Essential Oil Combinations You Should Try in Your Soap
If you’ve been following along for a while you’ll know that I only use essential oils in my Cold Process Soap.
When I started making soap I wanted to create the most natural and safe soaps possible. So I used organic ingredients and only therapeutic grade or organic essential oils. The problem with fragrances is that they always give me headaches. Fragrances are made in a lab, and although they can smell great, and yummy, and fresh, and conjure up ideas of summer getaways on the beach, they never appealed to me. So I only ever purchased essential oils for my soap recipes.
For clarification: Essential Oils and Fragrance oils are two very different types of ingredients that can be added to soap to add a scent to your soap. Essential Oils are sourced naturally from flowers and plants, and can have beneficial properties for the skin. However Fragrance oils are made from chemicals in labs and do not have any benefits to the body. Some fragrances can be harmful to some people.
To be honest, I think about trying out fragrances from time to time, but I haven’t done it yet. First of all they’re not easy to come by in Saudi Arabia, and I would have to pay a lot for international shipping. Plus, I still have A LOT of essential oils still left on my shelf. So instead, I experiment with combinations of the essential oils that I have.
And although I do try to come up with some great combinations of essential oils, my favorite thing to do is to use one or two essential oils only. I love simplicity.
For this post I wanted to share some of the most common essential oils you can use in cold process soap making, and some combinations that are really great.
Here Are Some Great Essential Oils That You Can Use On Their Own
Lavender
Peppermint
Lemon
Sweet Orange
Rosemary
Sage
Geranium
Ylang Ylang
Sandalwood
Patchouli
Lime
Anise
Here Are Some Essential Oil Combinations That I’ve Tried
Lavender and Geranium
Lavender and Ylang Ylang
Lavender and Sweet Orange
Lavender and Lemon
Ylang Ylang + Sweet Orange + Sandalwood
Sweet Orange + Lemon + Wintergreen
Ylang Ylang + Sweet Orange + Patchouli
Peppermint + Lemon
Lavender + Anise
Anise + Sweet Orange
How Much Essential Oil Should You Use In Your Soap?
When you use a lye calculator, it gives you a recommendation for the total amount of fragrance to use in your batch.
I always recommend that you go a little lower by 1-2 grams if you’re using essential oils.
Remember if you’re using a combination of essential oils, the amount recommended for the fragrance by the lye calculator is the TOTAL amount. So if your lye calculator recommends 15 grams of fragrance, and you want to use a combination of Ylang ylnag, orange and sandalwood, that means the total you use is 15 grams, not 15 gm of ylang yang, and 15 gm of orange, and 15 gm of sandalwood.
That would be too much for your batch. Too much essential oil could make your soap batter seize. Also, Essential oils are highly potent and concentrated and could be harmful to the skin, or cause irritation for people with sensitive skin, so always err on the safe side.
Research the essential oils you are using, and the weight recommendations for cold process soap. Then divide the amount equally depending on your batch and the type of essential oil you are using. Also after you make your first batch you can always change and experiment with a little more or a little less of one essential oil or the other.
If you choose to go with fragrances, please remember to only use fragrances intended for soap making. It is your responsibility to double check with your supplier and read carefully that the fragrance is for soap and check the recommended usage rates.
If you're looking to get started with using essential oils in your soap making, I highly recommend the Essentials for Every Home essential oil kit from Hayah Organics. It has a number of essential oils that work well in soap and will help you get started at an affordable price.
What are your favorite essential oil combinations in Cold Process soap? I’d love to try something new based on your recommendations.