I cannot get fragrance oils to lather/bubble nicely in foamer bottles

[Carl]

I make foamer bottles of hand soap.
I usually use about 3 ounces of my liquid soap (similar to some of the other liquid soaps people on this forum make) and about 5 ounces of water in a foamer pump bottle.
I like to scent at about 2-3%.

When I use essential oils, my soap has an amazing lather/bubbles. I can literally rub my hands under the water with the soap for minutes and it feels great and has tons of bubbles and it doesn't stop! I'm somewhat proud of it actually.

But when I use fragrance oils, it lathers/bubbles really nice at 1st, but after about 5-10 seconds of rubbing with my hands, it almost all goes away and I just have this like oily feeling on my hands with no lather and no bubbles.

This only happens with fragrance oils. I have tried about 10 different fragrances from 3 different manufacturers and it happens with all of them.

At 1st I thought it could have been PS80 (which you read about in another one of my posts), but that was not the cause as I have eliminated it in my most recent tests.

Any suggestions?

 

[Zany_in_CO]

If your ratio of PS 80 to FO is 1:1, you need more PS 80 to fully dilute the FO to make it water soluble, more like 4:1. The way I do it is, I put a tablespoon of PS 80 in an ounce or so of the dilution water. Stir until clear. Then I add a teaspoon of FO and stir. If the FO doesn't fully dissolve, I add another teaspoon of PS 80 until it does.

BTW, 1-2 tablespoons of 80 proof vodka (40% alcohol by volume) per 16 oz LS can boost lather. Too much and it flattens lather. This is done after the 2-week sequester period.

HTH

 

[Susie]

I use fragrance oils and essential oils interchangeably without any difference in lather. I also do not use PS 80, or any other emulsifier. Ever. Don't even own any. I keep my fragrance down to 0.5 oz per lb of paste and add once I have completed dilution and when the soap is cool enough to stick a bare finger in it without pain. Not very scientific, I know, but it works for me.