Best ingredients to buy in bulk to get started?

[saltydog]

Wow, I usually just buy gallons, but since we're crunching numbers, I'm thinking maybe I'll go for the 50lb. drum of CO, works out to $0.11/oz. for me too!
That's alot of salt soap

 

[Soapy Gurl]

It really depends on how bulk you are talking about. If you are new at soaping probably a gallon? Olive, coconut and palm. Then some smaller amounts of oils to play around with, 16oz. Shea butter is a favorite, avocado oil, cocoa butter, there are so many to choose from. Those three main oils tend to be the staple.

 

[Dennis]

My NaOH comes from Essentials Depot. Purchase 10lbs food grade w/free shipping for $34.99. I have to pay sales tax since they're in Florida.
If you're comparing prices from vendor to vendor always include the shipping when you calculate price/oz. Sometimes the results are surprising.

 

[kharmon320]

I also buy my Lye from Essential Depot, but I buy the Technical grade. It's cheaper for me to buy (5) 2lb bottles and pay for shipping than the 10lbs with free shipping. It saves me $5 or $6 dollars to do it that way. But, I'm in Georgia, so shipping may be a lot higher for others.

I don't really have the space or desire for the 50lbs of coconut oil, so I just buy it at Walmart. It comes in 31.5oz containers next to the shortening. I priced some of the gallon containers of CO at Soapers Choice, but it was still cheaper for me to buy at Walmart. I also buy the big tub of Lard at Walmart at times. However, I have purchased Tallow/Lard/Palm from Soapers Choice. I was buying my OO from Sam's, but recently switched to Costco which is cheaper for me. HTH!

Welcome!

 

[judymoody]

Sweet T, My advice (learned personally) is to take it slowly. I'd buy in gallon size CO, OO, PO. You might wnat to try smaller sizes of PKO, Avocado, Castor. (try Wholesale Supplies Plus, "free" shipping over $30, or Brambleberry, or Camden Gray. I find it cheaper to buy OO and CO locally (when shipping is taken into account). OO I get from CostCo, CO from WalMart super center (Lou Anna brand). This is presuming buying in gallon size, not 50 lb cubes.

Regarding fragrance and EO it's also easy to go overboard by all of those wonderful descriptions. As a hobbyist, it will take awhile to get through a big FO stash, even if in the form of 1 ounce sample bottles. You can get reasonably priced sample sizes from Nature's Garden (10 or more you get a discount) or from Peak Candle. At this stage, I wouldn't buy any FO in volume unless you've tried it, loved it, and seen how it behaves over a month or two.

Ask me how I know!

Enjoy your new passion!

 

[sosocal]

[quote="sosocal":3i5ayxjg]I found Soaper's Choice was cheapest per ounce of oil but Brambleberry had lower shipping charges so I went with them.

Depends on where you live. SC's shipping costs are much cheaper than BB's since I live in Ohio.

eta: Out of curiousity, I checked to see how much it would cost to ship 35 lbs of CO from BB to me. $84.40 Yikes! :shock: It only costs $15.28 to ship 50 lbs CO from CF/SC.

Great point, I am in Southern California so I guess I am closer to Brambleberry than Soaper's Choice. That's an amazing difference in shipping costs.

It is a huge difference. How much does it cost for you to get CO from BB? I do wish it the shipping was cheaper. I'd order more supplies like FOs and additives from BB if it wasn't so expensive.

BB was 17.35 / 7lb (15c/oz). Shipping for entire order (coconut, olive, palm, castor, a few colors and additives) was around $24 compared with $45 from Soaper's Choice (though their coconut oil is only 13c/oz).

$45? The highest shipping for 50 lbs CO that I saw was $38.51. Plus I buy the 76 food grade CO which (as Dennis mentioned) is $69 which works out to .09 oz. The organic CO is much higher, of course. It's .14 oz. Were you comparing prices on organic oils?

green soap brought up a good point about buying lye in bulk online. I've bought lye from thelyeguy.com and essentialdepost.com. There are other sites but I can't think what they are right now.

edited to correct typo[/quote:3i5ayxjg]
Yes it was mid $40's (can't remember exact amount) - but that was for my total order, not just CO. I filled my cart with olive, palm, coconut, and castor oil.

 

[Hazel]

Yes it was mid $40's (can't remember exact amount) - but that was for my total order, not just CO. I filled my cart with olive, palm, coconut, and castor oil.

That is better shipping. But I sure wouldn't pay $84 in shipping.

 

[Dennis]

I also buy my Lye from Essential Depot, but I buy the Technical grade. It's cheaper for me to buy (5) 2lb bottles and pay for shipping than the 10lbs with free shipping. It saves me $5 or $6 dollars to do it that way. But, I'm in Georgia, so shipping may be a lot higher for others.

I noticed the price difference between technical and food grade but was concerned when I was told that the technical grade had a higher level of metals. Whether that would be a concern or not when making soap bothered me so haven't bought it.

 

[Sweet T]

Thank you EVERYBODY! You guys are awesome!
Its a lot to process (pun intended) but I think I have a good idea now of what would be worth buying from a supplier and what will be better to just get locally. I don't want BULK, BULK since I'm still in the trial and error side of things and not quite ready to create in mass, but I do know that I don't want to buy shea butter from the health food store again. I payed a fortune
FYI-I am in Pennsylvania

 

[Hazel]

Pennsylvania is kind of split as to shipping from CF/SC. I think it will cost slightly more if you live in the eastern section. You probably will have to comparison shop once you decide you want to buy larger amounts than what you find in local stores.

 

[Kleine Teufel]

I buy most of mine locally. The shipping just makes everything more expensive than just buying it at Walmart or Sam's club. I'm in Central PA myself. I've been thinking about buying castor oil online, just haven't done a true price comparison yet.
Olive, coconut, grapeseed, safflower, etc are all cheaper in the store.

 

[FCDairyGoats]

I was looking through SoapersChoice, never heard of them before coming to this forum! I was wondering are there other places to purchase from that have smaller amounts of oils?

Thanks!

 

[Hazel]

There are other places to buy depending on where you are in the US. Off the top of my head - Brambleberry, Elements Bath & Body, Majestic Mountain Sage, The Herbarie, Camden-Grey, Wholesale Supplies Plus, The Soap Dish. There are more but I can't think of them right now. Have you looked through the Shopping Recommendations section for info on suppliers?

 

[FCDairyGoats]

There are other places to buy depending on where you are in the US. Off the top of my head - Brambleberry, Elements Bath & Body, Majestic Mountain Sage, The Herbarie, Camden-Grey, Wholesale Supplies Plus, The Soap Dish. There are more but I can't think of them right now. Have you looked through the Shopping Recommendations section for info on suppliers?

No I haven't, thanks for the info!! Will have to check out that section tomorrow.

 

[Hazel]

While helping someone else about suppliers, I came across Anne Watson's list (I'd seen it before but had forgotten about it ). I don't know how many are still in business but you might want to check it out to see what suppliers might be near you.

http://www.annelwatson.com/soapmaking/s ... itedStates

 

[Genny]

I was looking through SoapersChoice, never heard of them before coming to this forum! I was wondering are there other places to purchase from that have smaller amounts of oils?

Thanks!

Natures Garden Candles sells smaller amounts of oils. They're not too far from Indiana either.
http://www.NaturesGardenCandles.com

Also, Elements is in Kentucky. They also sell oils
http://www.elementsbathandbody.com/

Both are great companies with really good customer service and good products.

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

My vote is: Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, and lye in bulk. Those are the basics. Experiment with the specialty oils, essential/fragrance oils, additives/botanicals, and Colorants until you see what you use most. Also, you don't want to order more oil than you can soap with before it goes rancid, or you'll be out a lot of money...grrr. Price of course depends on if your products are organic, shipping, etc, so you may just have to shop around. Wholesale Supplies Plus offers free shipping on any order, so that factored in to their prices usually works out good for me. Soap Making Resource has free shipping at $200, but smaller orders have a high shipping price. Camden- Grey Essential Oils in Miami still charges me (in Tampa, FL) over $10 to ship 4 oz of oil, but their base prices are very reasonable. So, as you see, you just gotta shop around and compare prices including shipping to your state.