Month: October 2016

The best base oils to use for soap are saturated fats. They make the bar harder and last longer. These are usually solid oils that have to be melted before use, such as Coconut oil, Cocoa Butter or Palm Oil.

Then there are the unsaturated fats that can be added to the soap for their properties. Here are some examples of some:

• Sweet Almond Oil is a good moisturiser and skin conditioner

• Avocado oil is a healing oil. It is very moisturising and rich in Vitamins. It is an excellent oil to add to gentle soap bars for children, babies and skin conditions such as eczema.

• Castor oil gives the soap a nice foamy lather, it also attracts moisture to the skin and holds it there.

• Cocoa Butter is an excellent skin softener, helps to make the soap bar harder and holds the moisture to the skin.

• Coconut oil gives the soap an excellent lather but it should not be used as the majority of the oil in your soap as it could be drying to the skin.

• Grape seed oil is a nice, light, inexpensive oil that is easily absorbed into the skin so it doesn’t leave the skin feeling oily.

• Jojoba oil is the closest oil you can get to sebum, the oil that the body creates naturally. It is a very stable oil that conditions the skin and is an excellent emollient for all skin types. It expensive oil though.

• Macadamia oil is a lovely light, easily absorbed oil, it is another good emollient that can add a little luxury to your soap bar.

• Olive oil is a popular base oil for soap. It helps the skin retain its natural moisture as well as attracting moisture to the skin, leaving the skin soft and supple.

• Palm oil is one of the best oils to use in making soap. It makes a good, hard soap with excellent cleaning qualities while still being mild on the skin.

• Safflower oil works well in conjunction with other saturated oils to make a good moisturising soap.

• Sesame oil is considered effective in easing skin conditions such as eczema but should only be added in small amounts so that it does not make the bar too soft.

• Shea Butter has both moisturising and nourishing properties for the skin. It is an excellent ingredient to add to your soap as its properties are not destroyed by the lye. It also adds a lovely creamy colour to your soap.

• Sunflower oil is another inexpensive oil that has good moisturising properties and is high in Vitamin E.

• Wheat Germ oil is a heavy, nourishing oil, high in Vitamin E and good for skin conditions and mature skin.

A very helpful site to use when working out your recipes is www.thesoapcalculator.com

We often get asked how many drops of essential oil to use when making small quantities of product for personal use. There is a very simple way of working this out. However many mls you have in the jar or bottle, convert the number to drops and then halve it.

For example:

For a bottle containing 100ml of Carrier oil or Lotion, add no more than 50 drops of essential oil.

If the product you are making is for young children or for sensitive skin you should halve this again and use no more than 25drops.

The most effective way to use essential oil is topically through the skin or inhalation. In this country an Aromatherapist is not permitted to recommend the oral ingestion of Essential oils. You have to be a suitably qualified medical practitioner in order to prescribe this method of use. The essential oils have to be combined with other, non-essential oil ingredients which have been included for therapeutic use and the product has to be registered with the TGA ARTG. This prescribed essential oil product must contain less than the maximum level considered safe by the Australian National Drugs and Poisons Scheduling Committee. Some companies from the USA do recommend the ingestion of essential oils and even sell empty capsules for you to fill, however, that is not permitted here and these companies have separate Australian websites which do not suggest ingestion or sell these capsules.

It requires an Advanced Diploma of Aromatic Medicine and an extensive knowledge and expertise to recommend the oral ingestion of any essential oil. They can be toxic to the kidneys and liver, damage mucous membrane and the gastric process can alter the effect of the oil.

This is why we at Range Products are not able to make any suggestion of this method and encourage customers to use extreme caution when taking advice from anyone who does not possess these relevant qualifications.

We at Range Products always endeavour to source the highest quality, pure, undiluted essential oils.

There are many misleading terms out there, such as ‘Therapeutic Grade’, ‘Food Grade’, or ‘Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade’. They are all unregulated marketing terms used by companies to mislead customers into falsely believing that they are purchasing as superior product but it in no way guarantees quality. As long as an oil is botanically pure, natural and of good quality, it will be acceptable for aromatherapeutic use.