March 14, 2020

Essential Oil Blends for Soap Making

Once you are comfortable with the soap making process, you may want to branch out and experiment with different aromas. Essential oils are the best way to naturally scent your soap but picking different oils, determining how much to use, and how to blend them can be a bit daunting.

Creating a satisfying soap recipe may require some trial and error to determine how much of each essential oil is needed to create the aroma you are looking for. Experimenting with different blends can be fun, as long as you avoid mixing oils that may have an unpleasant reaction. It's important you use each essential oil in accordance with its safe usage rate. The total amount of essential oils should be no more than 3% of your soap recipe.

An excellent guideline for blending essential oils during soapmaking is approximately 30% top notes, 50% middle notes, and 20% base notes.

Top notes are the first fragrances in a blend that are identified by your nose. Lighter, brighter scents like lemon and tea tree are top notes.

After that, your nose identifies middle notes, which are a bit deeper and create a balance within the blend. Oils like lavender and rosemary are middle notes.

Base notes are the deepest and earthiest tones in a fragrance. They include oils such as sandalwood, patchouli, and vetiver.

These percentages can be tweaked a little depending on the strengths of each oil. If you’re using an oil with a lighter aroma, more may be needed for your blend, whereas if you’re using a stronger scented oil, less may be needed. Since some essential oils weigh more or less than others, it is important to measure your blends by weight so that the percentages remain accurate.