Understanding FO percentages

[wholemadefarm]

Hello,
Most of the scents we use have recommended maximum of 3-5%. We were looking to purchasing from The Flaming Candle, as they have such affordable shipping, but when we checked the percentages for usage of the FO, it said you could use 40% etc. It seems crazy, because to us that seems like it means that if you were doing a 100oz batch, you'd need to do 40oz of FO. What are we doing wrong?
Edited because I asked my 15 year old to type it for me and it wasn't very clear

 

[shunt2011]

That usage is based on IFRA. It’s the amount that can be used on the skin safely diluted. In soap I use 6% pop with little exception. This subject come s up fairly often. It’s a personal choice. I and my customers like heavier scented soaps. 1-3% would never fly for me for the most part. You may want to do some research as well.

 

[wholemadefarm]

Thank you.
The FO's we've purchased from brambleberry and other places have approved maximum uses from 3-8% on the IFRA links - edited to say, it just so happens that the fragrance oils we've purchased have been ones with lower IFRA numbers and we decided to go through ones we have never purchased and are now seeing some higher numbers, but still nothing in the 45%.
I have never seen 26-46% , so maybe what I'm really wondering is are the FO's from flaming candle somehow tremendously diluted and not as "affordable" as it seems? That seems pretty incredible to have maximum use of 40% fo in soap - if nothing else, that would be incredibly costly

We are extremely scent sensitive here, so 5% has been the maximum and our customers also tend to be fragrance sensitive, so have been happy. but it is good to hear what others are using.

 

[Catscankim]

I posed this question before, because some of the sites list an incredible amount as max usage. I stick with 6% (which is lazily 2oz of my 4oz bottles). I have tried higher amounts and ruined batches by even going up to 7 or 8%. Although if I over pour a little I don't get fussy about it. If 6% isn't enough to make a nicely scented soap, I won't use it again.

 

[AliOop]

Hi @wholemadefarm

It's not that they are diluted, but that the ingredients used for those scents tend to be skin-safe at higher levels.

The best way to know how a scent behaves is to read reviews, either on the seller's site, or on sites like this one. There are several good scent threads on this forum, and one that includes a huge spreadsheet, if I recall. So I'd recommend using the search bar on this forum to search for the scent name, and see if you can find a post that talks about how the scent behaves. In addition to usage rate, you'll want to see if it rices, accelerates, seizes, changes colors, or anything else. Good luck!

 

[wholemadefarm]

thank you guys very much! We will do the searching for scents to see what you guys are all experiencing and thank you so much for sharing.