Vetiver oil
None of the restricted materials in IFRA's annex limits this oil in rinse-off soap.
IFRA maximum for soap
no IFRA limit in soap
Restricted constituents, at the typical levels IFRA's annex gives:
- alpha-Cedrene
- 0.2 %
- beta-Cedrene
- 0.1 %
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
Vetiveria Zizanoides Root Oil
- Botanical name
- Chrysopogon zizanioides
- CAS
- 8016-96-4, 84238-29-9
- EC
- 282-490-8
The EU does not name this oil itself as an allergen to label, but some of its constituents may be: the fragrance allergen tool works them out for a recipe.
What it is and how it behaves in soap
Vetiver oil is steam-distilled from the roots of a tall grass, Chrysopogon zizanioides. ISO recognises oils from Haiti, Indonesia, Réunion, China, Madagascar, Brazil and the Comoros (ISO 4716), and smallholders around Les Cayes in Haiti grow much of the world's supply (Ouyang and colleagues). It is thick and dark, and smells smoky, earthy and woody.
It is a base note (Cable), and a little fixes lighter scents in a bar. Cable uses it at 1.2 to 1.5 % of the oils with lemongrass, cypress or citrus, and Failor in a woodland blend; start with a small share, since it can dominate. The IFRA figure on this page is the ceiling.
It has always been costly: in 1908 its price kept it to the finest soaps (Simmons and Appleton). Half of eight commercial vetiver oils in one study were adulterated, some with vegetable oil (Schripsema and colleagues).
Recipes that use it
Sources
- CosIng, the cosmetic ingredient database: VETIVERIA ZIZANOIDES ROOT OIL, European Commission
- ISO 4716:2013, Essential oil of vetiver [Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) Roberty, syn. Vetiveria zizanioides (L.) Nash], International Organization for Standardization (2013). Steam distillation of the roots; origins Réunion, China, Haiti, Indonesia, Madagascar, Brazil and Comoros
- Ouyang and colleagues, The smelling principle of vetiver oil, unveiled by chemical synthesis, Angewandte Chemie International Edition 60, Wiley (2021). About 60 % of world vetiver oil comes from the Les Cayes area of Haiti
- Kelly Cable, The Natural Soap Making Book for Beginners, Althea Press (2017). Vetiver among the base notes; at 1.2 to 1.5 % of the oils
- Catherine Failor, Making Transparent Soap, Storey Publishing (2000). Vetiver in her North Woods fragrance formula
- W. H. Simmons and H. A. Appleton, The Handbook of Soap Manufacture, Scott, Greenwood & Son (1908). The price of vetivert oil makes its use prohibitive except in the highest class soaps
- Schripsema and colleagues, Differential NMR and chromatography for the detection and analysis of adulteration of vetiver essential oils, Talanta 237, Elsevier (2022). Four of eight commercial vetiver oils were adulterated; GC-MS missed the vegetable oil