# price of fo's and eo's



## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

How much fo or eo do you put in your batches of soap? I do not understand the PPO?? I guess this question comes up, because I was able to try some of Lillians fo's/eo's on a backward bidding thing she had a long time ago. I love her OMH, triple peppermint, and a couple of other things that I got. But I was looking at her new back in business stuff.......$35 and $44 a pound for oils If you put 4 oz of fo in a batch of soap...that would be $8.75 to $11 of fo's in a batch of soap....wow...seems a little high to me.....am I missing something here...am I putting too much in my soap? I really like my soap to have a lot of fragrance....never had any complaints so far. My recipe calls for 56 oz of oils then the goats milk and lye. So I guess it is a small batch...maybe 3.5 lbs I think, I'm not sure never weighed the log. but I get about 14 bars of soap that range in the 5 oz to 6 oz size. 

Got any ideas here? thanks, just kinda thinking out loud. I love Lillian's stuff. I have never ever been disattisfied, I guess I'm just cheap. I reallly need a way to figure out how much a batch of soap is actually costing me. :/ any ideas on how to go about doing that? thanks in advance for your comments...ideas.....

sheryl


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

PPO stands for Per Pound of Oils. So if a recommendation is for .5 oz PPO and you are making a 7 pound batch of soap, that would be 3.5 oz of FO. Or EO. It does vary by the FO or EO, though. Some, you need to do more, some less. For example, mint is usually strong and you don't need very much. I find that for most FOs, I use somewhere in the neighborhood of .7 oz PPO, but there are some where that is just not strong enough.


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## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

okay I think it is the .0 thing that is getting me confused. So how do you take the .5 oz PPO and turn that into 3.5 oz of fo/eo? How do you do the math I guess?

thank you
sheryl


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

.5 oz is 1/2 an oz. So, that means for every pound of oils in your recipe, you'd use 1/2 an ounce (.5) of FO/EO. So 7 times .5 is 3.5, or 1/2 of 7 is 3.5. In math, "of" means "multiply....so a sentence in words that says 1/2 of 7 means 1/2 X 7 in "mathese."


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## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

Oh.....MY........ that is just too simple! Crap I have been going crazy over this issue ever since I started making soap. I will have to copy this into my soap notes.....duh....makes me feel really ah silly? stupid? geeeze...... thank you so much for the explanation.! :blush2

sheryl


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## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

okay here goes another question :laughcry how do you know/find out what the recommend amount is????? I don't recall "all" fo/eo suppliers giving this info......I think age is getting to me....my brain is going..... :crazy

sheryl


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

First off, the general rule, depending upon the scent, but to start, is 1 oz ppo. So for your batch of 56 oz oils, that would be 3.5 oz fo or eo. So it seems like you've got that down.

Are you selling or just making soap for your family? Assume you're selling. How much does it cost you per bar? How much do you sell it at? What's your profit? Of course, the more you buy, the lower your costs. It's all relative. I make some bars that COST too much and I really shouldn't offer them. But then, I make some bars that cost so little that it all evens out. And YES, I've done the overall history of sales and cost analysis and it does work for me. Plus, a couple of my higher cost bars, I just love them. And I have a few loyal customer who love them, too. So I'll keep doing them. The lower cost bars far outsell these bars so in the end, I still make a mighty good profit.

It just depends on your point of view. Cost per bar vs cost of 1 lb of eo or fo. And sales of that bar.


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## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

Well I want to sell of course. I have done a few goat shows selling soap (yeah believe it or not) and done pretty good. I have done a few craft shows and did so-so. I have started doing the Weatherford First Monday Trade days. did okay for a first time I guess. I did have a lot of customers ask me if I would be back next time (YES!) I have been dragging my feet and just selling here and there. But I would really like to get serious about this now. I have experiemented with variations of the Wal Mart recipe.

I started out a while back with a 50lb bucket of lye, 35 lbs of coconut oil, and 50 lbs of another oil and some bits and pieces of different oils like emu, apricot kernal, palm, mango butter, aloe butter and I always put shea butter in my soaps...which I am almost out of.

But I don't remember how much I paid for the lye or coconut oil. I am on my second bucket of coconut oil. So I don't know exactly where to start on figuring out how much the soap is actually costing me. I have been selling it anywhere from $4.50 a bar or 3 for 12. This last year I upped it to $5.5o per bar of 3/$15. But the scary part is I don't know if I am making a profit cause I don't know how much it costs me to make it.

Funny I know exactly on my sewing how much it costs me. 

I was hoping to find some freeby soft ware for soap making out there that might give me a starting point, but nothing is free now days. :blush2

sheryl


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Are you good with Excel? You can plug your costs per lb into cells, then multiply those costs by the amount you use per batch. Divide that by the number of bars, and you'll have your cost per bar.

There is a program that is awesome! Soapmaker. I think the address is www.soapmaker.ca. It's not free, but worth every penny. Tracks your purchases, formulas, costs, keeps inventory, etc.


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## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

I might try messing arouind with the excel, I haven't used it before. I saw the soapmaker software...out of the budget right now, but it looked really good. Thanks

sheryl


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

Good to hear you did good with Weatherford Trade Days- it has *stunk* for me. 
Soapmaker is very good for pricing how much your soap cost and tracking. Something worth budgeting for if you are going to sell a lot of soap imo.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I wouldn't be purchasing from any supplier if I had to use 1OPP of their scent. There is no way with essential oils you should ever have to use that much, especially mints and other single noted scents as top notes. I only have one fragrance oil that I use at 1OPP, and other than essential oils that you use a few ounces for large pours, spending $20 + for soap making oils per pound isn't money well spent. Change your supplier or change your line. Like the list of oils you are using...save those high end oils and high end fragrance oils for leave on products. Vicki


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## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

@ Vicki.....I was afraid you were gonna post on here and say that. :laughcry :laughcry :laughcry

I have fo's from everywhere, Lone Star Candle, Greenleaf, Oregon Trails, Nature's Garden, Bitter Creek, Taylored Concepts, WSP, Royal Aeromatics, Aroma Haven....Soapmaking Essential Oil's, Some old ones from Susan Anderson

None of them to me are strong enough to go less than 1oz PPO. I know the few things I have gotten from Lillian are much stronger, and I can get by with less. 

I guess I just like a strong smelling soap? But it just seems to me cost wise I am using too much. After all this time, I'm back to the drawing board I guess. I guess my biggest problem is being able to afford the good stuff? Grrrrrr

Maybe when the farm sells, I can get what I want.

sheryl :/


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I buy from Aroma Haven and WSP, from your list, not one of the scents I buy do I use 1 OPP. Have you tried them at less to see if you get the same effect? Also as soon as you are done with cure get those soaps wrapped or put into rubbermaid, the soap leaving the ouside of the bar is not the scent fading....you really have to use your bar to see if the scent stuck or not. Vicki


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## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

I guess I will try some at less and see what I get. I usually cure for 3 weeks or 4 weeks then wrap and I have plastic bins with lids I Put the soap in....individual for each scent. I did a pink panties from WSP, and I don't think it would have smelled as good if I had used less than 1 oz PP. But I do think my soap is too costly. I am just gonna have to sit and do the math better. My Aroma Havens have been itty bitty batches cause they were from sample bottles. And I so loved the scents.I have to been able to do a large batch yet.

Thanks for the input Vicki. I appreciate it.

Sheryl


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