Essential Oils vs Fragrance Oils

Are all scents the same? No they are not, so what to Scent soap with? Fragrance or Essential Oils. Essential Oils vs Fragrance Oils.

Fragrance Oils are a mixture of some natural and some synthetic oils and essential oils are oils that have been extracted from plants.

Fragrance Oils

Fragrance oils can smell amazing, but they lack the natural healing properties and aromatherapy properties that Essential Oils do.

These properties are probably not important for scenting soap, but if you want your soap to be 100% natural an Essential Oil is a must.

Fragrance oils can be made from a mix of natural and synthetic ingredients, or all synthetic, there are thousands of various compounds out there that can be blended together to create a multitude of scents.

Some contain essential oils and some do not. Fragrance oils are usually less costly than Essential oils and this is why they are often used in soap making.

Natural Fragrance oils

With more people being concerned about Natural ingredients there are now natural fragrance oils available.

They are said to be essentialoil5bottles derived from natural plant material, but these formulations are proprietary so without really knowing what they consist of when using them you have to label your soap as using a “fragrance”

There Natural Fragrance Oils are relatively new.

Essential Oils

Essential oils come from plants, they are extracted from the bark, seeds, flowers, leaves, stem, fruit and are extracted by distillation, solvent extraction and cold press method.

Each oil is made up of many natural occurring chemicals that have properties that can be both good and bad, depending on what it is.

For example Sage is anti-bacterial, antiseptic, decongestant and disinfectant, but should be avoided during pregnancy and should not be used by people with epilepsy. So caution should be used with essential oils, it’s important to know what the cautions are.

Essential oils can also be very costly, one would be Rose essential oil, if I were to scent a batch of soap with Rose to make it a true natural soap, then the cost per bar would be $80.00.

So you see sometimes, if you are wanting a particular scent, you may want to check out those natural fragrance oils.

Some Essential Oils that not to costly and I use in my soap making are:

Tea Tree Essential Oil– it has amazing antiseptic and antibacterial properties. This is a good essential oil to use in an acne bar.

Lavender Bottle on white background

Lavender Essential Oil – this is an excellent essential oil and along with Tea Tree can be put directly on the skin.

Lavender is the only essential oil that is safe enough for a baby.

Rosemary Essential Oil – Rosemary Oil is a great oil to add to a shampoo bar as this essential oil helps to stimulate hair growth. Rosemary is also said to help wake up the mind.

Lemongrass Essential Oil – Lemongrass is a fresh, pick me up kind of scent. It has many beneficial properties such as astringent, bactericidal, deodorant, fungicidal and insecticidal.

You can be creative with your scents and mix some. I make a Eucalyptus/Peppermint bar and is smells amazing, also helps to clear your head if you have a cold.

Happy Soaping