Will high FO percentages throw off superfat target (and possibly spoil soap)

[Brandon]

I'm new to CP soaping and my first attempt was oatmeal-milk-and honey from NaturesGarden (their ingredients and recipe). I put their recipe thru soapcalc and it was right on with the water and lye, although it suggested .74 ounces of fragrance as opposed to the 2 oz the recipe called for.

So first, wouldn't 2 oz of fragrance in a recipe containing 24 oz of oil throw superfats off by a pretty good margin? I will say that the soap doesn't seem terrible (although I have only given it a few weeks to cure before trying it out).

Second, does that sound like a lot of fragrance for a 2lb batch? Their prices seem good, which makes me wonder if they have more carrier oils and less scent per oz. Other vendors I checked out charge quite a bit more, but I wonder if their scents are more concentrated? I know fragrance requirements will vary by scent and such, but what is a reasonable ratio of scent to soap to expect?

I tried a new 2lb recipe and just used 1oz of a different naturesgarden scent. I could smell it while the soap was warm and being poured into a mold, but after cutting into bars, no noticeable scent...

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[shunt2011]

I can only speak for myself but I generally use 1 oz per pound of oils. Unless it’s really strong then I’ll use less. I don’t purchase any fragrance oils that have less than 5% usage rate. HTH.

 

[dibbles]

^^^ ditto

 

[psfred]

Fragrance oils are by and large non-saponifiable and will have no effect on the superfat, since that by definition is un-saponified lipid. They may add some additional non-lipid oil which has the same effect, but an ounce per pound of something mostly NOT oil isn't going to hurt.

As far as fragrance amounts go, use what you think works for you so long as you do not exceed the IFRA recommendations. Even if you don't, though, occasionally someone will get irritation from strongly scented soaps. I personally use far less than the recommended amount, and still find some of them obnoxious. Everyone is different.

If you are making soap for yourself and family, use whatever amount of fragrance oil you prefer. For sale, you will have to figure out what your customers want and make that.

 

[Brandon]

Thank you all for your quick replies. It helps to know that 1 oz per pound of oils is a reasonable place to start. It didn't occur to me that some oils would be non-saponifiable so that is good information as well.

Thanks again.

 

[earlene]

Are you using a lye calculator? They give you the amount of fragrance to use based on your batch size or weight of oils. You can change the percentage from the default (which in soapee and in soapcalc is pre-set to 3%) if you need to go higher or lower. But you really need to read the vendor's recommended usage rates. It often varies from one fragrance to another. Or you can use a separate fragrance calculator as well.

Some examples of huge differences of safe usage rates are:

cassia EO per IFRA standards is restricted to less than 0.5% in soap (link) because of one of the components within the EO

Vanilla Milk FO (Mad Oils - renamed Arizona Mad Oils) (link) Another useful link for Mad Oils fragrance usage

So it's REALLY important to pay attention to safe usage rates for your fragrances, not only when you purchase, but also later when you are using them.

 

[DeeAnna]

And sometimes the IRFA or other recommended usage rate is too high to be practical. For example, Nature's Garden Sweetgrass FO has an IRFA guideline of 16.6% for Category 9, which includes soap. If you put 16.6% FO in a batch of soap, you'd likely end up with a mess, because that much FO can easily weep out of the soap.

1 oz FO / 16 oz oils (aka 1 oz ppo or 30 g FO / 500 g oils) is about a 6% dosage rate. That's about as much FO as you can stuff into soap and not run into problems. You might be able to go as high as 8% ppo, but that's pushing the limit of what is practical, if my experience is a reliable guide.

 

[IrishLass]

One 0unce FO ppo, i.e., 6%, is the absolute highest amount of FO I ever use in my soap (just as long as it doesn't exceed the recommended safe usage rate for that particular FO, that is). Using more than that just becomes a huge pain in my wallet. It's just not worth my money if it can't deliver a good scent throw that lasts at least a year in my soap @ 6% or less. For what it's worth, the majority of the FOs I purchase do quite well for me at .75 oz ppo, i.e., 5%, and some even as low as .5 oz. ppo i.e., 3% or less.


IrishLass

 

[DeeAnna]

I don't normally use 8%. The reason why I know 8% is borderline too much scent in soap is based on my experiences with a discoloring FO. Initially, I wanted an overall 5% dosage rate in the batch, but I wanted to put all of that FO in about 1/2 of the batter so that part would discolor and the rest would stay lighter. So 1/2 would have zero scent and the other 1/2 would get the whole amount of FO -- in other words, a 10% dosage rate in that portion.

It really didn't work out very well -- the FO weeped out of the soap and left unsightly blotches on my packaging. I dropped the dosage rate to 4% overall in my next batch. That put the scented half at 8%. That was okay, but I did notice a tiny bit of weeping. So I've decided a 6% rate is about the most one would normally want to use, but if you want to do something a little out of the ordinary like I did, 8% might be okay. A person would just have to try it and see.

 

[Brandon]

DeeAnna - thanks for that info, I had considered trying that same idea of scenting some portion (but not all) soap in a batch so that was awesome to hear about your experiences.

IrishLass - ditto on your comments about pain in the wallet. Worth paying more for better quality FO if I get to use less. I'm sure every vendor has scents that work better than others so it is going to be a little work to find the best.