed extract, cucumber seed extract, and aloe vera to the base formula.  As to the scent:  People who hate cilantro complain it tastes and smells like soap.  I thought maybe I'd take them up on their ideas and add some cilantro scent to the soap, as well as some cucumber fragrance oil to enhance that part.  I also thought maybe to add just a little bit of dill seed extract:  Not enough to make it smell like a pickle, but just enough to give it a bit of a funky undercurrent.  Maybe some spearmint as well - that's cooling and should pair nicely.  But there are too many elements there, probably.  Experimentation would be required.

Current status:

Most definitely not there yet.

I made four small sample batches with different fragrance combos:  Cilantro-Cucumber, Cilantro-Cucumber-Dill, Mint-Cucumber, Mint-Cucumber-Dill.

Cilantro is out.  That doesn't seem to have been a good idea.  The end result doesn't smell like cilantro anymore, it comes across almost like some weird Chinese herbal medicine.  It isn't bad, but it isn't good either.

Dill is out.  I added only a few drops of dill seed essential oil to each batch, and it veers the entire thing into pickle territory.  I do NOT want pickle soap, that was never my intention.

That leaves just the cucumber and mint.  And yeah, its nice.  Philadelphia is in the middle of a brutal heatwave right now, and yes, you can feel the mint on your skin, and yes, it really is quite nice after a shave.

To do:

The scent ts too simple.  It needs... something, some other element.  Well, cucumber and melon are a bit of a classic combo.  I don't have anything like that on-hand though. So, off to the shop!  I've ordered some melon-centric fragrance oils, and I'll try mixing those in to the next test batches. What kind of melon?  Not sure yet.  Watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew?  Something summery anyhow.

Also, the soap is distinctly rubbery, which I don't like.  Its almost certainly because of the aloe vera.  I'm 90% sure I can firm it up better in the next batch with a few adjustments.  

Finally, I'll need to test out the colorants I'm initially planning to use.  Sometimes they react to other elements in the soap and change color unexpectedly.  I also intend to add a specific visual element, a shape related to this vtuber, in the middle of the soap.  I'm currently waiting to receive a specialized mold for that shape.

ETA on finished prototype:

Depends on how soon my order of new elements arrives.  Maybe another week?