Homemade Soap Ingredients…and where to find them

Finding Handmade Soap Ingredients

Kit are available for the crafter starting out making soap. These kits supply everything you need to make a few bars of soap, the oils, scents and colors are all included.

You can get these through soap supply stores or even on-line through E-bay or Amazon.

House of Crafts Organic Soap Making Kit

If you want to buy individual oils, scents and colors for making your own soap it can sometimes be tricky trying to get the best price.

I will offer some suggestions on where you might be able to find handmade soap supplies.

Olive Oil

This often comes in 4 Q or 4L jugs in the bulk section of your grocery store.If you just want to try out soap making, this may be the best place to start.If you are looking for larger quantities it would be better to find a restaurant or soap making supply company.

Canola Oil

Canola oil is way less expensive than Olive Oil, it can also be found in the bulk section of your grocery store, but you are sure to get an even better price through a soap making supply store or restaurant supplier.




Coconut Oil

I would definitely go to a soap supply store if you are looking for more than 5 lbs.  Coconut oil can be very costly in the grocery store and soap supply stores buy it in such large quantities they can give you a better price.  You can get small pails the size of ice cream pails up to 50 lb pails.  The larger the quantity it seems the better the price.

Palm and Palm Kernal Oil

These two oils can be harder to find.  They are considered way too high in saturated fat for human consumption so you are unlikely to find them at a restaurant supply store.  You can however still find these oils from the soap supply stores.  Make sure the Palm oil your are buying comes from a  certified sustainable source, because some of the Palm out there is coming from non sustainable sources where rain forests are being destroyed to grow Palm Trees.

Essential Oils

Depending on what you are looking for for Essential Oils, there are some wholesalers out there that sell Essential Oils in large quantities.

This is often where the soap supply stores will be buying their essential oils from.

So depending on the quantity you are looking to buy you can try and go direct to the wholesaler or buy from the soap supply store.

Most of the time you will probably buy your oils from a soap supply store.  Buying from wholesalers often means having a minimum order $200 or more.

Fragrance Oils

Fragrance oils should not be confused with Essential Oils or Perfume Oils,  fragrance oils are much cheaper than Essential oils and come in all kinds of scents.

These scents can be wonderful, but be careful when buying them that you buy fragrance oils that are free of Phthalates and parabens.

Some cheaper Fragrance oils will have these harmful chemicals so just beware if you want to make your soap as natural as you can you want your fragrances to be free of phthalates and parabens.

Some suppliers will offer scent samples, and some don’t.  I order my essential oils and fragrance oils from different companies, some are better than others and a musk from one company will smell different from another.  I use essential oils where ever possible, but the cost of some are just to expensive.

Lye or Sodium Hydroxide

Sodium Hydroxide – Pure – Food Grade (Caustic Soda, Lye) (10 Pound)

You can buy this at the local hardware store in the cleaning sections or at a cleaning supply store.

The industrial grade of lye is not always as good as the grade that you can purchase through your soap supply store, so your better off to get it there.

Lye can be purchased in small container or in large quantities up to 50 lbs or more.

Sodium Hydroxide – Pure – Food Grade (Caustic Soda, Lye) (8 Ounce)

Lye is considered a dangerous cargo, if you are ordering it on-line be aware that is can not be shipped through the postal service. If you don’t live in a large centre or near the soap supply store the lye will have to be shipped by courier or bus, the cost will depend on how far it has to ship.

Shipping

Most supplies can be shipped using the postal service.  If you add about 10% for shipping that should take care of your costs, but if  you are buying from another country the shipping fees can sometimes be too expensive with duty etc.  I once ordered some waterproof labels from another country and the duty was more than the labels.  I learned and never did that again.

Minimum Orders

Buying soap making supplies from wholesalers often requires a minimum order, which is fine if you are making soap to sell, but if you are making soap as a hobby you are better of buying from a hobby store.

 

 

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