Bath Bombs and Aroma chemicals?

[NickNorma]

Hi folks, first time here. I've dabbled in perfume making in the past, and am now wanting to try my hand at bath bombs and body washes. I'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge on whether synthetic aroma chemicals can be used safely in something like a bath bomb the same way they're used in commercial perfumes? I've been looking everywhere on perfume forums, but haven't found anything that really answers my question. Hoping maybe somebody here has an answer? I'm not too interested in the pros or cons of synthetic chemicals in general, just specifically whether using them in this way is possible.

 

[lsg]

You can use polysorbate 80 to help distribute FOs. Swiftcraftymonkey blog and Brambleberry.com have formulas and instructions for making bath bombs.

 

[TheGecko]

I'm not too interested in the pros or cons of synthetic chemicals in general, just specifically whether using them in this way is possible.

Considering that Fragrance Oils, which many of us use, are synthetic to begin with, you'll not get much of an argument or discussion except that we encourage folks to purchase from reputable sources and make sure they are intended to be used in the product that they are making.

But with that said, the ingredients used in perfumes aren't [always] the same as the ingredients used in Fragrance Oils which are then used in bath and body products. I know that I can safely spritz my favorite perfume in my after-bath powder, but the couple of times I tried adding it to lotions, I ruined them....probably due to the alcohol content. I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm reasonably sure it would be very problematic, if not dangerous to add the raw ingredients...kind of like using straight Essential Oils which have strict safety limits and some which should be used at all in bath and body products.

And out of curiosity, I checked the ingredient labels of several commercially produced scented lotion products and they have either 'parfum' or 'Fragrance' which tells me that they are buying it by the barrel..

 

[AliOop]

Yes, many folks use fragrance oils to scent their bath bombs.

Most fragrance calculators give you the option to select the type of product you will be making. The skin-safe usage rate is then based on your batch size of that product. For instance, take a look at The Sage Fragrance Calculator. To get a safe usage rate for bath bombs, I would select bath salts as being the most similar type of product. Then select your desired fragrance and batch weight.

The SDS for the fragrance may also include the usage rate by type of product being created.

 

[Megan]

I know places like Lush use aroma chemicals (and essential oils/absolutes/resins) rather than just fragrance oils/essential oils...you can see in their ingredient lists exactly what they use. As far as safety of individual aroma chemicals...I would not know. I would assume that you would need a lot of testing to determine the usage rates in your batches. For small batches it's going to be more difficult I'm sure.

 

[AliOop]

Hmmm maybe I was missing something. I didn’t know that the term “aroma chemicals” meant anything different than fragrance oils. If I’m understanding that correctly now, then the fragrance calculators are probably useless for your intended purposes. But hopefully the SDS would still be helpful to give a usage rate.

 

[NickNorma]

Thanks everyone for your responses! I'll be doing a lot more research into this by the looks of things!