Scented Sizzlers & CLP: Why You’ll Hear 10% and 100%

This question comes up a lot with scented sizzlers, and the reason you’ll hear conflicting advice isn’t because the regulations are unclear. It’s because the product itself hasn’t been properly tested.

Why wax is straightforward

With candles and wax melts, we have decades of industry testing behind us.

Most waxes are proven to safely hold fragrance oil at around 10% without leaching. Because of that, fragrance suppliers can legitimately issue 10% CLP classifications for wax products. The fragrance is bound within the wax matrix, which reduces free oil migration and gives predictable, testable behaviour.

That’s why 10% CLP exists for candles. It’s not guesswork. It’s evidence-based.

Why salts are different

Scented sizzlers are usually salt-based, and salts don’t behave like wax.

They do not chemically bind fragrance oil in a known or tested way. Without proper absorption and migration testing, there’s no reliable way to say:

• how much fragrance is actually retained
• how much remains free on the surface
• or how it behaves once packaged, stored, and handled

This is the missing piece that causes the confusion.

So why does advice conflict?

Because in the absence of testing, people take different positions.

Some suppliers and advisors assume the fragrance is “diluted” in the salts and apply a 10% CLP, treating it similarly to wax.

Others take the most cautious legal position and say scented sizzlers should be labelled using the 100% CLP, because that reflects the hazard classification of the fragrance oil itself rather than an assumed level of absorption.

The regulations haven’t changed. The risk tolerance has.

Where responsibility actually sits

Ultimately, the responsibility sits with the person placing the product on the market.

That means it’s down to the maker to determine whether the salts are genuinely absorbing and retaining the fragrance oil, or whether free oil is still present. In reality, proving that reliably would require proper absorption and migration testing. That’s equipment and testing most small makers simply don’t have access to.

Because of that, “I was told 10% was fine” isn’t the same as having evidence to support it.

The honest bottom line

Until salts are properly tested in the same way wax has been, there isn’t a universally “correct” percentage to apply in the way there is for candles and melts.

That’s why you’ll hear both 10% and 100% quoted, and why the decision ultimately comes down to how much risk you’re willing (and able) to justify.