Essential Oils, the series- Part 3

Howdy Soapsmith Nation! I hope all are well and enjoying their summer (winter if you are in the Southern Hemisphere of course). 

I seemed to have skipped right over part 2 of my essential oil series and dove right into the heart of part 3 so here you go. I sometimes eat dessert before dinner.....so....yeah. This post really digs into one specific term that is often heard and very misused.

I am frequently asked what brand of essential oils I use in my products and always happy to answer the question. However I sometimes believe that the person asking is hoping I will say I use the oils of one or another of the large and well known MLM companies which have a serious foothold on the aromatherapy industry at the moment. Let me tell you something, if I used the oils from those companies my products would not be affordable. Those companies do not sell in bulk and are intended for individual use only (oh and also, they prohibit the marketing of their oils in products intended for resale.) So for many reasons I do not use their oils. 

While I assume their oils are as good as many other companies I do not believe them to be superior, I also typically find their reps to be un- or undereducated in the safe use of essential oils which ticks me off because the reps are totally passionate about their products, these companies should invest in them by properly educating them. 

That's for another post on another day though. Today I want to write about a specifically misleading marketing term. The term is Therapeutic grade. This term popped up at some point in the 90's and many companies jumped on the bandwagon stating that their oils were also therapeutic grade. There are no quality standards for authentication and no tests and determines the grades of ANY essential oils. In fact have you ever seen a grade A, B, C or D? Nope because it's not a thing. 

I am going to drop a link into the bottom of this post because the woman who wrote it was very clear and concise, I couldn't have written it any better (nor would I have written it differently so why plagerize her work?) There are a few other terms that she brings to light with really great explanations. Please take a look and expand your knowledge base. Next time someone starts spouting off about therapeutic grade (blah, blah, blah) you can smile that smile that people do when they know a really great secret  ;)

because what is cuter than this!?

The quality of essential oils 

Man we are a smart bunch of cookies today! 

TaTa my friends
~Soapy

Essential Oils Part 1 of...?

I have been wanting to write an essential oil series for quite awhile.

I have three categories in mind for this series which might equate to 3 different parts over time. 1. Safety and uses. 2. Quality and where to find them. 3.  Terminology and why this is important. With so many home EO users out there it seems that there is much interest in using these wonderful plant gifts in many different capacities. I use them to add some delicious scents to my soaps and other body products, I also like to use them as room fresheners either as a spray or in a diffuser and have even added them to cleaning products for a little added scent. There are a few I will add to a carrier and use on my skin as a sort of perfume too. Through my hours and hours of reading, learning and speaking with other essential oil professionals I have chosen so not use them internally or on my animals which I can go into detail on in the safety part. This is what has worked best for me. However there is risk (and reward) in any way that essential oils are used. It depends on the person, people or animals involved and the situation in which they are being used.

Let's start at the very beginning. What is an essential oil?
es·sen·tial oil - əˈsen(t)SHəl oil/

noun

1. a natural oil typically obtained by distillation and having the characteristic fragrance of the plant or other source from which it is extracted.
2. 
   
3. Ok great.....vocabulary lesson out of the way....but what does that mean? What part of the plant is used and how much of it is used? Well the answer to these questions is that it depends on the plant.

First, it takes many MANY pounds of plant material to make

essential oils. Let's look at lavender as an example. While the actual number can vary from resource to resource the ballpark number is about 250 lbs of plant material to make 1 pound of lavender essential oil. And that's not so bad when you compare it to say roses which needs ALOT more plant material to make a decent amount of EO. One resource stated that approximately 242,000 petals are needed to make 5ml or 1 tsp of rose essential oil, I want to know what poor soul had to count the petals! So if you think about it when you place a drop of lavender oil into something you could really be using POUNDS of that plant! This is where the risk comes in. After all, it's the dose that makes something toxic.

Ok let's get down to business and talk about EO safety. Here are some golden rules I have picked up over the years:

1. Keep out of reach of children and animals (should be obvious).

2. Do not use photosensitizing EO's prior to doing into the sun or a tanning booth for at least 24 hours. With that being said, know what essential oils are photosensitizing.

3. Avoid prolonged use of the same EO's unless under the guidance of a qualified professional.

4. Do not use EO's that you know nothing about. (this should be obvious too) I will also add do not blindly recommend EO's to someone whose health you know nothing about.

5. Avoid the use of undiluted EO's on the skin unless indicated by a certified professional.  

6. If you are going to use a new EO on yourself and are unsure if you will have a reaction, do a skin patch test first.

7. Be aware of the safety data of oils you are using and storing.

8. If you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant be aware that many oils are contraindicated during that time. Consult your doctor.

9. Keep EO's away from mucous membranes (eyes, nasal passages, mouth, those sensitive nether regions).

10. EO's are flammable......

11. DO NOT USE INTERNALLY unless either you are working with a certified professional. 

12. Animals metabolize substances differently than humans and even differently from species to species, consult a veterinary professional who can help you in making decisions of what and how to properly use these oils.

Alright, let's dive in to some of the less obvious ones. #3 for instance avoid prolonged use of the same EO's. After thinking about it I understand, I have heard accounts of people using oils as gentle as lavender in the long term then acquiring a sensitivity to it. This article touches on that as well as other safety issues. 

I want to write about #5 next, avoid using EO's undiluted on skin. I

will be perfectly frank here and say that even EO's that are known to be safe for use undiluted I will dilute with a carrier oil because I use them quite frequently in my products so I do not want to develop a sensitivity to them. There are two oils that I commonly hear referred to as"safe to use neat" or undiluted which are lavender and tea tree. Perhaps they are SAFER than some other oils but they are still very concentrated oils from those plants. Tea tree oil is an extremely effective oil meaning it is extremely potent, perhaps using it neat isn't the best idea. It also does not mean that they are safe for absolutely everyone so keep that in mind if ever making a recommendation or using it on say your child or animal.

Let's talk about the elephant in the room- #11. Do not use EO's internally.

I did this google search: taking essential oils internally

Without any prompting about safety or anything the first article that came up were all about why you SHOULDN'T take EO's internally. It's a huge hint to not do it. Here is  the link for that post, she lays the information out very well. 

Of course the ones following this post are.....a little all over the place/comical/misleading in my opinion.

One tidbit that I was reminded of and find very valuable was that

essential OILS do not mix with water, they are oils after all, which makes them hydrophobic. So if you are the type of person who likes putting a drop of lemon EO in your water just remember that the lemon is floating right on top and will be gone in a single gulp (and is very concentrated). If you like lemon put a slice of lemon in your water, it will be delicious and fresh and good for you. Also if you do decide to ingest EO's please let your doctor know if you are under medical care as they can interfere with medications you are prescribed.

Ok, let's talk about #12. Do not use EO's on a pet without the guidance of a veterinary professional trained in essential oil use. 

I found an article from the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA). It is very clear on why this can be quite dangerous and also includes great references to help you further your knowledge. A quick re-cap of the information is that dogs, horses and some farm animals may do well with some topical and inhalation therapy however cats have a sensitive metabolic system and even if used topically they can end up with damaged liver and kidneys. Also to note, tea tree oil (remember that was one of the ones that is "safe" to use undiluted in humans) is TOXIC to cats. Additionally fish, birds, reptiles, rodents and small mammals should not have EO therapy due to metabolic, respiratory and dosing sensitivity.

Alright that is all for this post but stay tuned for more as I can get them written. 

Aromatic regards, 

~your soapsmith

Below are a couple of links I use when looking information up on essential oils:

https://roberttisserand.com/
https://naha.org/explore-aromatherapy/safety/

What’s Curing?

Available January 2019 locations to be announced.

Ingredients: Saponified oils of olive, coconut, palm kernel and castor. Also contains sodium lactate, essential or fragrance oils and colorant. (see below for specifics.)

Lemongrass, grapefruit and basil essential oils,
green chrome oxide and nettle leaf powder.

Spearmint, eucalyptus and peppermint essential oils,
pearly white mica, ultramarine blue and vita burst beads.

Ylang ylang, patchouli essential oils,
vita burst beads and chamomile powder.

Coconut lime fragrance oil,
green chrome oxide and nettle leaf powder.

Lemon and lavender essential oils, no colorants added.

So you wanna make soap......

Well that's positively awesome! I want to share the tips and tricks

(and links) I have found along the way to help you discover your soap making process. If you are just now stumbling across this blog, let me give you the reader's digest version of, well, me. I have been formulating soaps and other body products for the past decade. I used to have a pretty successful soap making business but decided to become smaller so that it is more of a hobby than a labor intensive job. I like it better this way, I went back to making small artisanal batches that are delicious and sized in a way that I can have fun experimenting with new colorants, scents, oils and whatever else comes to mind. So do I still make and sell soap? I do, but it's a hobby now so any money made from it just goes back into supplies. My real passion in life is teaching people things. I get to do lots of educational projects where I work (at a zoo) so I wanted to extend that to this blog. Why not? I am good at making soap and am happy to share knowledge. 

Currently curing in the studio

So let's get rolling kids....LET'S MAKE SOAP! At the bottom of this post I will put all the resource links  I can think of for your convenience. First of all if you are reading this I assume it is because you were doing the google on how to make soap. The type of soap I make is called cold process soap. There are many other styles of soap making, this happens to be the one I enjoy making the most and the one I make most often. I have tried my hand at liquid soap making (too long of a process, and not enough room for creativity for me). I tried hot process.....too ugly.....and I have tried melt and pour which I find to be a lot of fun especially for making cute holiday soaps. 

Melt and Pour Soaps

Melt and pour is super fun, incredibly safe (all the ingredients are mixed together, no lye to mess with), leaves loads of room for creativity and there is no waiting around for the soap to cure! In fact some of my prettiest soaps have been from melt and pour bases. It's also great if you are looking for a cool project to do with small children.

But I digress, back to cold process (CP) soaping. Let's skip the long version of the history lesson. Long story short, many different countries claim to be the home of soap making, it typically involves a hill (conveniently named Sapo hill), an animal sacrifice and the fats from said animal being washed down said hill into a creek/river/etc. where women just happened to be washing clothes and bubbles formed or something like that.....there.....do you feel like a better soaper now that you know the very dodgy history of it all? Lol.....history is funny.

Cold process soap involves three basic components: Lye (sodium hydroxide), water or a liquid to dissolve the lye into and oils or fats as some people call it. That's it. That is what makes the most basic of soaps. As you get better you can play around with essential or fragrance oils, an endless amount of colorants, both natural and synthetic and other additives. 

Ok sounds easy right? I mean.....when you break it down into small steps and do things methodically it can be easy. You just need to pay attention to what you are doing because you are working with a caustic chemical. Wear your proper protective gear, double check your measurements before you pour and make sure you are pouring the correct ingredient. Work clean and try to avoid interruptions during this process, this is the best advice I can give. 

Ok, let's talk supplies. I do recommend having supplies that are for soap making only, don't use your kitchen supplies. I find that the essential and fragrance oils can linger which is unappetizing. Many of my supplies came from the dollar store hardware store, I added to my stock slowly as I needed something. Now I am pretty well set. The only metal you should use is stainless steel, other metals can react with the lye in a bad way. You can also use heavy duty plastic, silicone and heat proof glass. I have a dedicated stainless steel bowl (that I bought at a garage sale for $0.50 cents) that I use for my lye mixture, I also use a stainless steel spoon to stir it. I use plastic bowls to measure and mix my oils into and I use either glass or a little stainless steel measuring cup to measure out my scents. Oh, also, silicon spatulas, I have a bunch from the dollar store so I don't have to stop and clean it off each time I have to mix something different. You will also need some sort of mold to pour your soap in to. My very first mold was a milk carton, you know, the paper ones coated in that waxy plasticy stuff. You can also use plastic take out containers, those are great. I also keep popsicle sticks handy for my mica colorants and what have you. You will also need an accurate digital scale, soap is measured by weight, not volume and some things only require a small amount so it needs to be able to measure very small amounts (less than an oz.). Last, you should have a hand or stick blender. Now, of course you can just stir the absolute hell out of it by hand but a stick blender gets you to trace faster and creates a consistently mixed product so you can feel confident that there are no lye pockets in the batch. Just get a $20 stick blender and move on with your life. I have had the same one since I started soaping, it's worth every penny.

Ok we have basics on supplies now let's talk about a soaping space.

Soapsmith's studio, check out that throwback wood paneling!

Until we moved into our house a few months ago I never had a dedicated soaping space and I was able to make do. I will say, if you can dedicate a corner to soaping do it, you will be happy you did. I used to soap in the kitchen, it wasn't s perfect solution but it was the best place for  it because I needed access to water and lots of surface space for molds and ingredients. I did not have an efficient way to lock my animals out which was not great but after they realized that I was not making food they usually disappeared anyway. Ideally you will be able to soap in a space that is clean and clear of debris, and contaminants that could find their way in to your batch, it will be free of distractions (children, a hungry partner, a cat set on tripping you, etc.) and it will have adequate ventilation. <<<< THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! 

Another important thing to know is what protective gear you should have. Here is what is recommended: Goggles, gloves, long sleeve shirt and pants and wear shoes, some people find the lye fumes to be a bit much and also use some sort of respirator mask. What I like to use is a full face mask and gloves. I almost never wear shoes and in the summer I am NOT going to wear long anything. As a beginner I absolutely wore all the proper PPE, as I figured out my specific process I tweaked things to fit my needs, you will probably do that too. 

Ok, now the fun stuff. The ingredients! Let's talk oils/fats. A really good bar of soap typically uses a combination of hard and soft oils. You can choose to use all vegetable based oils,  you can use rendered animal fats or a combination of both. I have used both but tend toward vegetable oils. It's a matter of preference for you and if you ever end up selling it will be a matter of preference for your customers too. My basic 4 oil bar contains olive oil, coconut oil, palm kernel flakes (sustainably sourced, of course) and castor oil. I have spent many years tweaking this very basic recipe to become the amazing bar of soap it is. Other favorite oils that I use in other recipes are almond, avocado, shea butter and cocoa butter, they all have their own benefits and purpose in a soap. Try to stick to oils that have a long shelf life. Oils, like everything else in life can go bad, they go rancid and smell awful. Also don't waste your money on really expensive exotic oils for soaping. While they may catch someone's eye and create great marketing potential they really aren't going to do much for the skin or impart any of the benefits you would think because soap is a wash off product, save the expensive stuff for lip balms and lotions. 

Other ingredients can be added but work on formulating a really great basic recipe before you throw everything including the kitchen sink into a recipe. To this day I limit my colorants to no more than 2, my scent to no more than 3 essential oils blended together or one fragrance oil and my additives to no more than one per batch. Why? Because restraint is beautiful. There is no need to show your whole bag of tricks in one bar of soap. Plus, when I am testing new ingredients I need to know which ones were successful and which ones are better left out of soap, I can't do that if I have a ton of extras in the recipe.

Alright so how do you come up with your very own recipe? Let's

take a step back and get you on track here. Use someone else's basic soaping recipe, someone who has been doing this for awhile and knows the ins and outs of formulating. When I started out I was NOT formulating my own recipes, I was just trying to remember to put all the ingredients in and not get lye splashed in my face. I bought a lot of books which were incredibly helpful, I still have those books and love lending them out to people hoping to learn the process. My very first book was "The Everything Soapmaking Book" by Alicia Grosso. It is a fantastic book and very easy to understand. She has a bunch of great beginner recipes. My all time favorite book is "Smart Soapmaking" by Anne L. Watson, It's a smallish book that is a really easy read and very to the point. There are other great authors out there too but these are my favorite ones to refer to and share. 

After you have a few batches under your belt and have learned about the qualities that different oils impart on a recipe go ahead and take a stab at formulating your own recipe. It's fun and super cool to make a soap that you came up with all on your own. You will need to run the recipe through a lye calculator, this will help you to know that the correct amount of lye is being used to saponify the oils. I use THIS calculator, I like it because it also gives a number quantification of how the oils will play together in a recipe. I take it with a grain of salt though because other items that you may add outside the calculators abilities can affect the final product. 

Alright, so there you have it, the basics of soap making. It's an awesome journey to take and such a great creative outlet. The possibilities of what you can create are limited only by your imagination. 

What are some other cool things you like to make? 

Toodles
~Your Soapsmith

Resources
Books:
The Everything Soapmaking Book
Smart Soapmaking
Milk Soapmaking
The natural soap book
The soapmakers companion

Vendors:
Bramble berry < my very first suppplies came from here. She also has fantastic tutorials and videos.
Wholesale Supplies Plus
Soapers Choice
Camden Grey
Mountain Rose Herbs

Tutorials and web thingy's:
Soap Queen TV(this is made by bramble berry) 
Teach Soap
Soap Calc
Try to find local classes if possible, as a visual learner I found them to be endlessly helpful and I made some really cool friends too!

What's curing?

I have some soaps-a-curing. It feels good to be making lots and lots of soap again, I really missed it. I
mean I still made between 7-10 lbs per year for family and as gifts but it doesn't compare to planning out really large batches or a bunch of smaller artisanal batches and just taking the day to soap. I few weeks ago I started to get down to it. My hubby helped me to build a really sweet art space in our new house and I wanted to break it in right with some soap!

I made 5 batches right away. I am working to focus more on natural colorants, additives and scents, but sometimes I like to throw caution to the wind and make that coconut lime verbena scented soap that I love so much. My batches were all made with the same base ingredients and I just changed out the scents and colors. Why you may ask? Because the recipe is a good one, it saponifies consistently and creates a bar of soap that it quite lovely. I have been using and perfecting this recipe for years at this point and I feel that it creates a great and consistent product. Also once you find that perfect recipe that makes a great bar of soap you can also cut out a lot of other expenses and streamline ordering which makes good business sense.

The pictures I took were not great this evening, I am still working on better lighting for the studio, I will take new pics and put them into this post....really though, it's smell-a-vision that is needed. They do smell good! I made a few classic scents like lemon/lavender and the coconut lime verbena that I love as well as some newer ones like "Happy Hippy" which is patchouli and ylang ylang then colored with chamomile powder. There is also a "Citrus Sunshine" bar which has various citrus scents and a "Cold Snap" bar which has delicious winter scents such as eucalyptus, peppermint and spearmint.

My house smells divine!

Ta for now,
~Your Soapsmith