Lemon Eucalyptus Essential Oil

[Jaaret]

Hi, Gang. I made a batch of soap today and scented it with lemon eucalyptus EO. I'm hoping the fresh, lemony scent will persist through the saponification process. I didn't realize until after I made the batch that lemon eucalyptus is a natural bug repellent. I'm hoping that the soap will inherit that property. Has anyone used this essential oil in soap?

Jaaret

 

[southernheartsoaps]

No but it sounds nice... where did you get it? Could you mix lemon EO and eucalyptus EO for the same scent? or is it a unique smell? I have lemon and eucalyptus!

 

[dcornett]

:roll: Interesting!

 

[Jaaret]

Lemon Eucalyptus

Okay, I've been using my Lemon Eucalyptus soap for a couple weeks and it smells wonderful! The lemon scent really comes through after six weeks of curing. A friend said the soap smelled like sunshine. What a compliment!

Another soaper on this site made a batch with chamomile tea in place of water and added Lemon Eucalyptus to the batch . What a wonderful idea: a soap smelling of fresh herbal tea with lemon.

Lemon Eucalyptus EO will certainly remain in my regular repertroire of soap making scents.

 

[Jezzy]

Sounds really nice! How much of each did you use? Is Eucalyptus an anchor?

 

[Jaaret]

How much

Jezzy - I used 2.5% of the total weight of the oils. It's not too strong but I could pull back on the amount a bit.

 

[dcornett]

Does it have a eucalyptus smell? Or is it more lemon? I use eucalyptus in my lemongrass green tea soap, but in the end product you don't really smell the eucalyptus, just the lemongrass. (Mmmm lemongrass )

 

[Jaaret]

Lemon Eucalyptus

Does it have a eucalyptus smell? Or is it more lemon?

It definitely smells like lemon. The Eucalyptus scent is very faint but detectable.

 

[Babette]

Lemon Eucalyptus

I can't remember the source publication, but a mainstream health journal like the New England Journal of Medicine or something, published an article maybe three years ago on a study that found lemon eucalyptus to be the most effective herbal insect repellent. I did then buy some for body spritzes/room sprays (natural insect repellent) which are easy t make with a little polysorbate 20, but will now most definitely try in a soap!! Thanks for the information.... ALSO, I have to check out whether it's a safe e.o. in soaps for dogs.

A couple of posts mentioned lemongrass. I saw it listed as the main ingredient in a natural bedbug repellent. Has anyone heard about it? Luckily, we've so far escaped the epidemic, maybe because our place constantly smells like essential oils....mercy.

Happy and merry errrybody.

 

[newbie]

You should talk to Dirtmonkey, who recently posted pics of his camo soap, scented with his EO mix for insect repellent. I've heard of people who make Neem oil soap and send it to the troops because it seems to help with keeping flies away, even as a soap.

Link to his thread:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/forum/vi ... hp?t=21799

 

[JenniferSews]

Re: Lemon Eucalyptus

I can't remember the source publication, but a mainstream health journal like the New England Journal of Medicine or something, published an article maybe three years ago on a study that found lemon eucalyptus to be the most effective herbal insect repellent. I did then buy some for body spritzes/room sprays (natural insect repellent) which are easy t make with a little polysorbate 20, but will now most definitely try in a soap!! Thanks for the information.... ALSO, I have to check out whether it's a safe e.o. in soaps for dogs.

A couple of posts mentioned lemongrass. I saw it listed as the main ingredient in a natural bedbug repellent. Has anyone heard about it? Luckily, we've so far escaped the epidemic, maybe because our place constantly smells like essential oils....mercy.

Happy and merry errrybody.

Can you narrow it down any further? I looked at NJM and they had a study in 2002 but it didn't address eucalyptus. I'm a little hung up on reading evidence based studies, especially for something like bug repellent where the only alternative is DEET.

 

[Traceyann]

We actually use Tea - Tree oil in a spritz bottle here , its fantastic for keeping Mozzies, midgies and flies away....I dont know about using it in soap though ( might just have to try ) , Tea- Tree can be used on dogs but I think it has to be very small doses ( we used to spray it on our Labrador and Retreivers bellies to keep the mozzies from attacking them )

I am very interested in the lemon Eucalyptus sounds very nice and eucalyptus is plentyful here in Aust......

I also beleive Lemon helps keep spiders away ....dunno if u guys get many over there but we have tons here ....lol

 

[Elly]

I have used lemon eucalyptus in the past, It is a very strong scent and lingers on for a long time, I found that you need to use smaller amounts than the usual weaker scents like lavender, it seems stronger than lemongrass after saponification. It is safe on the skin and some people really like the scent

 

[c.a.p.]

Since soap rinses off, I don't know how any soap would be effective as a bug repellent.

I use lemon euc eo with rosemary or with litsea and lemongrass. It's wonderful.

 

[dandelion]

i mixed equal amounts of lemon eucalyptus and scentworks lily of the valley and created the scent of ivory soap.

 

[Babette]

Lemon Eucalyptus

I guess insect repelling soap would need more e.o.'s and would be wasteful? Not sure how it's affected by heat and saponification chemistry. Better as a spritz, like the tea tree mentioned? But if you don't want to deal with liquids, travel security and shipping issues or if you're caring for a dog, I think soap made with insect repelling e.o.s could work as a support, esp. if you rebatch? Hmmm.

My memory is no longer in my brain, it's at Google, so I will try to find the study that I mentioned before. ha. I remember being shocked to see it at all, because of all the DEET support. I hear you about medical journals and those studies.... So many are funded by pharmaceuticals and corporate financed research.

Lemon eucalyptus just smells interesting, which is cool. It probably blends well with a bunch of things. I don't catch the single notes of eucalyptus or lemon in the scent, but I'm no expert. It's more that it has its own kind of pungent, herbal smell, with like a citrus candy note in there somewhere?

Also, I smelled a very expensive French milled soap at the Grand Central craft fair last week that was described as verbena but smelled totally like lemon eucalyptus and litsea. Maybe the other notes had faded completely and after a lot of curing only the litsea was there. Verbena?

Thanks for responding. This is fun. Ivory scented soap would be a funny one to sell.....ha.

 

[Lindy]

Lemon Eucalyptus is going to have it's very own scent since it's not a mix between lemon and eucalyptus which is why the lemon fragrance last so much longer than lemon EO.

Jaaret thanks for this thread I'm going to pick some up and see how it comes out in soap.

c.a.p. - there is always some of the soap/fragrance/eo left behind when you use your soap which is why there is a still a slight fragrance left behind. It's also why handmade soap leaves your skin so moisturized....

Just remember to not take EO's up to a therapeutic level in your products.