Are essential oils used at the same rate as fragrance oils?

[Primrose]

So now I've done a couple of plain batches, I thought the next logical step would be to try adding fragrance through the addition of an essential oil. So I went to my local health food store and bought a bottle of lemongrass essential oil ... an 11ml bottle cost me $18 :O imagine my even further dismay when I formulated my recipe in the soapee calculator, using the default 3% that is suggested for fragrance oil, that this little tiny and very expensive bottle would only be good enough for roughly a 500g batch of soap. Because 3% wants a bit over 10g of essential oil, and the weight of the bottle I purchased sans bottle weight I'd about 10g.

Is this correct, or am I missing something crucial? Do I need to find a cheaper source of essential oils in larger bottles, or is my math wrong?

Bit confused

 

[lionprincess00]

Cheaper source, yes! There are companies online we use to purchase fos and eos for soap. I personally use camden grey for eos.
I use .7 to 1 oz per pound oils of fragrance oils.
I use typically .5 oz ppo of nonirritant eos (essential oils).
So a 500 gram batch of oils would take appx 14 grams of eos. You need to check their saftey usage rates by the vendor first to be safe.

I'd save it and buy more online. Then you'd have enough to make a batch with it.

 

[lsg]

It is a good idea to check the usage rate when buying essential oils and FOs. Each oil you buy may have a different usage rate.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

As above, check each FO and EO for any maximum amounts for what you're doing. But for those "normal" EOs and FO I look at around 5% of oil weight. Do bear in mind that some are much stronger than you would expect and could be used at a lower %, but that starts to come in to a matter of individual preference coupled with some trial and error.

But yes - 18$ for 11ml does strike me as expensive (although you don't have location on in your profile so it doesn't list it next to your post). I pay 6.30€ for a 100ml bottle - it is cheaper if I buy bigger bottles.

 

[Primrose]

Thanks guys - I'm in Australia. I'll have a bit of a hunt around, at this early stage I thought it was most convenient to just grab what I needed at the local shops, but I can't really do that at this price lol

 

[dixiedragon]

What's the brand? Here in the US, NOW brand essential oils are almost half the cost of YoungLiving or DoTerra. B/c YL and DT have a lot of hype around them.

You may also find a healthfood store that sells them in larger quantities, such as 1 or 2 oz bottles.

 

[DeeAnna]

But the bottom line, even if I buy larger bottles of EO and FO to lower my cost, the cost of using moderately priced EOs in soap is at least double the cost of using FOs. That's why I use mostly FOs or sometimes the less expensive EOs.

Just because EOs come from plant sources and FOs may not doesn't make much difference in the amounts needed to give a good scent. But always double check the suggested rates for safety, whether EO or FO. Some EOs such as clove might smell great, but they are skin safe only when used in low percentages. And some FOs are not recommended for skin use at all.

 

[littlehands]

Yep- you need a bit more, actually. Definitely go with an online supplier. Don't buy into the hype that "name brand" or multi level EOs are better or more pure. That's hogwash. In fact, soaping is a pretty good litmus test for purity, because, if the oil's cut with anything odd, it will cause unwanted reactions in your batch. If it's marketed and sold for soap, it's the real deal, and just as good as anything you will buy in a health food store or from a distributor. The soap doesn't lie!

 

[Primrose]

Thanks all - I have found a soap supplier locally that has 100ml bottles of lemongrass for the same price I paid for the 11ml!!!!! Or a supplier on ebay that has it for $11.50 for 100ml, with capped postage at about $9.00 I may order some lemongrass and lavender and perhaps a couple of others that I was wanting to try and save on the shipping.

Like sooooooo many other newbies that I've seen posting here, I like the idea of using 100% essential oils rather than FO but I'm aware of the misconception about it being 'natural', 'chemical free' etc when we use lye anyway. I may very well change my opinion down the track but as I'm only really looking to create some fairly simple soaps, I'd like to try playing with the EOs for now - provided I can get them at a better price than $18 for 11ml!! LOL

Really appreciate your feedback

 

[Relle]

Here is a supplier in W.A. as you are in Perth you can EO's from and their lemongrass EO is $12 for 50 ml, so be careful where you get them from if they are cheaper as they could be adulterated and not pure. If you go back in the Shopping Recs sub forum, there are threads there with Aussie suppliers of all things soaping related that are listed or you can google soaping suppliers in your state.
https://www.aussiesoapsupplies.com.au/
Here is a supplier I can recommend in NSW and they post anywhere.
http://www.heirloombodycare.com.au/

 

[Primrose]

Yes that's the supplier I mentioned