Accounting for EOs in a recipe

[NittyGritty]

Hi everyone,

I'm totally new to cold process (or any!) soap making and wondering if you can help clarify something: How do I account for adding essential oils to a recipe? Do I subtract the amount of water in the lye solution by the amount of EO I'm adding (for example, instead of using 15oz of water with the lye, use 13oz water and 2oz of EO)? Or is the EO just an addition to the recipe? And when should I add the EO? THANK YOU!

 

[kylie_au]

No, essential oils are an additive so they dont count to initial ammounts. They are added last at 1-3%.

 

[NittyGritty]

1-3% of the total, finished product weight? So, if I'm making 5 lbs (80oz) of soap, I'd add .8 - 2.4 oz of total oils?

I know there's no hard/fast rule here, and much of it is subjective. I'm just trying to get a basic idea down before I severely over or under scent a batch!

Thanks!

 

[Seawolfe]

Yep, just like that

 

[NittyGritty]

Ok, thanks!

 

[Susie]

If you look at the top of the soapcalc page, it will give you a place to put the percentage of fragrance you prefer. I usually don't change this number, and it works out fine. It is 0.5oz PPO.

 

[neeners]

EO is per pound of oil, not total amt of soap.... just wanted to clarify.

 

[NittyGritty]

Ok, thanks you guys! Glad I found this site!

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Aye, what Neeners said. If you make a batch with 10oz of oils, base your EO amount on that rather than including water and so on.

Remember, we love pictures here, so get some up when the soap is made - we might not be able to smell it, but at least we can see it.

 

[reinbeau]

Essential oils have usage rates. It's not quite as simple as 1-3% ppo. You need to know the oil properties and make certain there isn't a usage limit with it. Many of the spice oils are less than 1%. Some shouldn't be used at all. Do your research before going wild with oils. Of course the simple fragrance types like lavender, rose geranium (racehorse there!), etc. are fairly safe, but there are some that are not to be used freely.

 

[LanaBanana]

I often reference the fragrance calculator found at
www.thesage.com
Click on calculators>fragrance calculator.
Then you can choose your product>soap (cold process)
You will see many essential oils (and fragrance oils) from which to choose. The tables are then color coded to show suggested amounts for a light, medium and strong scent and more. Check it out.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

 

[NittyGritty]

Great calculator, thanks! One more question: the calculator only allows for me to select a single oil. If I add more than one oil, should I use the full recommended amount of both? Example: for 50oz of oils in a cold process soap, the calculator says to use 1oz of patchouli for a strong scent. For the same amount to oil, the calculator says to add 1.5oz of orange. What if I wanted to make a patchouli/orange soap? Would I put in the recommended amounts of both? Or reduce each since there are two oils instead of just one?

 

[Susie]

Reduce them. Use half of each, or any proportion thereof.

 

[Lindy]

When you are working with essential oils you need to remember that they are therapeutic and require respect. It is why the maximum general usage is 3% because at 3% it is starting to be therapeutic. Like others have said there are some that are restricted in their use such as cinnamon which is .7%... always, always research your oils and what the contraindications are.