What Exacty is an Absolute?

Happy 4th of July everybody! 

I was recently asked "What is the difference between an essential oil, an absolute, and a fragrance oil?"  Since I already blogged about the difference between essential oils and fragrance oils, I'll focus on absolutes.  

An essential oil is a liquid that is generally distilled (most frequently by steam) from the leaves, stems, flowers, bark, roots, or other elements of a plant. These are oils that are naturally occuring in the plant, often referred to as the plant's essence (thus named "essential oils"). 

Absolute oils are natural oils extracted from flowers, leaves or bark. An absolute oil is not really an essential oil, it is an essence.  They have very high concentrations of fragrance and a little goes a long way.  Absolute oils are also generally more expensive to buy than essential oils, because the process of extraction is more difficult, time consuming, and expensive. 

Here are the "short & sweet" steps of extracting oils for absolutes:

1. The botanicals are placed in drum together with a solvent mixture, usually alcohol or some other hydrocarbon such as hexane . The solvent is then allowed to be absorbed into the extract. Vacuum distillation is then applied to remove the solvent, leaving behind a material called a concrete or a resin.  Another method is through enfleurage:  The botanicals are placed in fats, allowing the fragrance to be absorbed into the fat over the space of a few days. This process is repeated until the fat is saturated with the desired density of fragrance.
2. The concrete (or resin) is washed with alcohol to extract the aromatic compounds, after which it is distilled to leave behind the pure essence, the absolute oil.  There is now a new method of absolute oil extraction but it is very expensive - through the use of carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide acts as a solvent which almost instantaneosly extracts the oil, and because of the low temperature, there is no heat damage to the oil. Due to the expense of this process, however, it is not yet widely used, but is the most natural method of extraction for absolute oils. 

I hope this helps everyone understand the difference between essential oils and absolute oils.  Keep in mind that absolute oils CAN be extracted without the use of chemicals, and you can now find those natural options, especially on the internet.  

Do you have experience working with absolutes?  What are your feelings about them? Let us know.

Candace 

RedSunflower Designs

Why I Make Natural Bath & Body Products

Hello all, hope everyone is having a fabulous Sunday and wonderful weather :)!

So about a week ago I had posted a question on my Facebook page asking what everyone would like to see me blog about, and from the great questions I got, this week's blog was born.  I was asked how I came to be in this business, my passions, and what I like/dislike about being a business owner.  Since some of you may be new to my blog/Facebook/Twitter and business, I thought I would make this week's blog about how I got started making natural bath & beauty products. 

I've always has a preference for natural versus your standard commercial products.  As someone with very sensitive skin, I find that alot of the chemicals and preservatives used in commercially-produced products really irritate my skin.  And to be honest, I also tend to be really picky about things like consistency of products :P!  Another issue I often have with most products is the scent.  I have a pretty strong sense of smell, and because of that, often find that the scents used in perfumes & lotions are abit strong for me.  I like to smell nice, of course, but I don't like the whole "walk away and leave a scent trail thing".  You know when you talk to someone wearing a strong perfume, and for like 10 minutes after they leave, you still smell their perfume?  I'm not a big fan of that, personally. 

So, with all of this in mind, I decided one day to give it a try doing it myself, since I couldn't find anything that was natural, that was in my budget (I really can't justify spending $50 on creams, ya know?), and that was exactly the scent I was looking for.  Since I've been working with essential oils for various purposes for years, being able to blend these comes pretty naturally to me; this was the easy part. There was some definite tweaking of recipes for my lotion & body butter bases, with the first batch I ever attempted coming out very, um, firm (we're talking shellac, people).  After one or two rounds that did have to be tossed, I had it down.  

I keep a recipe book, so to speak, of my final formulas for all products.  I look at this as more of a base idea, as I'm always trying to improve my products, by adding in extra antioxidants or even changing out one ingredient for another if it's beneficial.  

Anyway, I hope this has given everyone an idea of how I got into the natural bath & beauty products game.  I love coming up with new blends and formulas, and am always working on new and different things, so check back often for new products!

If there are articles you would like to see in my blog, please feel free to leave a comment or post something to my Facebook page.  Also, leave a comment about this article, and let me know what you guys think!

Candace

RedSunflower Designs