[blackstone (OP)]

Hello people,

I have a small query (but I suppose size doesn't matter!), I hope you guys can shed some light.
I am trying to purchase some alcohol free (natural) perfume sprays or aftershaves, but have had no luck. I am costantly been told that it is impossible to have the spray affect without the alocohol. Alcohol thins the liquid, hence spray is possible.
Is it possible to get the spray affect without any alcohol content in the perfume?.
PLEASE ADVISE!

Cheers,

Aquib.

[chris]

The normal "carrier" for the fragrance in aftershaves and perfumes is alcohol (often isopropanol) because the fragrances are often alcohol soluble, and the alcohol itself is very volatile meaning that it evaporates rapidly from the skin leaving the perfume behind. Using water as the vehicle is less effective, hence the predominance of alcohol bases.

I regret that I don't know where you can get non-alcoholic versions.

Chris



"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

[Ylide]

The only fragrances I've ever seen that are alcohol-free are scented oils, like patchouli and sandalwood.  (You know, the stuff the hippies wear)

As Chris said, the scents (esters usually) are soluble in alcohol and that's about the only fast-evaporating liquid I can think of that you could spray on yourself without causing tissue damage or toxicity.  Maybe some sort of ether, they're pretty non-reactive, but often TOO volatile and kind of expensive compared to alcohols.



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[Donnah]

Hi Blackstone, welcome to the forum.  No size doesn't matter, it's the way you ask.[)]

There's a pump you can buy that you put olive oil in and it sprays it onto your cookware and bakeware.  So why wouldn't a little atomiser do the same with a scented oil?

BTW Cannabinoid, who are you calling a hippie? [!][]

[Ylide]

If you wear patchouli oil, then I'm callin' YOU a hippie.  Hippie.    (not that there's anything wrong with being one)



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[blackstone (OP)]

Hi,

If I wanted to produce a perfume with a non-alcohol carrier, is that possible? I mean would it give you the same affect as a alcohol based perfume would, in terms of strength of fragrance, longitivity of fragnance...

Cheers

[chris]

Well that would depend upon how water-soluble the fragrance is. Most perfumes are organic molecules (like the esters cannabinoid referred to) which are themselves volatile so that they slowly vapourise from the skin to make you smell nice. Such organic molecules will not dissolve in water, at least in appreciable quantities, but they will dissolve in alcohol. A water-based perfume would not pack the same punch because it would be less volatile.

Chris

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
 - Groucho Marx

[blackstone (OP)]

What I'm trying to ask is, apart from using alcohol, is there any other substance that we can use that will give an end product, that will have a similar affect as a alcohol based product.
[?]

[Donnah]

I find that the oils (applied with a finger) last much longer than the alcohol based sprays (most of which I think stink).  I wore a lovely african violet oil, but the bees agreed that it was nice.  Vanilla is amusing to wear because you hear people around you saying "I smell _____" (cookies, cake, ice cream).  I also like to wear patchouli so people can call me a hippy.[]

[genegenie]

I sometimes wear patchouli too Donnah (but I'm definitely not a hippy[]), mine is in a solid form and it lasts for ages. Cream perfume is quite good as well.

[clarashanks]

Present day perfumers utilize a broad palette of common and manufactured synthetic concoctions. Until the finish of the nineteenth century, perfumers worked with a generally modest number of materials, which were normally inferred, and they made a correspondingly little scope of aroma types, Burberry perfumes principally in the citrus and botanical families to make perfume the fragrance is added to a solution <SPAMMY LINK REMOVED>