Q: Are FO’s or EO’s better for cold process soaps? About how much would you use for small batch? (mine had just a pound of fats and 6 oz of milk)

You can use both essential oils and fragrance oils in cold process soap. If you’re using fragrance oils, make sure that they are skin safe (so no candle or potpourri fragrances) and ideally, if they’ve been tested in cold process soap, that will save you some trouble.

If you’re using essential oils, just make sure that they’re not cut with anything. Some of the diluents can be trouble in CP soap. Regarding your orange essential oil, it is difficult to get straight Orange EO to come through in CP soap. It’s just one of those essential oils that are fleeting (like many of the citrus ones, actually). If you anchor it with a Patchouli or even a Litsea, that will help its staying power.

In terms of usage rates, they are somewhat all over the map. I generally start with .5 ounces of fragrance or essential oil per pound of fats/oils and then go up or down from there. Some lighter fragrances, like Vanilla or Jasmine, for example, I’ll use a full .7-.9 ounces per pound but some very potent fragrances (anything with cinnamon notes or mints), I’ll end up with .2 ounces per pound so it does vary somewhat based on the fragrance or essential oil. If you start at .5 oz. per pound, it’s a good bet that you’ll get a decent fragrance.

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