Ogallala Soap - BAD experience -do NOT melt it

Neep

Neep

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Well. It had all the potential for being ultra wonderful.

So I purchased two of the shaving soaps.

Ogallala Bay Rum & Lemon Grass
Ogallala Bay Rum & Sweet Orange

I have always loved the smell of Lemongrass, and when I opened the Rum & Sweet Orange I was greeted with a scent sensation. I was so looking forwards to using these soaps! (Note the hint of disappointment creeping in here).

They arrived yesterday, along with a couple of Ogallala aftershaves in those neat blue bottles.

"Melt in a microwave and pour into a mug" it says on the wrapper of the soap. And as I have a couple of lovely wooden soap bowls spare, I did just that. I popped a puck into a small plastic container, and set the microwave to 30 seconds. That wasn't quite enough to melt it, so I did another short burst of 20 seconds. That left a 1" "cube" of unmelted soap in the middle, so I left it at that and poured the soap into one of the wooden bowls and set it aside to cool and solidify. Same with the other puck.

I then wrapped up the unmelted lumps back in the same wrapper the soaps came in, and popped them back into their respective boxes. (I didn't want to waste any of this wonderful stuff).

Several hours later. Let's try those soaps. Great anticipation!
Sniff...... No smell. No scent of delicious orange.
Same with the Lemongrass. Nothing.

Let's try lathering them. Yup, they each produced a superb easy lather. Excellent in fact. But no Orange or Lemongrass scent. Zero! They both smell just the same. Soap.

Let's try digging into the centre of the soap. Same again. Zero scent.

So I opened up the packets of the unmelted lumps. Wonderful aromas!

Moral. DO NOT melt the Ogallala soaps in the microwave, as it says on the label.

I must admit to feeling a bit sour about the experience of buying not one, but two new soaps, both of which had such great potential. I wasted my money. :icon_sad:

Jonathan. Sorry fella. But you simply MUST remove those labels with the instructions to melt the soap in a microwave.

Rod
 
I know when I make my soap that the unset mix cannot be hot otherwise any scent oils added just evaporate away with the steam so I guess if this gets hot in the micro the same thing happens
 
I wonder if a gentle warming does any damage?

I'm wanting to buy the Orange one but of course I'll need to melt it into a mug. So a grating and a gentle warming is going to have to come in to it!
 
Never had this problem. I always just melt them for 20 seconds so the large section left fits in the container and the stuff that is liquid fills all the space. Also got to remember things continue to cook when you take them out a microwave for a short while after
 
What I did was to follow the instructions on the label on the soap!

"Melt in a microwave and pour into a mug"

Bad move. All scent gone. Wasted money.
The instructions need changing.

I posted this thread simply so that others using the product don't make the same mistake.
I am sure that it is a great product. But I won't be able to enjoy using it.

Rod
 
I had no problem when I melted mine, I melted it in the bowl it was to stay in, I put the microwave on a low heat setting and took it slowly once the outside of the puck had melted I let it to harden and hey presto all ok.

Just had a thought on this, you could of course try melting it in a Bain Marie, not sure on spelling, may take longer but the chances are it would keep it's sent.
 
Hiya,

You gotta be careful when melting a soap in a microwave oven. Tallow based are a no go, so don't even bother trying. Others like the Ogallalah stuff should be fine to melt, as long as the temperature doesn't get to the boiling point.

From what I've read, the first thing to go when that happens is the scent goes to fragrance heaven. Yeah, that's what's being lost in the air as the soap bubbles away. Heh, I even have some personal experience with that.

I'd suggest doing short bursts in the microwave, and stopping before the puck is totally melted. That should take care of things.

Martin

Oh yeah..almost forgot about the soaps with clay in em. With those, make sure to try and distribute that evenly before the soap hardens.
 
What I've been doing is only using slivers of the soap cut into a small corning ware cup that I use as the top part to a scuttle(corning ware mug). I zap the slivers for ~4sec they melt slightly and stick to the bottom. Easier for making lather. Haven't had the lack of sent problem I think because I just soften them.
 
When I melt my soaps into an old spice mug, I do no more than 10 seconds at a time.

I've left one for 20 seconds once, it practically sizzled the soap!
 
Thanks for your messages. I have been liaising with Rod and also John @ Ogallala. The feedback from Ogallala is as follows;
"First I have ever heard of that. We sell a LOT of soap to repeat customers. I'm sure if it were common I'd have heard it before."

From John's response and reading the experience of posters here, I would assume that the problem of loss of scent during the heating process, is down to the way the soap has been heated.. (Rod - this is not to say that you have 'done it wrongly' as I understand you have followed the instructions)

I will try various different heating times/powers this evening and post the results..

Regards
 
I dunno what's what, but it seems like several agree on that if you heat the soap to hot, it'll lose it's scent (oils). Why make it a stand off against a customer, that I'm sure just followed the instructions on the labels. Makes sense too, in my book, that if you melt a soap and it gets to hot the scent will evaporate.

As for american customer not over heating the soap, well, they run on 120 DC (and 60 Hertz) and that means they don't get as strong effect on their micros as we do (their freezers can't be as cold as ours either etc and therefore a 800W effect on a micro isn't the same in the USA as in Europe). Facts a big company like Ogallala should know or research before making statements like they did, in this case.
 
Come now - 800W is 800W regardless of how it's derived, 110V, 230V, steam, rocket power - the difference is that for any given power the current in the appliance cable is double in the US what it is here in Europe.

However the point here is that if you 'overdo' it, there is a risk of losing the scent. I'd say it's worthy of mention if for no other reason than to delight your customers.
 
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