The best scented bar soaps at my store were not necessarily the all natural ones. It is a common mistake that consumers and customers make that if it is made with vegetable oils then the rest of the soap is natural too. This is not true.
In the beginning, I made only essential oil soaps. Unfortunately, I would get requests for all sorts of scents and fragrances not were not natural. Surprisingly, I would have people insist that the Jasmine bar that they bought from somewhere was all natural. Unless you paid $300 for the bar, it wasn’t. Because essential oils and fragrances involves some learning and research, most people are unaware. Just like I was. Unfortunately, this is what unscrupulous soap makers are counting on when they sell you soap. Even places where I have bought soap, I’ve seen them start offering fragrance oil based scents because of the demand. Here’s the top selling scent, Egyptian Musk, in a perfume:
The top ten of the best scented bar soaps:
(the top 3 sellers were fragrances, and * indicates all natural with essential oils)
- Egyptian Musk
- Blackberry & Orange
- Life’s a Beach
- Lavender *
- Rose
- Lime-Cilantro
- Vanilla
- Blackberry Sage
- Tea Tree *
- Lemongrass *
These are in the top 11 – 20 of best scented bar soaps:
- Sandalwood
- Lilac
- Anise *
- Orange Spice *
- Egyptian Musk and Sandalwood
- Mulberry
- Kitchen bar
- Citrus *
- Oatmeal Orange *
- Patchouli
We also had seasonal favorites that were best sellers:
- Entomophobia * (summer, bug repellent)
- Redneck or Cowboy (summer – tourists)(sandalwood and beer)
- Cowgirl (summer – tourists)(sandalwood and jasmine)
- Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh (Christmas)
- Christmas Spice * (aka Orange Spice, Christmas)
- Candy Cane * (aka peppermint, but with red swirl, Christmas)
This list consists of other soap scents we sold, they just weren’t in the top 20:
- Jazzberry (jasmine & blackberry)
- Glow in the Dark
- Nag Champa
- Coconut (not too popular by itself)
- Blueberry
- Green Apple
- Hemp
- Lavender Orange *
- Lime & Cola (Cuba libre)
- Raspberry
- Shaving bars (both the Lime-Cilantro and the Rose)
And the list of the NOT best scented bar soaps that we kept testing but eventually discontinued:
- Lime (not popular by itself)
- Maple Sugar (too sweet?)
- Cherry-Cola (I don’t know, more for kids?)
- Cucumber (disappearing scent)
- Grapefruit (disappearing scent)
- Pumice and Orange * (preferred the Oatmeal Orange)
- Bumbleberry (random mix of fruit scents)
- Unscented * (they kept asking for it, would even smell it, just didn’t sell)
- Crab Apple (green apple and lime)
- Goats Milk (has an earthy type smell)
- Magnolia (was just not floral)
- Mocha Latte (great in the Kitchen Bar, just not by itself)
- Orange * (great in almost every bar but not by itself)
- Peppermint * (good in a foot lotion, and as Candy Cane)
- Blackberry (not by itself)
- Ylang-Ylang * (kinda earthy scent)
Synthetic un-natural chemical fragrances can cause health problems like headaches, more here.
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