Teach Soap

I was wondering if I could get some opinions on which suppliers everyone likes. I've noticed that Brambleberry does seem to have the best prices. Also, whats the opinion on refined vs unrefined shea butter and what is the best place to get unrefined shea? Has anyone used Coastal Scents? thanks so much.

My top favorite suppliers are mostly because of great customer service. Businesses that go above and beyond to help their customers are what impress me more than prices.
My tops are:
Bramble Berry
Natures Garden Candles
Soapies Supplies
Elements Bath and Body

As for the differences in shea butter, here's some a link to the different grades of it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shea_butter

Some people swear by unrefined and others love refined. What I like about refined is the color and no smell. But it matters what you you want from your shea butter and what you plan on doing with it.

I've bought mine from Soapies-Supplies.com (It starts at $9/lb) & Elementsbathandbody.com (It starts at $9.75/lb)

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I've used both refined and unrefined shea butter and like both. Refined is nice when you don't want a yellow color in your products. Also check out amazon.com for your butters - you can get great deals sometimes.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Depends on what I buy I use different suppliers. If you want unrefined and refined shea butter, I get mine from
They have a lot of ingredients for lotion and related products, some hard to find anywhere else, very good customer service and ship out fast.

Other than that, I get my supplies from these companies, not in order of preference:
Bramble Berry
Wholesale Supplies Plus
Nature's Garden Candles

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Shieh Design Studio
https://www.facebook.com/ShiehDesignStudio
http://soapandrestless.blogspot.com

I agree that good customer service is really important and Brambleberry is great for both cs and price. I checked out lotioncrafter and they look really good too! Thanks for the info. !! I love this forum. I get quick responses and really helpful answers.

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Shieh Design Studio
https://www.facebook.com/ShiehDesignStudio
http://soapandrestless.blogspot.com

It's hard for me to imagine what goes on in the US, but for me, suppliers such as Brambleberry are too close to the retail end of the supply chain. It's like buying from a craft shop. I class the chain like this:

1. Manufacturer (e.g. Croda, International Flavors and Fragrances, Lubriderm, KAO . . .) these are too big to deal with directly (usually) unless you can handle 100 Kg 'tambours' (big drums)

2. Distributor. This is the level I buy from. I buy fragrances in min. 1Kg amounts, but I get free samples and tech support, too. Usually involves going to an industrial zone. For instance I buy coconut oil 10Kg at a time, I just take an empty container with me, they warm up the giant drum and fill my container.

3. Hobby / Craft suppliers. This is where I put, for instance, Brambleberry. Their fragrances cost roughly double what I pay. Too expensive for me.

4. Retail. Products cost six times or more than the raw mats cost

I find prices at BrambleBerry quite reasonable. Most of their customers are hobbyists, who need just a small amount. I use some some larger fragrance companies, but they require a larger purchase of a fragrance at a minimum of 10 lbs. with a $500 minimum purchase. If you can use that great. If not, BrambleBerry is the way to go.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

If anyone would ever like bulk pricing for anything, Bramble Berry happily sell drums of Coconut and Palm (we buy by the full truck load for both products) and offer a 40% discount off (of the 16 oz. price) of fragrance oils and essential oils when buying 25 pound sizes. There are lots of bulk product discounts for almost all of our products (colorants, molds etc...) If you ever have any questions about what a bulk rate looks like and how many you'd have to buy of any item, feel free to email us at info (at) brambleberry (dot) com

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Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com

My favorite suppliers are:
Bramble Berry (for molds, scents, colourants and additives.. as well as all of my MP supplies and do-dads like the little mixer)
Wholesale Supplies Plus (for molds, scents and candle stuff)
Essentials Depot (for lye and shea butter)
TKB Trading (for micas that I can't get from BB)

I also use some Canadian based stores:
Voyageur Soap and Candle (for packaging, and scents)
Creations From Eden (for ingredients, scents, and my log mold, though they don't have the same ones anymore!)

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I used BB as my main supplier, but have also recently used The Scent Works for FOs and Essential Depot for lye.
As to shea butter....I've been buying it for about 5 years or so to use for my daughter (who has eczema). I tried a lot of different places, but have consistently found the best quality and prices by far is Coastal Scents. Especially if you are able to catch them when they have a sale (I've gotten bulk unrefined shea for $3 and $4 per pound, free shipping).
Personally, I've only purchased the unrefined as I have mainly used it for topical application (direct skin benefit) and I feel it retains it's natural qualities/benefits better before it's refined. If I'm going to put it on the skin, I want the full benefit of it! When I started using it in soap, I just used the shea I had on hand since it was such a great price. You can google refined vs. unrefined shea and read LOTS .
I tried ordering Shea (unrefined) from Columbus Foods (Soaper's Choice) with my last order and was super disappointed. I paid the shipping to return it as it was just that bad to me. Appearantly, I might be one of the only people who have had problems with it, but it just didn't meet my standards.

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Carrie
Wife to my Best Friend and Homeschool mom to 7 beautiful gifts

BB is my go to place. I have used soapers choice for babassu as BB does not have it and they are fairly close to me. I love visiting the otion store, just wish they had one around here! Once in a while I will order a FO from elsewhere if BB does not carry it... but it has to come with a strong recommendation from someone else!
My favorite thing BB ever did was divide up a large amount of pink sugar FO and offer it to us in the smaller quanities (see Barquentine - some of us hobby people need little quanities).

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

Visiting Otion is on my bucket list.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!