newbie question about FO and EO quantities

[opalgirl]

Hello,
I just made my first batch of CP soap and I know I'm going to be totally addicted. Is there a general rule of thumb about how much
FO and EO to use per pound? I'm sure this will be the first of many questions.

Thanks,
Opalgirl

 

[seo]

Hi there! I'm by no means an expert, but for fo's, I generally use .7oz to 1 oz per pound of oil. If I know a fragrance will be strong, I'll back it up a little, same goes for a weaker fragrance, I bump it up a little. I never go more than 1 oz ppo though, just my 2 cents.

 

[dragonfly princess]

I do what smells good to me.

 

[Lane]

I generally try to aim for .5oz per pound. But a lot of it has to do with the oil... I've had some that were so faint I had to use .8-1oz per pound, tho I really try to never use 1oz per pound as it makes my soap oily when I unmold it...But then I've also had oils so strong that I was able to use .8oz for TWO pounds! I agree with it being up to your nose!! Also... what temps do you work at? Do you do a really hot gel phase? Higher temps can burn off some FO so it might seem like you have to use more...I work at high temps and I do this ALLLLL the time...

 

[pink-north]

Hey Lane I like your thumbnail picture. Is that your soap? If it is very nice :wink:

 

[Lane]

Hey Lane I like your thumbnail picture. Is that your soap? If it is very nice :wink:

Yes! It is actually a cherry cola scented soap I made for my mother-in-law for Christmas...finally a gift she liked! LOL

Thank you!

I just noticed there is also a Papaya soap in that picture too! (it's the all pink one)

 

[NameThatCandy]

when you said 0.7 to 1oz per pound of oil, do you all mean fluid oz or just oz?

thanks

 

[Lane]

when you said 0.7 to 1oz per pound of oil, do you all mean fluid oz or just oz?

thanks

In weight. You can get these little stainless steel condiment cups at Wal-mart for like 5/$.99 to weigh your FOs in. They work great and they weigh exactly an ounce so if you don't have a tare feature on your scale, you can still get exact weights using them.

 

[Zenobiah]

Thanks for the tip, Lane!

I haven't really used a lot of fragrance in my soap yet. Too expensive and hard to find here. It does seem to be the most expensive part of the soap.

I need to move somewhere tropical and keep my own herbal plantation and make my own EO's...

 

[opalgirl]

thanks for the info!

I used 1 oz per pound and my kitchen is smelling pretty strong. I will unmold later today. I am kind of worried that it will be too oily. Anyway, in the future I think I'll go for .5 - .8 oz of FO. Thanks for the advice.

Opalgirl

 

[Guest]

When I am working with a new recipe and I want to be exact on the fragrance oil that I add I use this lye calculator because it has the option to choose how much FO/EO you want to add and you can choose the % between 0 and 7% and when you have added in your recipe it will give you the exact amount you need to add. I usually go with the 7% because I like a strong scent in my soaps but that's just me.


http://recipes.herbalsoapsbyrj.com/calculators/lye-calc1.php

Hope that helps you out some.

 

[Lane]

faithy- I really like a strong soap too! I base my FO collection on the strongest scents I can find. If a scent isn't strong at a .7/pound usage rate, I usually don't use it again...

Zenobiah- I agree. The FO is generally the most expensive, but it's also one of the strongest selling points. (I think) I try to find monthly specials and buy only four oz at a time.

 

[Guest]

When I order my FO I usually spend a hundred bucks or more and buy in bulk. I like to buy the 16 oz bottles but the biggest reason for ordering more bottles at one time is the shipping cost. Most places you get a better deal on shipping when you buy more.

For example one place I buy from, they charge a little over 9 bucks as a starting shipping cost because it's shipped UPS. However when I purchased 8 bottles each 16 ounces each, I only paid a little over 10 bucks I think, so I saved money buy ordering more at one time.

So I save my $$$ to make larger purchases of FO when I buy them just because of the shipping costs. But then I use FO for more than just soaps and so it does get used up..........

*sigh* it's almost time to do another reorder,

but the good news is that i'll be adding to my FO collection.....

 

[Lane]

When I order my FO I usually spend a hundred bucks or more and buy in bulk. I like to buy the 16 oz bottles but the biggest reason for ordering more bottles at one time is the shipping cost. Most places you get a better deal on shipping when you buy more.

For example one place I buy from, they charge a little over 9 bucks as a starting shipping cost because it's shipped USP. However when I purchased 8 bottles each 16 ounces each, I only paid a little over 10 bucks I think, so I saved money buy ordering more at one time.

So I save my $$$ to make larger purchases of FO when I buy them just because of the shipping costs. But then I use FO for more than just soaps and so it does get used up..........

*sigh* it's almost time to do another reorder,

but the good news is that i'll be adding to my FO collection.....

I'm afriad to buy 16 oz bottles incase I don't use the whole thing! I use to buy bigger ones and they STILL have FO in them

OoOoO Are you trying new scents?

 

[Guest]

I love trying new scents, but I won't buy anything that doesn't have a written description of what it is supposed to smell like. For myself but also for my customers as well. After how else are they suppoed to know what "First Kiss" smells like if I don't describe it for them. I haven't stared to look through scents to add with my next order, but I should soon.....

I know i'm only small potatoes, but I already have 42 scents on my Master List of scents.


While some of them are scents that I really do like (and use myself) others are ones I buy for my kids (and customers) and others I don't care for but I have customers that do.

But I also do think there is a difference between smelling it from the bottle and smelling it when it's in something. When I purchased the scent
"Snow Angels"
"Duplication of Yankee's Snow Angels Type. Minty aroma with a buttercream top note.'

I thought it might smell good. But when I got it and opened the bottle up and I shivered because I didn't like it. To me it almost smelled musty or something. So I tried it in some soap (one pound batch) and ya know what, it smelled really good once it got out of the bottle in smaller concentrations. In face for my 3 kids teachers for a christmas gift I gave them all a basked to pamer themselves with my bath and body products. (Thank goodness they are all women.) And that was the scent of one of the hand/body creams that I used. I love it when it's in small concentrations.


But yes I love ordering and trying new scents. And it's worth the risk, because while it might not be my personal favorite, I also know it might be a best seller with customers. Because we all don't like the same things. And I respect that.

 

[NameThatCandy]

In weight. You can get these little stainless steel condiment cups at Wal-mart for like 5/$.99 to weigh your FOs in.

thanks, I will go to walmart this weekend.

 

[Lane]

In weight. You can get these little stainless steel condiment cups at Wal-mart for like 5/$.99 to weigh your FOs in.

thanks, I will go to walmart this weekend.

Cool. Hope they help... They are in the aisle with all the odd kitchen tools.

 

[Guest]

They also have clear plastic ones that are really heavy. And I buy those to put shaving soaps into.

 

[NameThatCandy]

They also have clear plastic ones that are really heavy. And I buy those to put shaving soaps into.

Are they round? How do you line it?

 

[Guest]

Here is a photo of one empty and one that has my shaving soap in it. LOL had to get mine from the tub, since I just replaced it with my last one.
So far I have just made them for myself but i'm going to be selling them as well, and i'll be adding some a little SLS for a little extra lather as well as some clay for slip.

Each holds 2 ounces.

I don't line them, I just pour the soap right into them. They work nice for shaving soap because it fits in your hand well. But i'm going to see how it work work to use my mini muffin tin as a mold for the soaps so i can make refills. LOL

Anywho here is a picture......