Teach Soap

I have a number of fragrance oils I am playing with at the moment.

My fav OOB is cucumber...smells fresh and light and wonderful.

But it has no smell whatsoever in my lotion bars. I added 4 drops/oz on first try - on the 2nd try I doubled it - still no smell at all.

Thinking about trying it in GM M&P soap base...

Do you often find that certain FOs or types of FOs work better in one type of situation than another?

With some fo's in my lotion bars I don't smell it right away, but after a couple days I come back to it and can smell it just fine.

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4 drops is not enough. I don't know the weight of your lotion bar, but I would try 10 drops.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

well, like you said - you don't know the weight of my bars

And the point is: 4 drops was waaay plenty for every other fragrance I used. But cucumber is just disappearing...

Can I ask where you got the cucumber fo?
I have a cucumber fo that says to use at 5% for lotions, perfumes, soaps, oils and gels.

There is approximately 0.05 ml in one drop.
You said you used 4 drops/oz & then doubled it to 8 drops/oz.
5% of 1 oz = 1.41747616 ml
So 1.41747616 ml divided by 0.05 ml is 28.3495232. That means you need approximately 28 drops/oz if your fo is supposed to be used at 5%

Not all fo's are the same and not all fo's work the same in different products.
If you are using oils or butters that already have a smell of any kind, even a little one, it can overpower scent easily, especially a light scent like cucumber. I've had the same problem with lettuce fo.

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I have never seen a fragrance oil that told you how much to use...I understood that is usually dependent on the product formulation - which will vary greatly from product to product and person to person. And drop sizes vary also - depending on the viscosity of the product, its surface tension, and the size of the dropper. (see? I WAS awake in chemistry class....now and then !)

The only static numbers and percentages that I know of are the IFRA Maximum Use Level given to each product. And this oil is listed as safe at 20% in oils and lotions - which would be way too much in a lotion bar - lol

But yes, it is a very light scent... so great in the bottle... But if I keep adding more and more, eventually it will affect the consistency of the bar. I usually make up a large batch of unscented, then remelt and add scent to small test chunks of 1 oz. Then do the math for larger batches based on that.

Then again - trial and error is a good method , too

Kat, some vendors (such as BB and MMS and a few others) do offer suggested usage rates fro their fragrances based upon their testing. If you go to the fragrance calculator on BB and MMS, you will find theirs. Some vendors list it in their descriptions, some offer nothing at all, and some do only offer the IFRA max usage rate, just as you stated (like WSP). So the information available will depend on which vendor you got your FO from.

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Remember, it's not just that we weather the storm, but how we dance in the rain.

Tammy

Yes, some vendors may offer rates - but I still maintain that you can't go by that. It will vary greatly depending on the individual formulation.

Leaves us with good ol' trial and error !