Essential Oils vs Fragrance oils. What's the difference?

[joetile]

For me, the whole point of getting into the soap hobby was to make the switch from ingredient labels that read something like my high school chemistry tests. Adding in things that once again sound like highschool just to get some better smell good goes against the purpose of getting into soaping to begin with imo.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I just got into the soap hobby because I thought it was fun to make my own soap. Agreed, initially I only wanted to use essential oils, but once I realised they don't always hold up well in soap I made the switch to FOs. However, i still add some essential oil to satisfy my old self. My go-to oils to blend with FOs are: Lemongrass, Patchouli, Sweet Orange, Palmarosa, Rose Geranium, Litsea Cubeba (May Chang), Lavender, Cedarwood.
Top tip: add lemon or orange essential oils to accelerating FOs to help slow trace.

 

[johnnyusa]

I make my own mouthwash so I can make sure it has real essential oils in it, rather than FO, bc EOs have the ability to cross the mucous membranes in the mouth to kill the bacteria causing gingivitis and my periodontal disease. Decent mouthwash w real EOs cost $40 per 18 oz on Amazon but I can whip some up equivalent on the cheap and it's AWESOME.
Usually people who are allergic to peppermint developed that reaction from FOs but if I give them real peppermint they'll never even know. At least that's my experience based on what I read in a book called 'The Art of Aromatherapy' that I bought from Brambleberry.
Anybody want to see my new mouthwash recipe?
I used a little ethyl as a carrier for the EOs but they don't seem to be emulsified perfectly so next batch I'm going to emulsify the EOs better w a tiny dab of my liquid soap, in addition to the ethyl and glycerin...