I have all of those!
Regarding various follow up comments:
Both cinnamon leaf and cinnamon bark (cassia) are potential skin irritants but given that cinnamon leaf is only a very small % of this total blend, it should be fine. Clary sage is also a very potent substance, not recommended for use by pregnant women.
Benzoin, for those who mentioned it, is a potential sensitizer. One of our former members, soapbuddy, had developed a sensitivity to it. I use it occasionally in very tiny amounts in certain blends but you should label your soap accordingly.
This forum recommends as a best safe practice, on average, that essential oils be used at no more than a 3% use rate total (about .5 ounces PPO). That said, there are some oils like cinnamon, clove, peppermint, and many others, that should be used at far less. And others, like sweet orange and lavender that could be used with a slightly heavier hand. The take away point is that many essential oils are also medicines and we need to educate ourselves about safety even if we aren't required by law. Regulations vary; for example the EU and in Canada have stringent legal guidelines that do not exist in the US.
Everyone using EOs must know what they are. Study them, use them safely. But...
Mostly all citruses are photosensitizers. Many many other EOs are dangerous (in large amounts) too. Almost every EO is not recommended for use by pregnant women, infants, kids under a certain age, people with medical conditions, people healing from injury, weak and elderly...
.. which technically leaves no human left. It is true one must not use them to excess. A place to begin is to know the safe ranges and maximums. Nature gave us EOs but nature also gives poison. Know that there are even EOs that are poisonous & toxic.
It has been within the realm of possibility that an 0.5 oz PPO dilution - especially top notes like citrus- never really survive the cold process. However, 0.5 is ok for hot processand smells GREAT. I do not do M&P therefore I can't speak on it (although I tried M&P twice and used even less than 0.5 PP-Glycerin <0.2?>) For cold process citrus, the best outcome is minimum 0.75, but usually 0.9 oz PPO. Even then it's a little weak, has low staying power and will fade within 2 months IMExperience. Most of the top notes get cooked off just like Eucalyptus which has a flash point of 118F and just seems to die completely if not blended right. In the fragrance industry, the power of scent is best understood by top notes, middle notes, and bottom notes. More on this later in the esential oils or fragrance forum perhaps.
People resort to sniffly chemicals that last longer for forementioned reasons. Please understand this is not a philodox nor a guidebook; I hydrodistill and enfleurage EOs. Some of us (self included) become afraid of EOs due to mystifications or sometimes lack of research. Due to conflicting and confusing articles like a tug of war where one side says safe, the other not safe, minimum, maximum, toxic, etc... the result is that it is safe to avoid all the confusion and not to use EOs at all throwing one's hands in the air going for full 'safe' synthetic scents in an otherwise all natural soap. I am not a purist naturalist however.
I use synthetics, most of my favorite scents are at some level made in a lab. Thank you for your response judymoody :wave: This forum is really a great place. Thank you.
That sounds like an interesting line-up too so I'll wait it out to try.
