# FO vs EO



## CrookedCottage (May 6, 2009)

Putting together my first order for soap making supplies and of course I want to try all kinds of scents but DANG if you couldn't run yourself into the poor house quick with the price of EO's. I really want to avoid synthetics because my skin and sinuses are pretty sensitive but I just don't have piles of cash lying around. Here are my questions:

Where do you guys most often purchase your scents?

What's your general ratio of EO or FO to lbs of oils?

Does anyone have any helpful input as far as being sensitive to smells and the difference between EO's and FO's causing reactions?

Thanks!


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## Guest (Oct 2, 2009)

Hi Beverly
Yes Eo's tend to cost more, some of them can cause skin and sinus problems just as easy as the Fo's.. depending on each person and what they are sensitive to..
Rosemary for example should not be used around pregnant women, cinnamon can burn your skin if used too heavy.. 
I buy most of my Eo's thur coops when I can get them since they are much cheaper that way, but even then some of them are so expensive that I don't use alot of them. I use fo's for the most part. Yrs ago I had some women approach me for some natural soaps, they stated they wanted me to use eo's to make my soaps for them, well they came over to see soaps and ended up buying for the most part soaps with fo's in them.. Many many people tell me that fragrances bother them in soap and lotions, yet when they use mine they don't complain at all. I sometimes wonder if it isn't the chemicals in the commericial stuff and not the fragrances. Not to say that fragrances don't bother some people because they do. But so do the eo's. 
So the choice is yours. I do make a small amount of soaps with just eo's just for my special purist type customers that want no synthetic fragrances in their body care products. But 90 percent of my sales are done with fragrance oils.. 
My standbys with eo's are lavender, peppermint and tea tree oils.. mixing others with them sometimes.. the citrus scents just don't stick, period.. they are great in liquid soaps, but have no staying power in bar soaps.. 
Barb


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Yep, I would love to have a lot more EO only soaps but I'd have to charge more than my customers want to pay. Like Barb, I buy a select few, mostly through co-ops. I have gotten some through Wholesale Supplies Plus and thesage.com. In fact, getting ready to order a few now because I can't wait for another co-op. For fragrances, I now get all my regular line through Nature's Garden. Next year I'm going to try adding some of Aroma Haven's. I just can't have too many suppliers. Paying shipping on one bottle of FO makes the cost too high so with the volume I do I need to be able to order at least 5 bottles at a time to spread the shipping out. Since I'm not ready to order 5lbs of a single scent at a time (yet!) I need to be using multiple scents from a single supplier. Check the review sticky for anything you're considering purchasing, or ask if anyone has used it. It's so frustrating to get a 1 pound bottle of a delicious scent only to find you cannot use it in soap, not to mention a waste of precious funds. :/


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## kidsngarden (Oct 28, 2007)

I can guarantee that if you are looking to sell, FO's will do way better than EO's. Online is where I have sold most of my EO soaps because they are not standing in front of my soaps smelling them. When they smell the FO soaps most are over the moon for them. Like Barb I have had many customers who are fragrance sensitive be able to use my FO products just fine.

For ratios...I use between .5-.7 oz FO per pound of oils used. If I have to use more than that then I won't use that FO. EO's are between .3-.7 oz ppo. I like to get everything through coops that I can, but brambleberry is local to me so I can get their products with no shipping.


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## Merry Beth (Jul 25, 2008)

Why shouldn't rosemary oil be used around pregnant women? I am new to herbs and loving it, but it is difficult to invest the time right now in the research.


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## Guest (Oct 2, 2009)

Can cause miscarriages
Barb


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## CrookedCottage (May 6, 2009)

Thanks, this is very helpful. Interesting that the FO's sell better. I really prefer natural products as a general rule but I am swayed by wonderful scents too! I guess I'm going to purchase small amounts of different FO's and EO's and see what I like and what I react to. If it turns out that they don't bother me then I can be pretty certain they won't be to likely to cause other people problems.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Beverly I have asthma and have to be really careful with perfume, in fact even perfume or cologne on others can trigger and asthma attack. The only FO that I have ever had problems with is rose.

Like others I was a purist to begin with, only EO's, all olive castile soaps. When my health food store account asked me if I did any dupes of Victoria secret perfumes, I started very begrungling to do FO's and now they out number my EO's about 8 to 1.

Fragrance oil doesn't contain the alcohol or other chemicals that cause allergy problems like perfumes do.

Scent strength is purely personal, I do tend to scent strong, it's what sells. 

Get yourself a really good book...I love my Reference Guide for Essential Oils by Connie and Allan Higley.


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## CrookedCottage (May 6, 2009)

Thanks Vicki. I went to a fair today and checked out all the soaper's boothes. For the most part everyone was selling the same old EO's. I bought some bars and the two I liked the best were both FO's! I sniffed a ton of soaps and yes, the only one that bothered me was Rose. 

I'm reading up a storm and getting excited about all this!


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I make a few EO soaps for the few that want them. Lavender will sell whether it is FO or EO and the customer can't tell the difference. My EO soaps are patchouli, tea tree, rosemary and mint, pink grapefruit and a couple of blends. The blends outsell the single note EO's.

I think it is kind of funny when people ask for EO soap and I show them what I have and they end up buying the 3 fer special of all FO soaps. The fragrance sells. I am like Vicki, I try to make strong scented soap since that is what the buying public wants in my area. 

I also have people ask for clay soaps and I always have at least one that is swirled with Australian pink or red clay. Those folks don't seem to care about the scent only that it has clay in it. 

I also have asthma and migraines and was surprised that none of the FO's have caused me a problem. I can even deal with rose. I caution anyone pregnant about not using EO's. Most every EO I have has a disclaimer about pregnancy.

I went to the State Fair Of Texas with my goats and visited the GO Texan Building to check out the soaps and sundires. I was pleased to find out that I can be competitive with these soaps. I went everyday so I could get an idea of what was selling. According to the missing soaps before they restock, the 5-6 oz soaps with a cigar band label were going the fastest. SOme of the displays were so refined they looked like factory products. Beautiful but somehow lost the handcrafted appeal. I too was attracted to the displays with soaps make in log molds and that were larger and not perfect.
I LOVE looking at other people's products are shows and fairs. I learn so much. Picked up a super idea for gift packages for Christmas and a neat packaging idea that I might use for gift sets since it is a little more time consuming than I am used to. Made up a few just to check out the reaction for my monthly market next weekend.


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