Is 2.6% FO enough?

[chibi-soap]

Hi,

I'm thinking of buying the brambleberry top 10 sampler kit which contains 10ml of each scent. My mold holds 345g of oil. If FO is about 8.88g/ml (i.e. 8.88g per sample bottle) then that works out at 2.6% FO in a batch.

Is that enough? It's less than the brambleberry calculator says for light scent, but I think I've seen people using as little as 2% in recipes.

thanks
chibi

 

[mx5inpenn]

It depends on the fo. I use very strong ones at 3% and most others at 5% (unless ifra requires to be lower). If you are using a strong fo, you could end up with a light scent. You probably won't smell lighter scents at that rate tho.

Do you have individual molds you could use? If you make a batch to fit that mold then split, you could use 1 sample in each half at the recommended rate. Pour them in individual molds or yogurt cups (or any other small container with a 2 or 5 recycling code) instead of making a loaf.

 

[shunt2011]

I’ve found very few that stick at less than 5%. I generally use 6% unless it’s really strong. I won’t purchase an oil that has a really low usage rate. It’s certainly personal preference. I like stronger scents and so do my customers. If they can’t smell it they won’t buy it.

 

[CaraBou]

Take mx6inpenn's advice, and makeshift two small molds if you have to. Make a batch, split it, and scent each with its own bottle. One could be a loaf mold that you only fill to the thickness of a bar (1/2 - 1"). Make sure you know which mold has which FO lol.

 

[cmzaha]

I’ve found very few that stick at less than 5%. I generally use 6% unless it’s really strong. I won’t purchase an oil that has a really low usage rate. It’s certainly personal preference. I like stronger scents and so do my customers. If they can’t smell it they won’t buy it.

Same here

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

To make matters worse, ml does not always equal grams. Depending on the specific gravity of the fo, you might be looking at even less than 2.6%, which wouldn't be enough to test some scents properly.

 

[chibi-soap]

Thanks everyone. So the consensus is "no".

Using my guestimate of .88g/ml for FOs I've been using 4% EO in my soaps, just because that works out to be 15ml (or 1 tbsp) of oil and that seems to be pretty good. A bit strong for peppermint, a bit weak for lavender. So I think I'll try 4% FO and see how that goes.

 

[shunt2011]

Thanks everyone. So the consensus is "no".

Using my guestimate of .88g/ml for FOs I've been using 4% EO in my soaps, just because that works out to be 15ml (or 1 tbsp) of oil and that seems to be pretty good. A bit strong for peppermint, a bit weak for lavender. So I think I'll try 4% FO and see how that goes.

You really need to consider weighing your FO's/EO's by weight in grams. The way you are measuring is not accurate.

 

[penelopejane]

Thanks everyone. So the consensus is "no".

Using my guestimate of .88g/ml for FOs I've been using 4% EO in my soaps, just because that works out to be 15ml (or 1 tbsp) of oil and that seems to be pretty good. A bit strong for peppermint, a bit weak for lavender. So I think I'll try 4% FO and see how that goes.

If you can’t smell the FO in the tester it will be a complete waste of money. Far better to make a really thin soap and have the FO at least 6% for a sensible test of an FO.

 

[bountifulsoaps]

Looking at BB is that amount for batter or just oils. Getting so confused on that. I've always used .7 per oils on eos but just recently been looking at fragrances because the cost in the soap.

 

[dixiedragon]

BB I think counts oils and water, vs some other calculators that count only oils. I think our "standard" recommendation is 7% per weight of oils.

 

[amd]

Ha! Yesterday I messaged Shari (shunt) about how much FO to use... I guess I hadn't gotten far enough back in the forum to hit this one. I had been using 2% (of total batch weight), which was probably fine when I was making 2lb oil batches and selling out every month. I increased my batch size and production schedule to make 4lb oil batches twice, so that some of my regular soaps I only have to make once or twice a year. I noticed towards the end of 2017 that soaps made towards the beginning of the year had very little to no smell left, and had a few customers reach out to me that their soaps don't smell. Last night's batch of Nag Champa, I bumped up to 3% and only made one batch instead of two.

I'm still considering going up further in %, but slightly hesitant. My thinking is based on my personal preference - I don't like scents such as deoderant, perfume, scented lotions, etc - so I have made soaps in mind with people who may use scents. Do they want their perfume clashing with any leftover soap scent? I could be overthinking this, and openly admit that my favorite bar of soap is an unscented aloe bar, although the Nag Champa is my favorite scented. With that in mind, I'm considering running a small experiment using 1lb oil batches and increasing the FO by 1% in each batch, holding them for 6 months, and see how the fragrance wears at each %. If I do that with the Nag Champa, at least I won't mind having those extra bars around

 

[shunt2011]

One thing I've found is that many, many fragrances, even at 6% don't stick to the skin for long. There are some exceptions of course, stronger scents (mostly men's). So, I don't personally think there's a lot of risk of it clashing with perfumes, body sprays etc...... It would certainly depend on the scent of course.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Nag champa sticks, in my experience. I smelled like a hippy just from washing my hands

 

[mx5inpenn]

In my experience, dragon's blood, or anything with patch sticks around, both in the bar and on the skin.

 

[amd]

Nag champa sticks, in my experience. I smelled like a hippy just from washing my hands

My Nag Champa was one that was returned with no scent at 9 months old , so it makes sense to try it. I have a few others on the list as well but not as much FO in stock as the Nag Champa.