Teach Soap

Hi!

This is going to be a quick post because I need to start getting ready for work.

I've been reading this forum for 2 days now lol, and it has come to my attention that many (most?) fragrance oils are synthetic
I purchased some that were Phalate free and I thought they were natural, but after contacting them, they are not natural. So, I went on a Google search. I found this company: that claims to have organic fragrance oils. Now, before I get duped and purchase a ton of these, I want to know everyone's opinion on these organic fragrance oils. I really prefer using natural & organic ingredients in everything I make (right now is lip balm lol). I don't want to use synthetic fragrance oils but I also don't want to empty my pockets by purchasing expensive natural and organic essential oils.

What's y'alls opinion?

Thanks!

Edit: I should clarify that I DO NOT use fragrance oils in my lip balms. I was looking into them for soaps, candles, body butters, etc.

I checked out the website. The only products labeled organic are the food grade products. Keep in mind that Flavor Oils and Fragrance Oils are not the same thing. A flavor oil can be used in lip balm because it is food grade (just be sure that it is also skin safe) but may or may not actually give fragrace to another product like soap.

For fragrance there are two categories Fragrance Oils (FO) and Essential Oils (EO). FOs are synthetic. There is no such thing as an organic fragrance oil. They are created in a lab using chemical compounds to create an infinite number of fragrance combinations. EOs are natural. They are extracted directly from plant materials and may or may not be organic. There are a limited number of essential oils, but they can be blended for a variety of combinations.

Here is an article that explains it more fully

Hope this helps

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I checked the website and see a category for Organic Fragrance Oils.

There's apple, chocolate, coconut, banana and more.

A bit confusing to me. How can these be organic and natural as stated? Advertised for use in soaps, lotions and so on.

Hopefully someone else will take a look.

Thanks,

I was looking at that site just now and found their "organic fragrance oils" section.
Is everyone positive that these are truly not organic? I'm sorry if it feels like I am repetitive in this question (well, I guess I kinda am ) I was in a rush yesterday but now I have a little time to look over that website.

I used some synthetic FO's yesterday in a batch of soap and they just kinda smell "chemically" to me. You know, like when a person wears too much cologne and it doesn't smell like anything natural?

Thanks again!

Edit: I emailed Natures Flavors and asked if their FO's contain any synthetic ingredients and they replied and said that they do not. So, it looks like I will be using them for FO's from now on.

Just a couple comments on your post.

As for the soap you made with the FO don't worry to much about the smell if you just unmolded it. I am assuming CP soap here. It can take several days or weeks for a scent to settle ( so to speak ). It depends on the scent really and the FO used. I find my CP soaps smell odd the first day or so and as they cure the final scent develops and things are all good again. Also some scents morph if over heated and such but I would suggest you wait a while then check your soap again to see how it smells. You didnt say how much FO you used but over doing it can cause a chemical smell as well.

As to the FOs on the website they do "look" to be organic and Califorina to my knowledge has some pretty restrictive rules about those things. What concerns me is they show no test results for being used in body and bath products. They simply suggest you test it your self and if it causes problems stop using it. So you really have no idea how these oils will react in soap especially.

Also I read their suggested use section pretty well and what I read there makes me very concerned as to the solubility of the products in bath and body applications and how they might react to lye for soaping applications.

To sum it up these may well be organic fragrance oils but I have serious doubts they are fully safe for bath and body uses in all cases. This is not to say they might not work fine but you could well spend a lot of money on them and find that they are totally unacceptable for your purposes. Where they are not tested I would be very leery of selling soaps made with them as you are opening yourself up for serious liability if people were to have a reaction to them.

So yes, they may be what they claim but they certainly don't appear to be bath and body safe organic fragrance oils.

Hope that helps

Edit: a little further reading of the description of one of these FOs specifically states they are not suitable to use in glycerin based soaps due to not being solouble enough for this application. So M&P soaping with these FOs would be something that I would steer far away from.

jethro, thank you for your wisdom

I am doing CP soaps. I also *thought* I read that the scents will settle down after a little while. I sure hope that's the case. I might have used too much though. I had 14.5 oz of oils and used .7oz of FO. The FO's behaved and the soap looks great. Just hope it mellows out a bit.

You make a good point about "testing it myself" in soaps. That could costs a lot of money if they misbehave

Oh well. I may pick a select few FO's and see how they react at some point.

.7 oz is within a reasonable range for the amount of oils you had. Usual wisdom says .5 - .7 per pound of oils depending on the fragrance so you aren't really at the point of way to much with what you used. I would say give it two weeks before I worried about the scent of your soap.

I agree having a source of FOs that were organic would be great as I prefer to stay as natural as possible and still have it be soap. I just get nervous when the FO say you can use it to scent kerosene as well as soap. Let us know how it turns out if you give them a try, please.

Now that I've cleaned up my dishes and whatnot from this batch, my kitchen isn't overpowered with the scent

LOL at scenting the kerosene as well as soap! But really though, kerosene stinks! We used to use it to heat our house years ago. At Christmas time it was awesome though because we would put a big pot of water on top of the heater and then add Christmas tree branches! I'm ready for Christmas now!

I think I may order one or two FO's with this week's paycheck. I will report my findings!

I am by no means an expert, but it's my understanding, that if they are making their "natural/organic" fragrance oils (from only essential oils and plant/flower extracts and organic base oil) wouldn't they be called a natural essential oil blend, not a fragrance oil? Just a thought. And for me, making natural soaps is important, but I do consider 95-99% still natural if using a synthetic fragrance oil, which is the percent for most "natural certifications" I have come accross on the web.

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"Maintaining Balance Between People and Nature"

You know, now that you mention it, it does sound more like an EO blend than a FO.

I was about to place an order for an Organic Vanilla FO (2oz) but the shipping was almost $13. I can't justify that. If I KNEW that the FO's would behave, I'd order more to justify the shipping. Eh.

To me, fragrance is made in a lab, so it's neither organic nor natural. If I want natural or organic, I would use appropriate essential oils. Some companies label their fragrances as "natural" or "organic" , but they are not truthful about their advertising.

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

According to their site, they are mixed with a carrier oil, so I'm not sure they are telling the whole truth about their oils. I emailed and asked if they provide msds sheets so I could see exactly what is in their oils............no answer!

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