Question about orange oil.

[Bullets]

Im going to make my first batch of soap with all lard. I have a small bottle of orange essential oil sitting in my cabnet. I use it to scent my homemade laundry detergent. Its from now foods and says on the bottle to if i want to use it for anything other than aromatherapy to dilute with a carrier oil. Well i want to add it to my first batch of soap and im wonder how much i should use ppo. Do yall have any advice? I also have peppermint and lavender. Would any combo of the three smell good? I am not very good at figuring out what scents smell good together! Thanks!

 

[lizflowers42]

You will be diluting it in your lard. Orange and lavender play very well together as does orange and mint!

 

[thefarmerdaughter]

I have used Now Foods Tangerine EO and it faded completely. Citirus EO's tend to do that, and this Companies's EO's in particular. I would suggest searching the posts on here, and find a way to combine it or anchor it, with other oils.

 

[Gryfonmoon]

I've used orange oil mixed with lavender or peppermint. The orange oil seems to enhance the other scents pretty well. By itself orange essential oil seems to smell almost gross, LOL.

 

[lsg]

If you have some kaolin clay you might try adding a little of it to you soap to anchor the orange scent. Citrus oils have a tendency to fade if not anchored with another EO or clay.

 

[houseofwool]

When mixing the orange oil with say peppermint, do you do a 1:1 ratio?

I've also seen other mention that the citrus oils tend to last longer in salt bars. How much salt is required to anchor the EO? (I am expecting a shipment of orange oil shortly and want to figure this out so I can start using it!)

 

[lsg]

Peppermint is pretty strong so I would probaby do 1 peppermint and 2 orange. You can test the combinations using Q-Tips and a plastic bag. Some people use a 1:1 ration of salt to the amount of oils, I use 60%-80%.

 

[Gryfonmoon]

I usually do 1:1 but I like my scents really strong, especially peppermint.

 

[houseofwool]

Hmmm, so this weekend, I did a batch with 2 parts orange oil to 1 part peppermint oil. I also used annatto to dye the batch a gentle orange color. Guess what it doesn't smell like at all. So, I have a very pretty batch of orange colored soap that smells like Christmas.

 

[houseofwool]

My next thought is using salt to anchor the scent, but I'm not sure I want to make a full on salt bar. Any thoughts on how much salt would be required to help hold the citrus scent?

 

[sapone]

My next thought is using salt to anchor the scent, but I'm not sure I want to make a full on salt bar. Any thoughts on how much salt would be required to help hold the citrus scent?

You can use a small amount of Lemongrass e/o or Litsea Cubeba e/o to anchor the orange scent. Also, try 1/2 tsp per pound oils of orris root powder as an anchor for scents that dissipate like citrus.

 

[houseofwool]

So, I soaped again today and did it at roughly 80 degrees using litsea to help anchor. I stuck the molded soaps on my unheated porch (which is roughly 38 degrees right now) and so far it seems that the orange has stuck around, at least a bit.

I did .2 oz litsea to 1 oz orange (not folded) PPO.