Those potent fragrence oils

[sperry]

I bought 6 fragrance oils from Crafter's Choice, and just used them for the first time. I had no idea they were so strong, so bought some spiffy plastic beakers to measure them with. WRONG. Quickly ate the paint right off the beakers (so now there are no incriment markers on the beakers) and it looked like they were on their way to eating through the plastic when I threw the beakers away. It is near impossible to get the slimy oil off of hands (will use gloves from now on) and utensils. Really yucky stuff, IMHO. So.. my question: is there a chemical change that happens to the fragrances when they go through the heating/melting/pouring process? Or are we just counting on the fact that the fragrance oils are so much less dense once they are part of the soap? Frankly, if the chemistry of the fragrance isn't changed, I will never again put this stuff on my skin.

 

[VanessaP]

Keep in mind you're smelling the concentrated value of the FO when its in the bottle. To get a full bloom on the fragrance, try putting a few drops on a cotton ball and letting it dry. Then sniff it.

Also, you should be weighing your fragrance oils, not doing a volume measurement. The only time I do a volume measurement is when I'm doing 2oz of shower gel because 1 mL doesn't really weigh enough to justify breaking out my little glass measuring cups. Which, btw, you can pick up at Walmart in the housewares area with all the measuring cups & bowls. I think they were $2-$3 and will measure up to 5.5 fluid ounces so plenty of room for my size of soap batches, even for a 5lb batch it only fills it halfway.

 

[sperry]

Thanks ...

I had forgotten that I needed to do weight, not volume. So... you mentioned putting the oil on cotten and letting it dry. Does it lose what I consider to be its obnoxious qualities (IE: Acting like an acid that is near impossible to remove, overpowering aroma) when it dries?

 

[Crocoturtle]

You say that the fragrance oil was eating through the plastic? The line markings is actually normal, a lot of times the paint they use to put those markings on is alcohol or oil soluable. I can post a picture of a cup that I have where the paint all peeled off because I spilled olive oil on it. Not because anything "ate" through the paint.

 

[sperry]

Another thank-you

I can't thank you enough for your answer. I was suffering from "narrow perspective." ("You see what that water did to that salt? I'm not going to let water get anywhere NEAR my body!") I bet those beakers I threw away were just discolored by the oil that resisted coming off. Anyway... thanks again

 

[paillo]

I had fragrance and essential oils eat through plastic too. I always use glass for measuring and weighing them.

Learned the hard way that you have to be very careful in packaging things like bath salts in plastic tubes. They need to be PET plastic so the oils don't warp them...

 

[sperry]

measuring

Yeah... my plan is to use my gem scale to get a very accurate weight, then pour THAT into a glass test tube (?? is that best for, say, 6 -8 bars??) and mark put a mark on the test tube so I don't have to weigh them each time.

 

[judymoody]

Fragrance and essential oils do not have a constant weight per volume. So ideally, it's best to weigh them.

I also use disposable plastic pipettes to measure out my fragrance if I'm doing a blend - less spillage that way.

For measuring my fragrances, I bought borosilicate glass beakers, the kind you use in labs, from a scientific supply house. You also can get them through Amazon. They do rinse clean and don't retain any scent or oily residue. Just don't put them in the dishwasher if you don't want your dishes smelling like snickerdoodle fragrance or whatever!

 

[nebetmiw]

I bought 6 fragrance oils from Crafter's Choice, and just used them for the first time. I had no idea they were so strong, so bought some spiffy plastic beakers to measure them with. WRONG. Quickly ate the paint right off the beakers (so now there are no incriment markers on the beakers) and it looked like they were on their way to eating through the plastic when I threw the beakers away. It is near impossible to get the slimy oil off of hands (will use gloves from now on) and utensils. Really yucky stuff, IMHO. So.. my question: is there a chemical change that happens to the fragrances when they go through the heating/melting/pouring process? Or are we just counting on the fact that the fragrance oils are so much less dense once they are part of the soap? Frankly, if the chemistry of the fragrance isn't changed, I will never again put this stuff on my skin.

Sperry when you say strong is this the smell too or just the whole fo? I am searching for some stronger smelling Fo than my last batch.

 

[sperry]

I'm sorry... I'm not sure what you are asking. I wasn't worried about the powerful fragrance straight out of the bottle... I suspected that would be the case. It was the fact that the fragrance SEEMED (I was wrong) strong enough to eat through plastic. What I have done with the 6 fragrances I have is make one bar with 30 drops and one bar with 60 drops (4 ounce bar) to get a feel for what I will need for my bigger batches. So far, the nicest (personal, obvious) is Melon Ball and Almond. Both are strong but not overpowering. Lemongrass is ok. I found Mint unpleasant, and Patchouli (sp?) and Lavender to be icky... but... again,,,, it's all personal.