Cinnamon bark oil
Under the IFRA Standards a rinse-off soap may hold up to 0.65 % of this oil, a limit set by its Cinnamic aldehyde.
IFRA maximum for soap
Restricted constituents, at the typical levels IFRA's annex gives:
- Cinnamic aldehyde
- 75 %
- Eugenol
- 2 %
- Benzyl benzoate
- 0.6 %
- Coumarin
- 0.6 %
- o-Methoxycinnamaldehyde
- 0.5 %
- Cinnamic alcohol
- 0.3 %
- Benzaldehyde
- 0.2 %
- Safrole
- 0.2 %
- Isoeugenol
- 0.02 %
Worked out from typical levels. A supplier's certificate for your lot comes first, and its figure is the one to follow.
Check a blend against its IFRA limits and list its allergens in the fragrance and allergen calculator.
How essential oils behave in soap, and how much to use: Scenting soap.
Identity and labelling
Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Bark Oil
- Botanical name
- Cinnamomum verum
- CAS
- 84649-98-9
- EC
- 283-479-0
The EU names this oil itself as a fragrance allergen (Regulation (EU) 2023/1545, Annex III entry 349): it goes on the label by name above 0.01 % in a rinse-off product.
What it is and how it behaves in soap
Cinnamon bark oil is distilled from chips and offcuts of the bark of true or Ceylon cinnamon, Cinnamomum verum, and Sri Lanka is its only regular supplier (FAO). It is the warmest and sweetest of the cinnamon oils, about two-thirds cinnamic aldehyde (EFSA), and FAO once called it probably the most highly priced of all essential oils.
In soap it can behave like cassia. Faiola names cinnamon among the essential oils that accelerate trace and keeps slow, high-olive recipes for them. Cinnamic aldehyde is a strong skin sensitiser (SCCS), so the IFRA figure on this page is low; that figure is the ceiling. Cable, who has felt it burn even diluted, uses cinnamon leaf instead.
The bark oil is often replaced with cheaper leaf oil (Gafner and colleagues). Keep it away from pets: the Merck Veterinary Manual lists cinnamon oil among those that may harm the liver of cats and dogs.
Sources
- CosIng, the cosmetic ingredient database: CINNAMOMUM ZEYLANICUM BARK OIL, European Commission
- Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 amending Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 as regards labelling of fragrance allergens in cosmetic products, European Commission. Annex, entry 349
- J. J. W. Coppen, Flavours and fragrances of plant origin (Non-Wood Forest Products 1), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (1995). Distilled from bark chips, featherings and quillings; Sri Lanka the only regular supplier of cinnamon bark and leaf oils; probably the most highly priced of all essential oils in the early 1990s
- EFSA FEEDAP Panel, Safety and efficacy of feed additives consisting of essential oils from the bark and the leaves of Cinnamomum verum J. Presl (cinnamon bark oil and cinnamon leaf oil), EFSA Journal (2022). Sri Lankan bark oil, (E)-cinnamaldehyde 65 to 71 %
- Anne-Marie Faiola, Pure Soapmaking, Storey Publishing (2016). High-olive recipes for accelerating essential oils such as cinnamon; cinnamon at 0.6 % of the oils in one recipe
- Kelly Cable, The Natural Soap Making Book for Beginners, Althea Press (2017). Cinnamon bark can burn skin even diluted; use cinnamon leaf, not bark
- Gafner and colleagues, Botanical ingredient forensics: detection of attempts to deceive commonly used analytical methods for authenticating herbal dietary and food ingredients and supplements, Journal of Natural Products 86, American Chemical Society (2023). Cinnamon bark oil is commonly substituted with the less costly cinnamon leaf oil
- Opinion on fragrance allergens in cosmetic products (SCCS/1459/11), Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, European Commission (2012). Cinnamal and Cinnamomum zeylanicum bark oil among the established contact allergens
- Kia Benson, Toxicoses From Essential Oils in Animals, Merck Veterinary Manual, Merck & Co. (2025). Cinnamon oil among those that are potentially hepatotoxic to animals