How much is enough?

[MsRastaMixtress]

Hey all
So I have a couple of questions. I'm wanting to make my first bar of soap (ever) and I have no clue how much essential oils to use?!! Anybody got any tips please? Also which oils go good together? Hope someone can advise me.


Give thanx ;-)

 

[BakingNana]

There is a TON on info on fragrance and EOs and scent levels out there.

A basic starting point is to use .5 ounce FO or EO per pound of oils used in the recipe. You can adjust your next batches if you want the fragrance level lower or higher. General recommendation is not to exceed 1 oz PPO. Some EOs don't "stick" fragrance-wise, such as any citrus other than lemongrass or litsea, and some are so blasted expensive that IMHO they aren't worth it. You also need to be sure the EO you use is high quality. Some cheaper oils are adulterated. Is there a particular EO you want to use?

 

[MsRastaMixtress]

Thanx for the reply
I'm wanting to use sweet orange, cinnamon and nutmeg essential oils.

 

[BakingNana]

Sweet orange probably won't stick, and cinnamon and nutmeg (especially cinnamon) can be irritating to skin. You may want to check out the skin-safe cinnamon fragrance oils on the market if a cinnamon fragrance is really important to you. If you talking about adding the actual ground spices, I have luck with them in SMALL amounts swirled through the soap, but again they are irritants to most people. Bottom line is...if you're wanting to do an orange spice soap, fragrance oil is your best bet. Just be sure it specifies that is appropriate for CP soap and is skin-safe.

 

[carebear]

i have to agree with Nana. EOs are a bit challenging because they don't come with instructions, and weren't formulated to be skin safe.

Orange EOs don't really stick in soap - so you lose most of the scent.
Spicy EOs (especially cinnamon) can be irritating so watch the level - I advise using a skin safe FO but maybe someone here has experience with Cinnamon EO. I think the Cinnamon Bark EO is irritating and the Cinnamon Leaf EO is a sensitizer - but i may have those turned around. Regardless, it's not benign.

 

[MsRastaMixtress]

Oh I'm so glad I asked! My family and I generally have sensitive skin and the soap I make will be for us all to use so thanks for the heads up!

So would fragrance oils be recommended over EO, or does it depend on the fragrance?

 

[MsRastaMixtress]

@baking nana Apologies that i didn't specify, it's not CP soap I'll be making its melt & pour.

 

[Soapy Gurl]

You would be fine to use sweet orange. I have made CP soap with cinnamon. I only used about .33 oz per pound and I wouldn't recommend it beyond a hand soap. It is sensitizing and probably lost some zing during the process. I have only used nutmeg as the spice in my soap. I thought it gave a nice texture and in M&P you would probably get some scent.

 

[BakingNana]

@MsRastaMixtress- No problem. I really should not have referenced CP anyway. Those are my opinions on those particular EOs regardless of type of soap or product. I just have CP on the brain.

 

[jbabs]

Generally, you would use about 3% FO and only 1% EO. I would not use cinnamon eo at all in soap and most cinnamon fo's are only skin-safe at 1% concentrations or less. Orange is a fantastic scent though and if you make it and use it right away the scent will be nice and strong.

(To get an accurate amount of fragrance usage, multiply the amount of base you're using by the percentage of frargance, for example 4 ounces of soap would be 4 x .03 = 0.12 weight or roughly 3 1/4 ml volume in a pipette)

 

[judymoody]

If you can get a folded orange (5x) it will stick better.

A nice safe and yummy combo is sweet orange anchored with litsea cubeba or lemongrass EO and a bit of patchouli.

Good luck and have fun!