PerfuMate › IFRA limits › Birch tar oil
Is Birch tar oil banned in perfume?
IFRA standard: Birch wood pyrolysate · Category 4, 51st Amendment
Prohibited
IFRA prohibits Birch tar oil in fine fragrance (Category 4, 51st Amendment): it may not be added to a perfume at any level.
Where it arrives only inside another material, the data gives no tolerated figure: the calculator shows the amount and marks it No published figure.
Which materials contain Birch tar oil?
Sold as Birch tar oil itself; these may not be used:
It also arrives inside other materials. The limit is on the total, so the calculator adds every source together. The largest carriers in PerfuMate's catalog, by their typical composition:
| Material | Typical content |
|---|---|
| Wood Smoke (F-TEC) | 8% |
| Leather (F-TEC) | 5% |
| Castoreum Base (synthetic) | 3% |
Shares are the catalog's typical values. A real batch varies with origin and season, and your supplier's analysis (GC-MS or certificate of analysis) is the real figure.
A worked example
A 100 g concentrate, bottled as an eau de parfum at 18%:
| Material | Weighed |
|---|---|
| Birch tar oil rectified | 1 g |
| Ethylene Brassylate no IFRA limit | 99 g |
Even 1 g in 100 g is too much: the calculator marks Birch tar oil Prohibited, and no strength makes this formula pass.
Or paste these lines into the calculator:
Birch tar oil rectified 1 g Ethylene Brassylate 99 g
Questions
Is Birch tar oil banned in perfume?
Yes. IFRA prohibits it in Category 4 at any level.
Does this limit apply to candles or soap?
No. This is Category 4, fine fragrance on skin. Other products sit in other IFRA categories with other limits, which these pages and the calculator do not cover.