I also now know why I appreciate the wonderful scents that the real artisans work hard to produce. So that means I understand it when there are different prices for different products made by the one person. It means they are using fair dinkum EO's and natural oils for their products. I get it that some would baulk over paying high prices for what is essentially just a smell. But when you breathe in the intoxicating scent of beautiful rich oils that are blended to perfection then... wow! For me, it adds a different dimension to a shave.
Thank you for raising this important and very interesting issue
@filobiblic , you are quite correct of course. There are different 'types' of EO's however, being that the methods of extraction and resultant purity vary - the common factor they all share is expense generally speaking and this expense is based on the cost of the organic material used to produce the EO, the scarcity of that material and the percentage of volatile compounds the organic material contains initially.
For example take Musk EO, Musk can be obtained from the killing of various animals and obtained in minute quantities as a result (this trade is regulated by CITES aka 'The Washington Convention', however a black market flourishes). Consequently musk from animal sources is incredibly scarce and expensive, and quite frankly due to ethical reasons I choose not to use, buy or support this specific form of the essence. Black Market Musk sources exist, and are available to purchase via .onion addresses and marketplaces for those curious. Fortunately they are illegal to procure, import or possess in Australia attracting substantial penalties.
More reasonably priced is Musk EO derived from the Hibiscus Flower seed
(Abelmoschus moschatus). So here we have a sustainable, excellent source of musk that does not rely on the torture and killing of animals. For this reason a majority of perfumes (big name ones) use Musk derived from plant sources. That being said, it is still very expensive due to the low amounts the plant produces and the high volume of fresh flowers needed to produce the oil, and the method of extraction. Country of origin and purity generally dictate the still expensive prices.
The 3 methods of EO Extraction
EO extraction methods (I think as a non-chemist) are fairly complex but I will try to expand on the nature of Essential Oils and then Fragrance Oils, their prices and other features and the paradigm. Obviously it is chemistry and I am not a chemist so hopefully
@alfredus and
@TomG our resident Chemists will jump in and correct my inevitable errors.
- Cold Pressed EO - This method relies on plants with abundant sources of hydrocarbons, alcohols, ketones - Bergamot, Lemon, etc and as such is relatively cheap. There are grades of EO's of course, the cleanliness and specific methodology dictates purity but I won't go into this, it's bloody complicated.
- Steam Extracted EO (Distillation) - This method is quite common to those EO's that are expressed in reasonable abundance by the plants/organic materials (Lavender, Patchouli, Peppermint). Flowers, Leaves, bark, wood, etc is placed on a porous tray that sits above a volume of water, the water is heated to produce steam, the steam rises and exits through a cylindrical glass tube to condense, this condensation runs off to a tube. Dependent on the type of material, this process can take anywhere from 2 to 48 hours. It's known as fractional distillation and can be fairly complicated from my reading. The end result can be a liquid OR as I discovered an 'Absolute' which is a mass of crystals with residual solvent. There is also a rarer and now less common Enfleurage method (google) of extraction using fats or lipids but I won't get into this here
- Carbon Dioxide (Sub and Super)critical Carbon Dioxide (C02) Distillation - From what I gather and understand, Carbon Dioxide gas that is very, very cold is used as a 'solvent' and is introduced into a pressurised vessel containing the organic material. It exits the chamber and condenses again, taking with it the desired compounds. This method is reserved for scare or 'tricky' compounds as the yields are quite low and the process takes a long duration however it produces very pure oils. Not unsurprisingly most of the desirable EO's are produced in this way as my bank balance attests!
- Tinctures (Oleoresin) - Not really EO's at all as they contain vast amounts of impurities, chlorophyll etc. In short a quantity of plant material, roots, bark etc is set to rest in a vessel of alcohol or oil and left to steep for 6 months. Vanilla Extract used in cooking is an example. You take 5 or 6 Vanilla pods, slit them down the middle, place in 100mls of alcohol in a sealed container and shake daily. The vanilla seeps into solution along with everything else in the pod. This method produces low concentrations and many impurities and is therefore not used in perfumery.
As an aside, 12% C02 Extracted Vanilla (12%) is $118.00 for 5 grams - this is what we use in perfumes/splashes. Furiously expensive and in part why most wet-shaving splashes/aftershaves use either Oleoresin based Vanilla, or the even cheaper fragrance oil.
So there we are, 3 basic methods described for obtaining essential oils in a very novice (and probably incorrect) terms, I am betting our resident chemists are shuddering, shaking their heads and groaning at my descriptions but there you go
Fragrance Oil
These are compositions made up of Essential Oil components and aromatic chemicals. There are around 4000-5000 approved 'aroma chemicals' available to purchase from my reading, they are combined in weighed quantities and together approximate a fragrance which is sold as so and so scent. This is a simplification of course, chemists work with these compounds to produce ranges of scents that are then branded, labelled and sold to consumers.
Fragrance oils can be
essential for perfumers in that there are simply some compounds and scents that are not available as essential oils, many of the most successful and largest brands of perfume available on the market comprise mostly pure essential oils but with the addition of Fragrance oils or compounds to complete the scent, the
defining factor is the percentage of Essential Oils to fragrance oils.
So what??, What is it exactly you are trying to say or impart here ?
Well, to be succinct I am trying to say you get what you pay for. The thing to remember I guess is that most 'artisan' aftershave splashes are 3%-5% strength and all sell for
around the same price. As I am making aftershave splashes and balms myself and therefore have a bias of sorts in the interests of full disclosure and being honest I will leave people to re-read
@filobiblic's last post and what I have posted here and then to draw their own conclusions as to the products they choose to buy and use based on these examples using approximate cost values.
It has to be remembered: Fragrance oils are often used to
compliment 'bases' of expensive essential oils for the sole reason that not every scent can be produced as an essential oil. If you are making a simple fragrance say Sandalwood-Bergamot then an artisan will simply use two expensive oils, the same goes for a genuine Fougère and many other historical accords. However, and this is a very salient point, in many of the modern scent accords fragrance oils (well, specific aromatic chemicals more accurately) comprise the original accord. The risk is chucking out the baby with the bath-water when it comes to fragrance oils, but do remember too - an artisan who chooses to use much cheaper (and imho substantially inferior) fragrance oils for a whole accord is doing so for a reason.
Australian Sandalwood Steam-Distilled
(Santalum Spicatum) 18ml $75.00
Indian Sandalwood Steam-Distilled
(Santalum Album) 18ml $160.00
West Indian Sandalwood Steam-Distilled
(amyris spicatum) 18ml $9.00
Sandalwood Fragrance Oil 100ml $12.00
Sandalwood fragrance oil can be bought wholesale at $89 for a litre, cheaper in 5 litres and even cheaper in 10 litres. So I'm sure we can all see where this is going without explicitly stating it.
Conclusion
I was highly reluctant to explore this area, mostly out of apprehension that it would be misconstrued, and to be perfectly frank and honest out of a sense of keeping with the 'group think' that seems to envelope the wet-shaving communities around the globe - we rarely meaningfully criticise, evaluate or comment on 'quality' beyond superficial and often superfluous commentary and high-fives. To evidence this I offer my substantial and extensive searching of several wet-shaving forums around the globe, certainly to the best of my knowledge I could find no meaningful discussion of formulations, essential oil V Fragrance oil issue, quantities or qualities of composition of various solutions(aftershaves) on any of them - I am of course willing to stand corrected if anyone can unearth anything comparable to what I have detailed here.
Now I am not attacking any producer or artisan specifically, I am simply presenting information based on my own reading and research and further expanding on an area with data that Phil so kindly initiated in the spirit of knowledge, learning and open discussion. Before anyone gets the pitch-fork brigade onto me, please at least consider my motives and remember that I will quite proudly stand behind my intentions and the information I have posted.
In concluding the frank and open honesty disclosure I have to admit that in order to protect many commercial interests and many often small vendors who I do not personally know but comprise our wet-shaving 'community', I have withheld information. I feel in posting a lot of what I have learnt and the information I have gathered would cause serious harm to many vendors in the wet-shaving community. The information itself would not assist anyone whatsoever in any shape or form, or by any conception or idea in creating an aftershave I will say outright.
I will leave it there, the chemists among us will no doubt already know where this is going exactly. With a little thinking and reading of this thread most people can deduce the essence of what is withheld. I won't be addressing this again, please don't ask
I hope you enjoyed this weeks under the influence of influenza ramble, as always corrections, comments, advice, compliments or requests for more information or explanation are always welcome. As I mentioned previously, I have now 4 or 5 aftershaves maturing that will be ready in the coming weeks. I have also obtained an excellent commercial base for an aftershave balm and experiments as to quantity of 'base' oils have commenced in that regard. It is my hope to send out samples in a week or so once the suitable containers and equipment arrives to package the items.
