Fragrance Oils vs Essential Oils
Aubrey LindseyShare
Fragrance oils (FO) are what I use in my products to give them the wonderful aromas that you all love so much. They are a combination of ingredients that give it a specific fragrance. All FO are a combination of essential oils (EO) and synthetic ingredients also known as ingredients made in a lab. These ingredients have a chemical make up that are identical to their nature found counterparts but are more eco-friendly.
Synthetic ingredients are not scary! In fact, we use a lot of synthetic ingredients as ways to be more eco-friendly. Some ingredients are difficult to find in nature and would be very expensive to use or are simply unethical to harvest. For example, hyaluronic acid is a popular ingredient in a lot of skin care products. This ingredient used to be derived only from animals. It has since been derived in lab so animals no longer have to be harmed to obtain this popular ingredient. Just because something is synthetic or chemical doesn't mean it's harmful to you.
Fragrance Oils
I love using fragrance oils just as much as the next soap maker does. I have versed myself in them up and down and love being able to educate others in why I use the products that I do. As I mentioned before, FO are a combination of EO and synthetic made fragrances. This inevitably cuts down costs making them cheaper than EO overall. By the use of synthetic FO mixed in we are able to have a very wide variety of scents to choose from. This also allows for more to be manufactured at a time which also means, the cost will be cheaper as well. Fragrance Oils do have usage requirements as any other ingredients does intended for use on the skin. They would need to be diluted with a carrier oil and you would need to know the dose or percent at which is safe to use.
Essential Oils
Essential oils are volatile chemical compounds that have been extracted from a plant to obtain a highly concentrated oil that can be used in many ways. EO are obtained by heating, steaming or pressing a plant to get the desired oil. Since this is a long process, EO are more expensive due to their processing. EO are known for being highly concentrated therefore it is very important to know at what dose you should be using the oil before you do anything with them. Diluting EO in a carrier oil for direct application and knowing what percent to use in soap recipes or any other skin application is very important! In recent years it has been a concern on how essential oils are being obtained. For example, it can take up to 15 pounds of lavender buds to make just 15mL of lavender essential oil. The only EO used at Ollie Lue is in Rashguard Bar Soap - currently. This contains eucalyptus and tea tree EO.
Fragrance oils are what I will always use in my products. I have taken the time to source truly skin safe fragrance oils for all of my skin care and candle products. I do enjoy to use essential oils when I am looking for that "pure and true" scent, like in Rashguard Bar Soap. It is a true eucalyptus and tea tree scent! I hope that this helped to know at least a little difference between FO and EO. Just know, there is nothing to fear when some one says synthetic or fragrance oil!
Bubbles and Suds to you all,
Aubrey Lindsey, Owner
To find Ollie Lue Soap Co
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Resources:
https://www.modernsoapmaking.com/blog/using-essential-oils-in-soapmaking
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7865210/#B104-molecules-26-00666