Cost v/s Quality

[gurmeet]

Hi all. I'm back again after making my second batch of lavender soap using EO for the first time. Was quite a good experience seeing acceleration of trace after putting EO. After I made my batch just went across amazon website to buy few more things and came across this lists of lavender soaps costing Rs. 180 for a pack of 3 .Was quite confused looking at the cost ?? My single soap of 100g costing came to be around more than their pack of 3. How come the people are selling lavender handmade soaps such cheap? Is it that they are compromising at the quality or is it that they are buying EO or other oils at a much cheaper price from some dealer. Even if that is the case still I don't think that you can make it that cheaper since EO itself is more than double the price of what they are selling? Or is it that they are just using a cheaper soap base and using melt and pour process and selling it? . Just thinking what exactly is present in the market and what are we using ??

I really felt either I am new to this soap making or uneducated regarding the sources to be sought??

Just a sample of what I made. Not perfect but a small trial

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[Ford]

Even your source, what ever it may be. Just buying one 2 liter bottle. Instead of two 1 liter bottles. You've just saved how much?? And so on, and so on....
Be careful, you have one foot, in the rabbit hole. You'll soon have two. Enjoy your journey.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Handmade soap will always be more expensive that commercial soap. What I pay (cost price) for my ingredients for one bar is equivalent to about 2 bars of commercially made soap. Your product is probably better/kinder for the skin that commercial soap, but some people will never see that and just b uy commercial soap. Those who try handmade will never go bak to commercial.

I have created a quality recipe with the ingredients that are most cost effective for me. I use shea butter because it's cheaper than cocoa butter. I use soy wax because I don't want to use palm or animal products (and it's reasonably priced). I use RBO for half my OO because it is cheaper and still nice in soap. Etc - you get the idea.

 

[MelissaG]

Like Kiwi said, handmade is always more expensive. You will find places you can buy from that are cheaper than others. For example, walmart great value brand olive oil, sams classic olive oil, or costco olive oil is going to be much cheaper than pretty much any other brands in the US. Coconut oil I usually buy at Sams due to convenience but it's cheaper at Big Lots. I use rspo palm oil because I like it although I do sometimes use lard (lard is cheaper but makes fantastic soap dough). Almost all soapers will use castor oil but it's cheap anyway. There are alot of suppliers out there and you will learn who to go to depending on what you want and develop preferences.

 

[Blufuz]

If it helps put things into perspective, the first lavender soap I made was using just ingredients I could find here in Switzerland’s supermarkets.
20 ml lavender eo: 24 $
600 g olive oil: 4 $
250 g coconut oil: 4 $
50 g castor oil: 4$
100 g Shea butter: 12$
So just the ingredients for about 10 bars of soap was almost 5 dollars each…

I now have online suppliers, I buy the big oils like coconut in bulk, and it’s now about 2 dollars per bar, which I can live with.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

It is possible these days to buy "Soap Noodles" in bulk to create personal bar soap for retail sales. Just add color and scent. VOILA! Cheap, cheap, cheap soap for far less than we can handcraft it from scratch.

https://bulknaturaloils.com/soap-noodles-rspo-mb-c1020.html

 

[basti]

I glanced at Amazon India and saw a 3 pack of lavender soap for 179r which may be what you saw. That is a synthetic detergent bar (technically not soap) and the ingredients mention the lavender is "fragrance essential oil" which may or may not be fragrance oil (and not EO). Another cheap one in the 185r range was made with the aforementioned soap noodles.

 

[gurmeet]

Hmmm.......I think after making my first two batches and reading the forum I realized it's all what you want. It's you who has to decide the quality but felt bit sad that even after being educated was unaware of what exactly were we using till date. Thanks for all the support.

 

[KiwiMoose]

What oils are you currently using? We could suggest alternatives and you can see which is cheapest for you?

 

[gurmeet]

Oh great! That is so sweet of you. Presently I have just made 2 batches . In my first batch I have used Delmonte EVOO,Coconut oil and Castor oil( CO and Castor oil I purchased from a wholesale soap supplier online)with no EOs or FOs.
In my second batch as I was more curious to know whether the soaps EOs smell are still there even after the curing time I made my lot with Delmonte EVOO, Coconut oil,and Palm kernel oil using a bit of ultramarine violet and Lavender EO. Now I am planning a receipe with unrefined Shea butter . Also you know I read that to learn more about nature of oils I can make single oil receipes . Not tried them ...

 

[KiwiMoose]

Well i would replace the EVOO with any cheaper OO you can find. EVOO is is best left for culinary delights - but is very expensive in soap. Coconut oil and palm kernel oil do the same thing in soap ( high in lauric acid for bubbles/cleansing) so I would use whichever is cheaper.
Is there any other oil you can replace some of the OO with that is cheaper?
You have very little in there that provides longevity (palmitic and stearic acids) so I would be wary of replacing too much OO since that has some palmitic (despite being known for its oleic).
Aside from that - your recipe seems like it's not costing you too much it all compared to some of my ingredients.
This might be helpful to read: What Fatty Acid Profiles in Soapmaking Are the Most Popular?

 

[gurmeet]

It's a great resource. I think Pomace OO is cheaper here as compared to EVOO what I could find. But have not used it . I read in the forum that it accelerates the trace and your soap becomes like a blob early. I don't know how much correct is it. Haven't tried . Maybe you can throw some light on it. CO and Palm both are available at the same price . Was still thinking if using RBO :How much will be the shelf life as compared to soaps made with OO or CO.

Would be greatful if you could share some more relevant resources that could help me to learn better.

Thankyou so much.

 

[lucycat]

I used to use Pomace for half of my soaps because I could get it at a better price and was the olive oil I used when first starting. It does accelerate a little but for most soaps it wasn't an issue. I would use refined oo for florals and and spicy scents where the fragrance can also cause acceleration. I never had a "blob"; pomace will just reduce the time it takes to get to trace.

I would encourage you to purchase a small amount and try if it is cheap. I stopped using pomace because of cost. I can purchase refined OO locally cheaper than what I paid to ship pomace.

 

[gurmeet]

Ok Thanks.That's quite interesting . Will try pomace for my next batch.
As specified by Kiwi you can increase the longevity of a soap, can u enlighten on this?

 

[paradisi]

Both shelf life and longevity are discussed here in detail; grab a cup of tea and a snack, and have a fun & educational time searching on those topics. You'll learn a lot

 

[gurmeet]

Ok.I will do that.Thanks.Will come back after I make my third batch . Hope I use the knowledge of longevity in that.....

 

[MelissaG]

The thing about pomace is that it's green. And that color can transfer to your soap so you need to account for it. I usually use classic olive oil at Sams and it's a yellow color. I've been debating on trying light OO from Walmart. It costs a bit more but is a lighter color. The lighter your oils, the easier it is to achieve a white color. I've been debating moving from palm oil to lard for that reason.

 

[gurmeet]

I didn't think about that . I wonder if putting a limited dosage of colorant would help in that case. But definitely putting light coloured oils would give us a better result. How about using refined RBO in that case??

 

[MelissaG]

I didn't think about that . I wonder if putting a limited dosage of colorant would help in that case. But definitely putting light coloured oils would give us a better result. How about using refined RBO in that case??

Depends on the RBO. Some will still be darker. If you buy light OO, it only refers to the color as light but for some reason it costs more money.

 

[AliOop]

Depends on the RBO. Some will still be darker. If you buy light OO, it only refers to the color as light but for some reason it costs more money.

Light OO is significantly less expensive for me than EVOO. Costco is my least expensive option for both, since there is no shipping cost (I shop there anyway).