How Much (Quantity)

[kdm]

For a particular quantity of "other ingredients" in cold process bar soap, how much essential oil should be added?

I'm 100% certain it differs on a bunch of both objective and subjective stuff like:

• what the "other ingredients" are
• what the essential oil is
• personal taste

...but what would be a baseline to start experimenting from?

Is 10g of Lavender Oil per 500g of other oil (half lard, half vegetable oils) a reasonable start point?

Thanks.

Actually, probably not the best place for the question. Could someone please move it over to Lye Based Soaps? Thanks.

 

[TheGecko]

I'm guessing here that you are trying to replicate something store bought from their ingredients list?

The thing with Essential Oils...each one has a safe usage rate to begin with and then there is an overall max rate and should not be "Other ingredients" if only because of potential allergies.

But to maybe get a ballpark of the quantity of a particular ingredient, the rule of thumb is to list the ingredients by the largest quantity to the smallest. For my Recipe, it's Olive Oil, Water, Palm Oil, Coconut Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Fragrance Oil and Castor Oil. "Other ingredients"...if I used it that label, would be items that are less than 1%...like 1 tea PPO of Sodium Lactate or 1 tea PPO Kaolin Clay and colorants.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Actually, probably not the best place for the question.

Actually, you're in the correct forum.

For a particular quantity of "other ingredients" in cold process bar soap, how much essential oil should be added?

It varies with each essential oil.
ESSENTIAL OILS EDUCATION

what would be a baseline to start experimenting from?

Use rate also varies depending on the product.
From @DeeAnna 's Soapy Stuff
IFRA GUIDELINES FOR FRAGRANCE

 

[earlene]

Follow safe usage rates per each individual fragrance, be it a specific Essential Oil from a specific manufacturer (check their documentation for each and every one), or Fragrance Oils. They all differ. There is no uniform rule of thumb you can rely on that is safe with all. That would be nice, but it just does not exist.

 

[Zing]

I'm on this site a lot, Find Free Essential Oil Blends - Essential Oil Calculator .

 

[Zany_in_CO]

EO Calc is good, especially for the research EO safety feature!

I trust and use MMS Fragrance Calc a lot for both EOs and FOs. Not all EOs are available but most of the most common ones are. For FOs from a different supplier, I just find something that's close to what I'm using and go with it.

 

[kdm]

I'm guessing here that you are trying to replicate something store bought from their ingredients list?

More mundane than that. I've never made soap before and I want to know how much perfume to add!
In fact, I've now made a successful batch and to my own recipe. Now I want to make it smell of something. Lavender or grapefruit, probably.

IThe thing with Essential Oils...each one has a safe usage rate to begin with and then there is an overall max rate and should not be "Other ingredients" if only because of potential allergies.

Surely the rate of adding essential oil must be dependant on what the other ingredients are. ...and particularly the quantities of them.

But to maybe get a ballpark of the quantity of a particular ingredient, the rule of thumb is to list the ingredients by the largest quantity to the smallest. For my Recipe, it's Olive Oil, Water, Palm Oil, Coconut Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Fragrance Oil and Castor Oil. "Other ingredients"...if I used it that label, would be items that are less than 1%...like 1 tea PPO of Sodium Lactate or 1 tea PPO Kaolin Clay and colorants.

Nope. Not trying to duplicate a manufactured soap. I just genuinely don't know how much essential oil to add.

Follow safe usage rates per each individual fragrance, be it a specific Essential Oil from a specific manufacturer (check their documentation for each and every one), or Fragrance Oils. They all differ. There is no uniform rule of thumb you can rely on that is safe with all. That would be nice, but it just does not exist.

Even that just gives me an absolute maximum to use. Still looking for how to find that middle ground start point.

EO Calc is good, especially for the research EO safety feature!

I think that one essential oil is plenty. I just need to know how much of it to add to my lard!

I trust and use MMS Fragrance Calc a lot for both EOs and FOs.

Now we're talking. That's what I need. I put in Lavender Oil, and 500g, it tells me the result in OUNCES! (Fair enough, it's in ml, but it's to small a quantity to measure.) Good job it's also in %. Fortunately, I can mentally calculate 2% of 500.
Looks like I need to double-up on my lavender!
Thanks!

 

[KiwiMoose]

When I started out I was guilty of adding too little EO to my soap. I thought being EO that it would be strong, and until making soap I'd only ever used in 'drops' not in grams. So I put in quite a few drops and thought "that will be enough". It wasn't.
Most of us probably use in the vicinity of 3 - 6% fragrance to the amount of soap oil. Most fragrance oils are safe in that range ( it will tell you on the label) and, as already stated, EOs often have a lower safety range.
SO, in short, I would generally use 15g fragrance for 500g oils ( making allowances within that for safe usage rates)
I think it was @cmzaha or maybe @amd that once said they found if an FO was not particularly strong to begin with, there was no point putting more in to make it stronger. Some fragrances are just weak and that's the way it is. Wasting more of it in an attempt to counteract weakness is not cost effective. That's always stuck with me as very sage advice. So if you come a across a 'weak' fragrance, just skip it next time and use something else that gives you more bang for your buck.

 

[ghoshsmita]

For a particular quantity of "other ingredients" in cold process bar soap, how much essential oil should be added?

I'm 100% certain it differs on a bunch of both objective and subjective stuff like:

• what the "other ingredients" are
• what the essential oil is
• personal taste

...but what would be a baseline to start experimenting from?

Is 10g of Lavender Oil per 500g of other oil (half lard, half vegetable oils) a reasonable start point?

Thanks.

You can check safe usage rates of different essential oils on EOcalc. There is no rule of thumb which applies to all essential os

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Now I want to make it smell of something. Lavender or grapefruit, probably.

I think that one essential oil is plenty.

One EO will do fine in some cases but citrus and mints (TOP notes) don't last long without MIDDLE & BOTTOM notes or an "anchor". Hence, the blends.

I just need to know how much of it to add to my lard!

Just an FYI, in my experience, EOs seem to "stick" well in lard soaps.

Also, the default settings on SoapCalc has fragrance at 0.5% which is often the recommended amount for soap. It does not change no matter which oils/fats/butters are used. You will learn over time and with experience whether to increase or decrease that % depending on the EO used, i.e., cinnamon & clove are known skin irritants and heaters, so you would use less.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

If you’re going to use EOs, you should do some homework. Some are “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) and others that we so want to put in our soap because they smell wonderful are not. By using blends of EOs, you can add something like Ylang Ylang or Basil at a smaller percentage of the blend and remain within safe usage levels in the finished soap.

 

[Megan]

As a note: Lavender in particular is SUPER strong in...well...everything, including soap. 10 g / 500 g (2%) would be enough for me. I would not double. At most, I would recommend 3%, but it's going to be pretty strong (and I like strong smells, but beware Lavender).

 

[maryloucb]

The calculation for how much essential oils to use is based on the amount of oils in your recipe. Does not matter what kind of oils. I use 5% unless it is noted that it is not safe to use at that rate for a particular essential oil (cinnamon, clove and most "spicy" oils, along with some others.) As others have said, eocalc.com is a great resource.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

default settings on SoapCalc has fragrance at 0.5%

0.5 oz/lb = 0.5 oz / 16 oz = 3.125 oz / 100 oz = 3.125% (not 0.5%).

 

[Zany_in_CO]

0.5 oz/lb = 0.5 oz / 16 oz = 3.125 oz / 100 oz = 3.125% (not 0.5%).

Good catch! I stand corrected. 0.5 oz ppo is correct. 0.5% is not. I don't know what I was thinking!

 

[Babyshoes]

As I understand, here in the UK, soap sellers are limited to max 3% (of total batch weight) of fragrance, or the IFRA limit if that's lower.

Even though I don't sell, I stick to 3% or under of FO, EO, or blend, and if a scent isn't strong enough at that rate, it simply won't get used again.

 

[kdm]

0.5 oz/lb = 0.5 oz / 16 oz = 3.125 oz / 100 oz = 3.125% (not 0.5%).

I would NOT have spotted that. I thought 0.5% was a bit low, but the fact that the units are archaic immetric ones meant it went over my head.
I've neve understood why imperial measures use percent. Why not user "per 128th" or something?

Sorry. it's a sore point at the moment. The UK has been metric for at least my half century, but our illustrious leaders are thinking of permitting the return of the "pennyweight per hand furlong" (unit of pressure) way of measuring things. :-(

 

[Zany_in_CO]

The UK has been metric for at least my half century, but our illustrious leaders are thinking of permitting the return of the "pennyweight per hand furlong" (unit of pressure) way of measuring things. :-(

Egads! Just another example of the lunatics running the asylum, me thinks.

 

[Bubble Agent]

@kdm Do you have some favourite essential oils you want to use? I know you mentioned Lavender and grapefruit/sitrus already. But any other ones?

In my personal soaps I use 5% lavender, because the lavender I use can be used up to 20% in soap (as per the sds sheet) I love lavender alone, or with lemongrass.

As I understand, here in the UK, soap sellers are limited to max 3% (of total batch weight) of fragrance, or the IFRA limit if that's lower.

Even though I don't sell, I stick to 3% or under of FO, EO, or blend, and if a scent isn't strong enough at that rate, it simply won't get used again.

Not quite correct, but I do understand it is easy to misunderstand that 3% number!

For those of us that have to follow the EU regulations (regarding fragrance when selling soaps) we are not allowed to use more than 3% of the combined weight of the oils/fat, the lye and 10% of the waterweight.

So not 3% total batch weight unfortunately, which would give us more allowed fragrance. Annoying yes, but it is what it is...

Therefore, depending on each recipe`s waterweight i.e 33 % Lye Concentration vs 38% Liquid as a percent of oils, the allowed grams of a fragrance will fluctuate from recipe to recipe.

But it is indeed correct that if the IFRA is lower than our allowed fragrance, we do have to follow the IFRA first and foremost.

That being said, I use 5-6% fragrance in my personal soaps myself (depending on safe usage rates/IFRA) But the soaps that I will be offering to the public must adhere to the previous stated formula as per approved safety assessment.

 

[earlene]

@kdm
For those of us that have to follow the EU regulations (regarding fragrance when selling soaps) we are not allowed to use more than 3% of the combined weight of the oils/fat, the lye and 10% of the waterweight.

So not 3% total batch weight unfortunately, which would give us more allowed fragrance. Annoying yes, but it is what it is...

That is interesting, and it makes sense to me why 10% of the water weight was chosen. I suspect it has to do with anticipated water loss after cure, with the expectation being that 90% of the water weight is lost, and therefore the 3% would be the correct portion for the Net Weight of each bar of soap. Someone really put a lot of thought into the calculation for fragrance usage.

Of course, I may disagree with the 3% limit, but the rational for how the percentage is calculated is brilliant, IMO.