Formulation Tip: Scales For Measuring Small Amounts Of Essential Oils And Other Ingredients

Posted by Li Wong on Nov 29, 2018 in Aromatherapy, Articles, Formulation, Herbalism, Natural Perfumery | 2 comments

I spoke about a few aromatherapy and essential oil formulation myths and misconceptions in the Beyond The Essential Oil Recipe Online Summit. In my presentation, I talked about choosing the right type of scale, when measuring milligrams (mg) and grams (g). Here is some more information on choosing a scale to use when formulating products.

This short article is part of my tip article series.

What Type of Scales Should You Use For Measuring Small Amounts Of Essential Oils, Absolutes, CO₂ extracts, Oleoresins, and Other Ingredients?

When you are measuring small amounts of ingredients, it is best to use a scale that measures down to 0.01 g or better yet 0.001 g. This is important when you are measuring certain ingredients in tiny amounts, such as essential oils, absolutes, CO₂ extracts, oleoresins, etc.

These measurements are fractions of a gram, so when buying a scale pay very close attention to the measurements that it goes down to. There are many ‘gram scales’ but not every gram scale can be used to accurately measure tiny amounts of essential oils, since their units do not go down enough.  For example, many gram scales only measure by the full gram, such as 1 g, 2 g, and so on, and they do not measure mg or lower. Or another example, many people buy scales that go down to 0.1 g, since they tend to be less expensive. However this is not low enough to accurately measure small amounts of essential oils and other aromatics, since many cosmetic formulators consider a ‘drop’ to be about 30 mg or 0.03 g.

Scales can get expensive: usually very accurate ones cost a couple hundred or more, however, you can still find good quality ones that cost between $20-50.

I have several scales, but a couple of the scale brands I recommend are Jennings and My Weigh. Ohaus is also supposed to be good, but they are very expensive.

Want to learn more about aromatherapy formulation?

If you would like to learn about when to use preservatives in products, check out my preservative article! Check out my article on basic tools to learn which basic supplies and equipment to get when formulating!

If you have any questions about scales for aromatherapy formulation, please ask them in the comments of this article! For more information or if you have questions about aromatherapy, herbalism, natural perfumery, formulating, botany, and eco living, please join Plant Alkemie Institute of Holistic Botanical Studies’ Facebook group and also Plant Alkemie Institute of Holistic Botanical Studies Facebook business page.  And check out more articles here on Plant Alkemie Institute of Holistic Botanical Studies’ website:  https://www.plantalkemie.com.

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