Teach Soap

Hey, everyone. I'm going to try my own homemade fly spray for our horses. I'll be using essential oils known for their bug repellant properties. I have some questions, though.

- What is the recommended usage rate for essential oils when used in sprays like this?
- Also, how do you measure to see if you are adding in the EO at the correct usage rate? I have been wondering about this as it applies to everything - soap, bath bombes, lotion, anything - not just fly spray. I measure my EOs in drops, but I measure my other ingredients - whether I'm making soap, massage melts, bath bombes, or whatever - in ounces. How can you figure out what percentage of essential oils you are adding, then? Is there a conversion rate, for example, a certain number of drops equals 1 ounce?
- Are essential oils more likely to generate mold in water, vinegar, or oil? Which are they least likely to produce mold in? Why?
- Does anyone have a fav EO you use for bug repellant properties?

Thanks all!

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Olivia :)

Drop size is widely variable (depends on what you use for a dropper, how enthusiastically you drop, how likely your dropper is to let a sneaky last few drops go, etc.) so your best bet for drop measuring would be, using whatever technique and tools you normally use, to set up your scale, start dropper-ing into a container, and count how many drops it takes you to get to one ounce. Keep it written down somewhere (I have a list of measurements to remember taped to the bottom of my scale) and then you can figure it out each time based on your own setup instead of relying on someone else's info.

If your scale does grams, it's much quicker to do this by gram than by ounce. Then, if you don't want to use grams in the future, multiply by .035 to get your drops in an ounce.

My list of measurements includes how many drops it takes to get 1 g using both my small and large droppers, as well as how many grams a full dropper adds up to for each size, so I can do quick conversions as needed right at my soaping station.

Water and EOs will mold, because any water/oil mix is food for bacteria. Not sure about oil or vinegar, though.

Thank you, Paspenka, that is VERY helpful!

A couple follow-up questions, though: why do you multiply the number of drops in one gram by .035 to get the number of drops in one ounce? Also, what about when weighing essential oils of different densities? If I measure out drops of, for example, lemongrass, until I get one gram, won't it be a different number of drops than if I weigh out one gram of patchouli in drops? The lemongrass might come out as (I'm just picking random numbers here) 42 drops in a gram, while the patchouli might come out as 36 drops in a gram. Since different essential oils have different weights/densities? What can I do about this?

Thanks again!

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Olivia :)

You multiply by .035 because one gram = .035 oz.

In drop quantities, I'm not sure there's enough variation in the specific gravity (which refers to how much a fluid oz weighs, ie a fl oz of water weighs an oz so its specific gravity is 1) of different essential oils to make a meaningful difference in drop quantities, at least not in volumes small enough you'd be dropping instead of pouring. I could be wrong, though. You could take a half hour or so and measure all your essential oils that way, for maximum accuracy, or you could take a couple from each end of the heaviness spectrum and one or two from the middle and measure those to develop a range.

- What is the recommended usage rate for essential oils when used in sprays like this? Depends completely on the essential oils you are using. I don't know how sensitive horses are or where you'll be applying the spray, but those will be a factor as well.
- Also, how do you measure to see if you are adding in the EO at the correct usage rate? Weigh them. Using "by the drop" method is not going to be very accurate since like it was already said about different size droppers, how hard you're squeezing, plus different EO's have different viscosity so one drop of lemongrass is not going to be the same size as a drop of Peru Balsam.
- Are essential oils more likely to generate mold in water, vinegar, or oil? Which are they least likely to produce mold in? Why? After seeing the picture of the EO & Water mold cup, I wouldn't pick water. And since vinegar that you buy in the store is mostly water, it molds. Oil is less likely to get mold/bacteria because it's free of water.
- Does anyone have a fav EO you use for bug repellant properties? I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this, but none. EO's are incredibly volatile and in the small amounts that you'd use them in a spray or leave on product, the scent of most are gone within hours. A lot of the EO & Aromatherapy books I've read have said the same thing about using EO's by themselves to repel insects, they're just too volatile. Plus, I have yet to see flies of any kind be deterred by anything that smells. We have citronella plants, the flies love those. I've got lemongrass EO candles, the flies still come.

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Genny

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Olivia :)

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Olivia :)

Oh, now I get it! I was a little confused there at first, wondering how multiplying the number of drops in a gram by .035 was going to get me the number of drops in an ounce. I was thinking maybe I needed to go back and review some basic math or something!

Thanks, Paspenka, that helps a lot! Get over your cold soon!

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Olivia :)

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Olivia :)

There is not a general usage rate for EO's, not really for FO's either. I know some soapers just say 1 oz/lb or something like that, but that's not very safe. Each essential oil consists of different chemicals, some of those chemicals are safe at high levels and some are not. Some are only safe at very low levels, like 0.1%.
It's best to find the IFRA guidelines for each EO
Citronella: For insect repellent it says 3%, oddly enough for animal shampoo it says 2.5%
Lemongrass: For insect repellent it says 0.12%
Peppermint: For insect repellent it says 5%
Eucalyptus: Depends on what Eucalyptus
Tea Tree: For insect repellent it says 5%, but for animal shampoo it says 2.5%
Rosemary: For insect repellent it says 5%, but for animal shampoo it says 2.5%
Lavender: Depends on what lavender

I don't know much about horses, so I don't know which EO's are safe to use around them, so please make sure you investigate that using a reliable source. Maybe your vet might know?

That scale you posted would be good for measuring very small amounts.
Viscosity means the thickness of the EO.
I doubt witch hazel would likely grow mold since the stuff sold in stores is mostly alcohol.

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Genny

Witch hazel sold in stores is 20% alcohol. At 20% with nothing else added it's self preserving. As soon as you add anything else, the alcohol is no longer at 20%, which allows bacteria to grow.

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

Back in my hunter jumper days, I used a citronella fly spray on my horse. That was the only essential oil in it and it worked great. I can't tell you what else was in it or the percentage of EO in the product. I do urge you to speak with an equine vet before trying any spray on a horse or any other animal for that matter. Many EOs can cause problems with animals - lavender and dogs for example - and horses, for all their grand size, are extremely sensitive creatures.

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Jennifer
Doing my best to blow up my kitchen. In style!

Thanks, everyone for your help! I will do some research and experimenting and see what I can come up with!

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Olivia :)

Seems like some of that list of oils is more for human benefit than horse -- i.e., peppermint, eucalyptus, rosemary, lavender.

If I were tasked with this, I would consider these options:
Citronella
Tea Tree
Neem
Pennyroyal / Bugbane / Fleabane

The last is an herb that has several different names, and can be tough to find, but it's out there. As you can see, it's name implies repellent abilities, and was once a common plant in the "kitchen" garden. I might also consider cedar oil.

Be very careful using this on the face! You wouldn't want it in your eyes -- your horse won't either!