Essential oils uk

[DorsetGirl]

Hey everyone, I'm completely new to all this. Essential oils...where do you guys buy them? I have purchased everything I need, to begin, apart from the oils. They scare me, I don't know why?
I'm in the UK and I'm confused by all that's out there. I'm not even sure essential oils are the right way to go, but I think I want to give them a go. Anyway, any help and advice would be so welcome...

Many thanks

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Hi! There are alternatives to essential oils - fragrance oils. But with both of them you need to keep a few things in mind.

Safe usage amount. Many essential oils (EOs) and fragrance oils (FOs) can only be used to a certain amount in a certain product.

Effects on soap. Floral fragrance oils, as an example, can cause your batter to sieze up very quickly.

With both of these considerations, the supplier might have some information, but you can also Google and search here for usage tips.

As for suppliers, I would check out UK based soaping suppliers. The products will be plenty good enough for soaping with

 

[SeaSuds]

I buy my essential oils from Freshskin UK. You will have to do some reading on what essential oils are allowed in cp soap and to what percentages. The laws are very strict in the EU and UK for fragrance oils and essential oils if you sell but its best to become familiar with the regulations even if you just plan to give your soaps as gifts. After some reading I picked a few simple well behaved ones and learned to blend with them. The general rule is maximum 3% essential oils (less if you blend) in your recipe but you will have to become aware of the different % each oil is allowed...and it can keep changing! As a starting point you can check out Lovely Greens blog, she has a handy chart but it may already be out of date as I know the % of Lemongrass that you are allowed has been reduced recently. I find the spicy ones like cinnamon badly behaved so I have stuck with ones like Rosemary, May Chang , Cedar, Lemongrass, Rose Geranium, Grapefruit and Spearmint. You can make a lot of different blends with these! Have fun with your experiments!!

EDTA: Freshskin have the technical documents for each essential/fragrance oil so you can download them and make your own chart for the % allowed

 

[Olive Oil]

Hi DorsetGirl, there are a number of good suppliers of essential oils in the UK. Naissance (excellent quality, bit more expensive), Mystic Moments, Freshskin, The Soapery (not a big selection). Be aware that a lot of E/Os fade or change scent in cp soap so be prepared to do some experiments. I agree with SeaSuds, the essential oils mentioned will give you scope to experiment and all of them last well in soap (plus lavender, bergamot, patchouli....I could go on....).

There is also an essential oil calculator and blend database from Modern Soapmaking
Blends Archive » Essential Oil Calculator Bare in mind these maximum % are for the USA not Europe. Obviously these max % are there to protect consumers if you sell soap but they are also a good guide for you to learn about general usage levels to keep you and your family/friends safe as many e/os contain potential allergens. I'd recommend reading up about the general qualities of e/os, how to blend (top/middle/base notes), buy a few small bottles and start experimenting!

 

[Manor Grove Oils]

check out manorgroveoils.co.uk we are uk based family run supplier, we have lots of grate articals about essential oils and there uses