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essential oils and diy aftershave

<disclaimer> I guess this question could also go in the soap section.


I've been expirementing with homemade aftershave and homemade soap. I'm mainly using essential oils to get the scents I want, but I have read that a 50/50 combination of sandalwood and allspice smells just like Old Spice. Can anyone confirm that? Also, does anyone have any experience with fragrance oils? Real Sandalwood is heck-spensive and I wondered if just a fragrance oil would mix well with EOs? Any thoughts?

:confused1

Micah
 
Micah,
EOs and FOs can be mixed but be careful that FOs don't cause irritation. They can. Especially when used with shaving. You're scraping the skin and putting that chemical (natural or not) in the scrape. EOs work best with my skin. YMMV.
 
<disclaimer> I guess this question could also go in the soap section.


I've been expirementing with homemade aftershave and homemade soap. I'm mainly using essential oils to get the scents I want, but I have read that a 50/50 combination of sandalwood and allspice smells just like Old Spice. Can anyone confirm that? Also, does anyone have any experience with fragrance oils? Real Sandalwood is heck-spensive and I wondered if just a fragrance oil would mix well with EOs? Any thoughts?

:confused1

Micah

I've added sandalwood EO to sandalwood cologne before. A little goes a long way! You really have to watch what you're doing though. Some EOs can be toxic as they are absorbed into the skin.

==Tom
 
What are your basic recipes?

My quick internet search reveals a large variety of base (w/o EO's) recipes.

Many include cider vinegar, which strikes me as very strange. Here's one that makes some sense to me, but I'd like to hear your suggestions:


7oz witch hazel extract
3 oz mineral or distilled water
1 oz dark rum
2 tbsp. Vegetable glycerin
2 strips of orange peel
2 spiral strips of lemon peel
1 sprig of mint
10 whole dried cloves
1 cinnamon stick
4-5 ml essential oil (recommend Bay Laurel – Laurus nobilis)

I haven't used aftershave for years. When I did, I liked the smell of Old Spice, so I'd like to hear if your formula works.

As for allspice, here's what Camden-Grey says:

"Allspice: Pimenta officinalis, steam distilled berry, West Indies. Its aroma is similar to a mixture of pepper, clove and cinnamon....it is spicy and warm, like the spice. Allspice is stimulating and vitalizing. It has been used to treat dental and viral infections, sinusitis, bronchitis, colds, depression, nervous exhaustion, arthritis, fatigue, flatulence. Debatable whether it should be used in massage since it is such a powerful oil. Personally, we find it a wonderful addition to a massage blend for sore muscles and arthritis. May irritate the skin and mucous membranes. A very warming oil, gets the circulation going. Blends well with frankincense, ginger, lemon and orange. Flash point: 200°F."

I'm a soapmaker (including shaving soap) and would not consider using FO's. The natural EO's I use are too expensive to risk wasting them by mixing with something cheap and synthetic, although I think this bias comes in part from reading that FO's and synthetics are less predictable due to their reaction with lye in the soapmaking process.
 
I would like to know also, but it doesn't really sound right...

This is what basenotes says about Old Spice... I don't see Sandalwood....

Top Notes
Orange, Lemon, Spices, Clary Sage, Aldehydes,


Middle Notes
Cinnamon, Carnation, Geranium, Jasmine, Heliotrope, Pimento Berry,


Base Notes
Vanilla, Musk, Cedarwood, Frankincense, Benzoin, Tonka, Ambergris.,

Sandalwood EO is exceptionally expensive and Sandalwood is becoming scarcer and scarcer because of harvesting for essential oils. Using the natural eo is great, but the synthetics actually smell better and last longer and in this particular case, are better for our environment.

I have no problems what so ever using synthetics for fragrancing purposes....
 
Thanks, MB

I assume you've used synthetics in CP soap. No problems? I'd like to try some citrus blends, maybe a lemon verbena and a lime. Can you recommend?

Right now I'm using litsea cubeba. I like the smell, but it's deep orange color is added to the soap and sometimes I like a whiter bar.

BTW, although I make a shaving soap with bentonite, I just lathered up one of my shampoo bars that has nearly 20% castor oil; WoW! Such a rich creamy lather in less than 10 seconds!
 
I adore the lather from castor oil... it is so rich and creamy! 20&#37; is a large percentage, did you run it through the calculator to see what you get with that percentage? I would be curious to hear...

Using natural citrus eo's has the benefit of the rich smell... but frankly the scent doesn't last... citrus fades incredibly quickly.. you are better off with the synthetics. But even syns will discolor your soap...

I don't care if a bar of soap is white or not.. it has never bothered me. I don't think I have ever gotten a white soap anyway without adding titanium dioxide... so I prefer to just work with whatever color the fragrance adds... and make it nice.. Alot of people do a blind swirl... adding the fragrance only to some soap that is held out... then swirling that in. The discolored swirls make a nice look although it can be a few weeks before you find out what you end up with...

Edit, palm oil will give you a nice white soap... but the oil is not really that great, a lot of people use it as a filler oil...
 
What are your basic recipes?

My quick internet search reveals a large variety of base (w/o EO's) recipes.

Many include cider vinegar, which strikes me as very strange. Here's one that makes some sense to me, but I'd like to hear your suggestions:


7oz witch hazel extract
3 oz mineral or distilled water
1 oz dark rum
2 tbsp. Vegetable glycerin
2 strips of orange peel
2 spiral strips of lemon peel
1 sprig of mint
10 whole dried cloves
1 cinnamon stick
4-5 ml essential oil (recommend Bay Laurel – Laurus nobilis)

I haven't used aftershave for years. When I did, I liked the smell of Old Spice, so I'd like to hear if your formula works.

As for allspice, here's what Camden-Grey says:

"Allspice: Pimenta officinalis, steam distilled berry, West Indies. Its aroma is similar to a mixture of pepper, clove and cinnamon....it is spicy and warm, like the spice. Allspice is stimulating and vitalizing. It has been used to treat dental and viral infections, sinusitis, bronchitis, colds, depression, nervous exhaustion, arthritis, fatigue, flatulence. Debatable whether it should be used in massage since it is such a powerful oil. Personally, we find it a wonderful addition to a massage blend for sore muscles and arthritis. May irritate the skin and mucous membranes. A very warming oil, gets the circulation going. Blends well with frankincense, ginger, lemon and orange. Flash point: 200°F."

I'm a soapmaker (including shaving soap) and would not consider using FO's. The natural EO's I use are too expensive to risk wasting them by mixing with something cheap and synthetic, although I think this bias comes in part from reading that FO's and synthetics are less predictable due to their reaction with lye in the soapmaking process.
I'm strictly doing a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants technique on the after shave. I did a 50/50 blend of 91&#37; Rubbing Alcohol and Witch Hazel mixed with many drops of essential oil. For my first run I've used mostly orange and clove with just a hint of eucalyptus. I give the bottle a good shake before each use and it seems to work pretty well. The alcohol scent can be a little overpowering at first, but it quickly fades to let the other smells linger for a while without being too distracting. I didn't add any moisturizers as my skin doesn't seem to need them. I'm a pinaud's bay rum kinda guy. The burn really seems to work for me.
 
I adore the lather from castor oil... it is so rich and creamy! 20% is a large percentage, did you run it through the calculator to see what you get with that percentage? I would be curious to hear...
....
Edit, palm oil will give you a nice white soap... but the oil is not really that great, a lot of people use it as a filler oil...

Thanks Sue

I ran the recipe thru SoapCalc. Actual percentage was 19%, along with other %'s:
Sweet almond 6
coco 25
jojoba 3
macadamia 3
olive 25
palm 19

numbers came up: hardness 34, cleansing 17, condition 59, bubbly and creamy 34

Scented with oakmoss and litsea cubeba it came out a beautiful amber.

Other than using castor oil, no one's been able to tell me the difference between a soap bar and a shampoo bar; e.g. suppose I want to make a shampoo bar that does NOT leave much conditioning oil or residue in my hair?

Also, I substitute soy for olive sometimes. The total attributes of the oils are almost identical, as are the SAP values. So why use olive instead of the cheaper, clearer soy? The only difference I can see is that Olive gets it's conditioning quality from oleic acid and soy from linoleic.

I base this on the following data:

Using the lower numbers from the data below each oil has a conditioning number of 68; Olive has a hardness score of 10, Soy 13, the main difference being that Olive's conditioning score is mainly from Oleic acid and Soy's is from Linoleic.

When I substitute Soy for Olive in a recipe of 50% Olive the numbers for hardness, Cleansing, condition, bubbly and creamy remain identical except hardness goes from 41 to 42.


Olive Oil: Oleic 63-81% Palmitic 7-14% Linoleic 5-15% Stearic 3-5%

Soybean Oil: Linoleic 46-53% Oleic 22-27% Palmitic 9-12% Stearic 4-6%

Lauric Acid: Hard bar, cleansing, fluffy lather
Linoleic Acid: Conditioning
Myristic Acid: Hard bar, cleansing, fluffy lather
Oleic Acid: Conditioning
Palmitic Acid: Hard bar, stable lather
Ricinoleic Acid: Conditioning, fluffy stable lather
Stearic Acid: Hard bar, stable lather
 
A lot of soapers are switching soy for olive lately... it is softer with a great lather... and faster to cure..

I have no personal preferences..
 
A lot of soapers are switching soy for olive lately... it is softer with a great lather... and faster to cure..

I have no personal preferences..

Yes, it seems to cure faster. My impression is a harder bar; at least at first.

I'm going to try using rice bran oil in my soaps. Some soapers swear by it, 'tho I don't remember ed zachery why :blushing:
 
I would like to know also, but it doesn't really sound right...

This is what basenotes says about Old Spice... I don't see Sandalwood....

Top Notes
Orange, Lemon, Spices, Clary Sage, Aldehydes,


Middle Notes
Cinnamon, Carnation, Geranium, Jasmine, Heliotrope, Pimento Berry,


Base Notes
Vanilla, Musk, Cedarwood, Frankincense, Benzoin, Tonka, Ambergris.,

Sandalwood EO is exceptionally expensive and Sandalwood is becoming scarcer and scarcer because of harvesting for essential oils. Using the natural eo is great, but the synthetics actually smell better and last longer and in this particular case, are better for our environment.

I have no problems what so ever using synthetics for fragrancing purposes....

Old Spice has (had?) "ambergris"? A natural or synthetic one, I wonder. Remarkable what info you can find by digging up old threads. Anyone ever use an AS with this in it?
 
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