Dissolving EO/FO

[LBussy]

I know (or at least have read about) that oils, including essential/fragrance oils, may be emulsified in water with something like PS80. I am wondering though how you dissolve the oils into the alcohol?

The application would be an after-shave or similar thing. I know for instance there's a supplier of after-shaves for men who advertises as only having alcohol and fragrance in his aftershave (and menthol which may give the shavers a hint who I am talking about).

Perfume, cologne, commercial examples all seem to be dissolved in alcohol. Surely it's possible?

 

[KristaY]

My sister-in-law does it when she makes room spray. I know alcohol is part of the base and hers always stay emulsified and beautifully clear. I'll have to ask her what she uses but it'll be a while as she's currently in Scotland (yes, I'm really jealous!) I'm sure others will be along shortly to help out, at least faster than I can since SIL won't be home for another couple of weeks, lol.

 

[IrishLass]

When I make my small 1 oz. to 2 oz. perfume sprays, I use Everclear as my dilutant. No emulsifier needed- it stays blended perfectly.

When I make aftershave for my hubby and son, I use about a 65% amount of alcohol in my formula, which is made from a combination of Everclear (50% worth), 70% Isopropyl Alcohol, and whatever amount of alcohol is included in my Witch Hazel amount. No emulsifier needed with my aftershave either. It all stays perfectly mixed without separating. For what it's worth, the other liquid I use in my formula is George brand aloe juice (and a little glycerin).- Oh and my FO.

When I make my larger 4oz. to 8oz room sprays, I just use the cheapest vodka I can find at my grocery store. Some FOs mix in with it fine, but other's don't. For those that don't, I add enough PS80 to emulsify. The amount of PS80 I use differs according to each FO.- some need less and some need more. I use PS80 instead of PS20 because it's what I have on hand for my liquid soap, and for what it's worth, it does the job beautifully.


IrishLass

 

[LBussy]

What DeeAnna explained was that the PS80 is what she uses in room spray with alcohol and water. I suspect (but Iadmit I do not know) that this would not be the case with fancy cologne.

 

[LBussy]

IL you replied the same time as I did.

So oils will dissolve in the ETOH - is there a practical limit?

And that fragrance/ETOH/WH thing is something I had bad luck with (leading me to ask this) - is there a formula you might be able to share?

 

[IrishLass]

Lee- this is my after shave formula. My hubby and son love it. I make it in small, 6 oz. quantities at a time as needed. It took a bit of tweaking along the way, but this is the formula they both gave the final 'thumbs-up' to. I don't mind sharing at all since I have no plans on ever selling the stuff, especially with the Everclear in there.

50% Everclear
20% Aloe vera juice (I use George's brand from my health food store)
15% Witch Hazel (it contains 14% alcohol)
12% SD 70 Alcohol
3% vegetable glycerin

Fragrance is variable according to the strength of the scent, but I've found you really don't need a lot. For what it's worth, to give you an idea,...for my son's aftershave, I add 30 drops of NG's ThePerfectMan FO from a pipette into 6oz of my base formula (which weighs only 1g/.04oz. on my lotion scale, which ends up being something like .28% of the formula). For Old spice, it's the same amount. For my Hubby's Brut FO, which is a little lighter in scent, it takes 50 drops from a pipette into 6 oz. of the base formula, which weighs 1.24g/.0435oz. on my lotion scale, which is .31% of my formula.

Anyway, all stays mixed without cloudiness or separation.


HTH!
IrishLass

 

[LBussy]

Thanks IL! I'll give that a go.

What purpose does the Iso alcohol have? Why not just use all Everclear + water for that?

 

[IrishLass]

I would have used all Everclear, but it doesn't have all that strong of an 'alcohol' smell in spite of it being mighty strong fire-water, and for whatever strange reason, hubby and son had gotten so used to the undertone/scent of the strong alcohol-y smell in their commercial aftershaves that they asked me to put some in there...... but not too much! Go figure! lol


IrishLass

 

[LBussy]

I would have used all Everclear, but it doesn't have all that strong of an 'alcohol' smell in spite of it being mighty strong fire-water, and for whatever strange reason, hubby and son had gotten so used to the undertone/scent of the strong alcohol-y smell in their commercial aftershaves that they asked me to put some in there...... but not too much! Go figure!

Okay, well at least that's consistent with my experiments - a small amount of Iso creates a noticeable odor. If they like it ... like you said: Go figure! :grin:

 

[LBussy]

I was plinking at this while sitting here on a con-call. If I change the SD 70 to just be more Everclear my half-baked calculations tell me the result is a mere 5.82% increase in ETOH. Does that sound right?

If so, and I don't have a son or DH suggesting it needs a more chemical smell, does that seem a reasonably easy swap or am I misuing something?

 

[DeeAnna]

You want to sub the same weight of Everclear (95% alcohol) for the 12% of SD70 alcohol (at 70% alcohol)? Am I thinking about this correctly?

If so .... 12% X (0.95 - 0.7) = 3% additional alcohol by subbing the Everclear for the SD70.

 

[LBussy]

I am not quite sure how I ended up with that number but ... yer right.

So 3%, still not an issue I don't think?

 

[DeeAnna]

It wouldn't trouble me at all.

I meant to say earlier in this thread that I'm using the alcohol mainly as a preservative, so my alcohol level is way too low to get the EOs into solution -- hence the need for polysorbate. As a room spray, a PS based spray is more cost effective, creates little or no fire hazard, and is not likely to damage finished wood furniture. But as a cologne ... I can see the point of using more alcohol and getting away from PS.

 

[LBussy]

I did up a small batch this evening and it worked well. The FO's seem easier to get to dissolve than the EO's did. It's just as well because making a good smell with EO is like drawing a circle - everyone can do it but me.