Bath and Body suppliers?

[becky0404]

I'm interested in making my own natural bath and body products using essential oils. Is there a supplier list anywhere? I'm looking for the best place to buy things like shea butter, bees wax, hemp oil, rose hip oil, cocoa butter.....etc.

 

What's your favorite supplier?

[Guest OldGlory]

I get most of my essential oils at Camden-Grey. They also have a wide variety of carrier oils, butters, etc.

[Gsmakinsoap]

I'll give you a breakdown of where I got what: 

 

Carrier Oils:

 

Babassu -got this from Camden Grey (CG) but since then price at NDA went down, so I'd get it there next time.

Sweet Almond Oil -CG

Hemp Oil -CG

Castor  -New Directions Aromatics (NDA)

Camellia Seed Oil -NDA

Karanj Seed Oil -NDA

Perilla Seed Oil -NDA

Coconut oil 76 -Soapers Choice (SC)

Coconut oil fractionated -SC

Palm Oil -SC

Palm Kernel Oil -SC

Turkey Red Oil -SC

Rosehip Seed Oil -Thesage.com (Majestic Mountain Sage, or MMS)

Olive Oil -Costco

 

Butters:

With the exception of Shea, I didn't want to buy a lot of these, so went with smaller amounts (like 8 ozs) at CG mostly. Probably SC (and NDA maybe) would give better prices on the larger amounts. For sure get your Shea at NDA. They've got the best price I've found, and it's good quality too.

 

Clays:

Kaolin -Wholesale Supplies Plus (WSP) (for smaller amount (less than 5 lbs), Brambleberry has a good price)

Bentonite -WSP

Rhassoul -NDA

 

Glitters:

WSP

 

Exfoliants:

Sugar -Costco (large bag comes to .50/lb)

Salt, Himalayan Pink -sfsalt.com (I bought 10 lbs of the Extra fine, and shipping was free. The 25 lb. comes to an even better deal per lb.)

Salt, Dendritic -WSP

Salt, Epsom -Walmart has the best price, though Target's not far behind. But go to the right section in the Pharmacy area, not Bath & Body where they sell the Dr. Teal's. It's more expensive.

Pumice -both fine and super fine -WSP

 

Botanicals:

I bought a bunch at Herbco.com during their black friday sale. 

Since then, I found Herbalcom.com, which has great prices AND free shipping. I haven't yet ordered, but I'm a gonna!

 

Miscellaneous:

Baking Soda -Costco 

Colloidal Oatmeal -or "Renewal Soothing Bath Treatment" by RiteAid. You can get a good deal on their buy one, get one 50% off. Otherwise, Brambleberry, but then you pay for shipping.

Candelilla Wax -Brambleberry (BB)

DL Panthenol -BB

Tapioca Starch (modified),(also called Natrasorb, or Dry-Flo) -BB

Coco glucoside -NDA

Silk Peptide powders -NDA

Vitamin E T-50 -NDA

Xanthan Gum -NDA

Guar Gum -CG

Sodium lactate -CG

ROE -Rosemary Oil Extract -MMS

Hydrovance -MMS

Amber bottles & droppers -MMS

Shrink wrap for bath bombs (and soap) -MMS

Preservative (Cap5) -TKB Trading

Colorants (the oxides mainly) -TKB (for Micas, I've heard good things about Nurturesoap.com, and Madoils)

Labels -Elements Bath & Body (EBB)

Pipettes -Ebay

Plastic jars -Bulk Apothecary (BA) -Got a good deal on their Black Friday sale

Bullet Bottles, caps, pumps -WSP (during a sale), BA probably compares too

Bath bomb plastic molds -WSP

 

Essential Oils:

 

I'd recommend NDA as the most trustworthy of the "affordable EO's" category. Though some of theirs are also very expensive. Others I've found with good prices are CG, BA, and Texas Natural Supply (TNS). However, I've been looking into EO's more, and sometimes when prices are too good to be true, they are not the oils they say they are. I found a site recently that has wonderful prices on EO's. Venkatramna-perfumers.com (high shipping though). But places that get 3rd party testing of their oils to ensure that they are what they say they are, charge way more. I'm referring to places like Naturesgift.com, or planttherapy.com, or edenbotanicals (and a lot more). So, I'd be careful about buying the cheapest EO's you can find. It's what I did, and maybe I'd do it again just to compare, but I'm not confident about my oils. Join an FB group like "Real Aromatherapy Reviews & More" and you will be better informed about the trusted sites (and not trusted) out there.

 

You may want to get in on the sale at WSP right now until the 4th on in stock items only. I just ordered myself. They also have Free shipping.

 

Georgialee

[kandlekrazy]

Free shipping is a big factor.  If you pay shipping I would find a good supplier close to where you live to keep those shipping costs down and get as many supplies

from them as possible.  Butters and oils are heavy and expensive to ship.

[becky0404]

Wow, thank you for so much great information!!!

[C Dizzle]

This is so useful I wish it were stickied. I have bookmarked it though!

[Candybee]

Soapers Choice, Camden-Grey, Essential Depot, Bulk Apothecary, From Nature With Love, Soap Making Resource, The Chemistry Store, LotionCrafters, Eden Botanicals, New Directions Aromatics, Ingredients To Die For, Kangaroo Blue. There a lots more but I think this is enough to start with. Also many candle suppliers carry soaping and B&B stuff.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Candybee

[C Dizzle]

When you order in bulk, how to do you keep the olive, coconut, and palm oils from going bad if you are buying a lot and not using it all at once?

[TallTayl]

When you order in bulk, how to do you keep the olive, coconut, and palm oils from going bad if you are buying a lot and not using it all at once?

Like with bulk cooking supplies, only buy what you can reasonably use during the shelf life, otherwise it is a waste. Sometimes buying small quantities with no waste is cheaper in the long run.

[C Dizzle]

Like with bulk cooking supplies, only buy what you can reasonably use during the shelf life, otherwise it is a waste. Sometimes buying small quantities with no waste is cheaper in the long run.

That's a very good point.

[C Dizzle]

This page from Garden of Wisdom seems to indicate the shelf lifes are pretty long for most oils. Looking at olive, palm, coconut, and castor oils, it ranges from 2 to 5 years.

 

http://www.gardenofwisdom.com/carrieroils.html

 

That's much better than I was expecting.

[Candybee]

Haven't you ever had a bottle of olive oil go bad after 6 months? The truth is you don't know how long the oil has been sitting on the shelf when you buy it. Like TT I buy what I need so my supply is as fresh as possible. I buy a range of oils and butters and the shelf life can be anywhere from 6 months to 1 yr or possibly longer for a very limited few. Nothing is worse than the smell of a rancid bottle of oil. Ick!!

[TallTayl]

I was just going to write that exact thing, CB.

The original source of the olive, castor, etc. was opened at one time. Clock starts ticking When it is produced. It can sit on a shelf in a sealed container aging, albeit slightly slower than when the retail container is opened. Our measure of shelf life is an estimate.

It took a long time, but i settled on a standard formula for my soap. I then sat and figured out how much of each ingredient i needed based on the greatest volume:palm oil. For a 50lb pail/cube of palm I need x lbs of coconut oil, x lbs of olive, x lbs of shea, x lbs of cocoa butter... When i buy that palm i automatically get enough of the others to completely consume that pail. Amounts to 500 or so bars of soap per pail of palm. I never run out of a soaping oil this way.

If i happen upon a surplus of raw materials, local soaping friends split it and we all benefit. Cash flow is loosened up without aging materials on the shelf.