Essential Oil Hand Scrub

I'm in the process of moving the content from this blog to my new website. The information from this post has moved to Hand Essential Oil Recipes.

Using Essential Oils for Soap Making

You can use essential oils for soap making to create soaps with both a pleasant scent and possible therapeutic benefits (if you use therapeutic essential oils and add them near the end of the soapmaking process).

Although the process of making soap is beyond the scope of this post, here's some basic information, so you know what's involved. For more details, see any of the mentioned references.

To make cold process soaps, you combine fatty acids (almost any oil, from beef tallow to olive oil) and sodium hydroxide (lye).

For cold process soaps, Cathy Winsby of Soap Making Essentials recommends 3 to 4 teaspoons (15 to 20 ml or 0.5 to 0.7 ounce) of essential oil for each pound of base oil. She notes that some people use as much as one ounce of essential oil for each pound of base oil, but that much oil creates a very strong scent that not everyone likes or can tolerate.

You want to add the essential oils near the end of the soapmaking process, after the lye has mostly evaporated, because lye can damage essential oils.

A variation is hot process soaps, where you heat all the ingredients to put the soap through various stages. When the excess water evaporates, the soap is ready to cool and then use.

For melt and pour soaps, you purchase a clear soap base, melt the blocks, add color and scent, and place the melted mixture into molds to harden into solid soap. This approach is especially good if you want to get your children involved.

For the methods that use heat, you also want to add the essential oils near the end of the process to retain the most therapeutic value.

Which essential oils to use? You can use any oil that is not irritating to the skin. It's also important to use only high-quality oils.

Floral scents are popular: jasmine, lavender, neroli, rose, and ylang ylang.

Citrus scents are also popular: grapefruit, lemon, orange, and tangerine.

Men may prefer earthy scents (frankincense, myrrh, patchouli, or vetiver) or woodsy scents (cedarwood or sandalwood) or spicy scents (ginger or nutmeg).

For more about soapmaking:

Saponifier Magazine is all about soap, toiletry, and candle making.

Teach Soap provides many recipes, tips, and tutorials.

Want video instruction? Get this cold process soap making video.

What are Aromatherapy Oil Burners?

Aromatherapy oil burners (or an essential oil burner) is a device that uses heat to diffuse the scent of essential oils into the air. Burners come in two types: those that use candles and those that use electricity.

Candle aromatherapy burners can lend a nice ambiance to a room, as long as you use them safely. Candle burners can be simple, like this one:

Or something decorative, like this:

Electric oil burners offer the safety advantage of no flame and also come in many decorative types, like this one:

The disadvantage of using heat to diffuse essential oils is that the heat may degrade the therapeutic value of the oils. That's why many aromatherapists prefer cold-air aromatherapy diffusers. Cold-air diffusers use pressure to atomize the essential oils into small particles and release them into the air.

Although cold-air diffusers cost more, they also retain the therapeutic value of the essential oils. Diffuser World offers a selection of cold-air diffusers.