Captain Ethel's
Soap
Making Links
Last updated June 2009
All links are UK-based
unless otherwise noted. Many
US and Australian suppliers will ship to the UK, and it can be cost
effective
for some items. There may be restrictions
on posting plant materials.
Nigerian Soap Opera
The Indispensable
MMS
Majestic Mountain Sage Lye Calculator
Lye&Fra This one will also do fragrance amounts
Cranberry Basic but useful.
Sooz Very detailed. Will do KOH calcs as well.
One-stop shops for soap making and toiletries supplies
Sodium hydroxide/Caustic soda
– While it can be
bought by mail order, it's easier to get from your local
Boots, B&Q,
Wilkinsons, or
hardware store.
SoapmakersStore Large
catalogue - aromatherapy, soap and cosmetics. Was formerly Cosmetic Ingredients.
IdAromaticsLeeds An old favourite gets a web site. £35 min.
Aromantic
Online. Wide range of cosmetic supplies.
SheaButterCottage Suppliers of exotic butters, fairly traded and organic ingredients for making natural skincare products.
Soap
Kitchen
Good variety and growing. Online ordering.
JustaSoap SLSA powder, Milky Way moulds, kilner jars, asessment packages and lots more.
Gracefruit Has a nice range of butters, bases, additives and packaging.
BathBombBiz Ingredients, moulds and kits for bath bombs and bath products.
SoapBasics Everything you need, and LOTS of moulds. £20 minimum.
Baldwins Supplies include empty capsules and removable divider moulds.
Gilde Dutch, with English. Supplies include cutters, shrink sealers and a milling machine.
NewDirections Soap and toiletry-making supplies.
Brambleberry
USA. Very large range.
Sweetcakes
USA. Good for unusual FOs. $25
minimum.
Chemistry
Store
USA.
Big range of
synthetics, especially sulfolaurelacetate powder for
KangarooBlue USA. Some items are economic to have shipped, and great customer service.
SunFeather USA. Lots of wax colour chips under "Colorants".
BayHouse Oils, Eo's, butters, jars and other cosmetics and aromatherapy supplies
AussieSoapSupplies Australia. Raw materials, workshops , moulds stamps and tools for soapmaking.
There are LOTS more USA suppliers on page 2
Oils and Bases
Palm oil can be bought
from catering
suppliers, or try fish and chip shops.
TouchofNature Base products, bulk oils butters and waxes. No animal products used.
Stephensons Soap bases in noodles. Range includes a transparent organic.
JohnDrury Bedforth's milling base and flakes. Three grades, 25kg sacks.
Lefktro Pomace olive oil in trade quantities. There is a retail side, too.
Sheamooti
Fairly traded
shea butter in bulk. Partnered with the Afrikids charity. 
Kerfoot Specialists in vegetable oils.
Phoenix
Oils, including some of the more unusual ones. No online
prices.
Fresholi Butters, waxes and bases plus forums for soap and lotion makers.
CornwallSoapBox Wholesalers for Agbanga Karite unrefined, fair trade shea butter.
NorthStarLipids All plant derived oils, and some specialty sunflower oils.
Statfold
WmHodgson Base products, oils and additives in small to bulk sizes.
Anglia
Anglia Oils. Food, pharmaceutical and organics.
Codina France. Oils in large or small quantities. There is an order form in English.
Aromatrading Good quality EOs. Does organic palm and coconut.
Balestrini Italy, but with pages in English. Wide variety of oils.
Richardsons Palm oil in Scotland - delivered! A catering supplier and now online.
LaMotte Germany. Includes a large range of organic base oils.
Liberty USA. Virgin unrefined coconut oil in all sizes, but there is a minimum order.
Enchanted Valley USA. Ostrich oil and info.
Biochemica USA. Exotic butters.
FNWL USA. From Nature with Love. Oils like arnica, turkey red, rice bran, meadowfoam.
Voigt
USA.
The only source I’ve found for cottonseed oil. Other unusual
ones.
Eo/Fo (Mainly)
If you're looking for an unusual FO, try here for a long list of scents and suppliers (mainly US): FragranceFinder
For advice on blending smells, try this nifty gizmo: RMScentBlender
Gracefruit Specialises in hard-to-get FOs - and has all the revelant paperwork.
AncientWisdom Eo/Fo and other supplies. Good for baskets!
NewMoonOccultShop
Lots of unusual oils.
NorfolkEoils Norfolk Essential oils. Small cooperative company with some interesting oils.
EoOnline Oils, carriers, creams and floral waters.
JCBuck Different kinds of lavender, rose, peppermint and others
IncenseMagic
Eo/Fo for incense.
EoCo Essential oils with lots of good information about them.
SensoryPerfection FOs from US sources and now a rangle of soap moulds
Butterbur
&
Sage.
Reliable old firm. Oils and now a range of cosmetic ingredients. Fixed!
Amphora
Amphora Aromatics. £50 min.
Mother
Earth.
I’ve used their headlice blend.
Norfolk
Lavender
The famous one.
Shop4EssentialOils EOs and a nice range of carriers and bases. Now stocking Monoi de Tahiti.
EssentiallyOils Includes a list of rare oils and attars.
Caravansons Commercial fragrance supplier. Contact them for prices.
Roeper Germany. (In English). Resins, waxes, gums, attars.
Augustus Augustus Oils. 1 Kg minimum on most. Email for prices.
Scentworks USA. Long list of FO's and excellent, speedy customer service.
EssentialWholesale USA. All kinds of 5 fold citrus oils.
SaveonScents USA. Big range of EO and FO and bottles.
Meadows, Newss, Elix, Kobashi, EChamomile Not seen enough Eo companies yet? Ok, here are a few more.
Moulds
Most of the “one stop shops” mentioned above sell moulds.
DaveFranks Moulds (bar, loaf and cavity), slicers, wooden displays and custom work.
Nizzy
Australia. The
famous “Nizzy” soap mould with removable dividers.
Keylink
Chocolate moulds.
AscottSmallholding Look under cheesmaking for moulds, and look at the Goat Coats for fun.
DennyCrafts Soap and candle moulds.
Soapcraft Wooden box moulds and soap cutters.
PlanetEarth Vertical tube molds and nifty novelty moulds.
LePrevo Custom embossing plates which can be used successfully as soap stamps
from a leathercraft supplier.
FrederickFollows Custom hand stamps. Big company, but happy to do one-offs.
Silicone USA. Gazillions of molds. Everything you can think of.
ChaseHoldings USA. Moulds and custom mould-making.
SoapImpressions USA. Custom soap stamps. Very good service.
NaturesBouquet USA. Different, and very nice floral moulds.
Pourette USA. Customs soap moulds and good prices.
MoldMarket USA. Huge range of novelty molds plus they take Paypal and ship by regular post.
Upland USA. Professional-size bar moulds and mixers.
ForCraftsSake USA. Soap log splitter.
Other Supplies and Cosmetic Chemicals
TKBTrading Bulk micas and pigments. Reasonable even with shipping from Canada.
Ellens USA. Peacock dyes for soap and bath bombs. BRIGHT colours.
TubOSoap Canada. For LabColors.
ArtemisHerbs Bulk herbs in manageable 500 gram bags
Altec
FischerScientific More PH Meters.
GeorgeWeil
Look under “Textiles” for a long
list of natural plant dyes.
SelectShades USA. Over 800 colour shades for CP, M&P and other toiletries.
Jet Baskets wholesale. (Actually a floristry supplier.)
SanFranciscoBathSaltCo Salt and Mud products from San Francisco. Worth a look!
Maplins Electronics. Oodles of thermometers.
OfASimpleNature Stocks some hard to find toiletries additives.
FunatBathTime UK/USA. Trade suppliers of all kinds of bath goodies.
IchabodConk
USA. Wet shaving
products
including mugs and bowls.
Kremer Germany/USA. Huge pigments company - need to know what you are looking for
as most of the products are not for cosmetics.
Emporium,Pierce,Decofleur Dried citrus slices and potpourri supplies. Three suppliers. Also try KCPackaging listed below.
Moorlands Cheesemaking supplies, but look under Misc for colourings and thermometers.
Oriental Oriental trading. Small toys, including plastic goldfish. Price is per GROSS.
PressedFlowers Devon Pressed Flowers. No online ordering, but very helpful by phone.
JosephMills Ethanol from 1 Liter upwards.
WeeFolkOutfitters Nothing to do with soaping - I just really like them!
BritishWax Family-run company with waxes for candles and cosmetics.
PeacockSalt Salt, and lots of it.
QD, Cottonpatch, Rio Freezer paper - three different suppliers of .
RoseChemicals Cosmetic chemicals. They say they will do smaller amounts.
Romil High purity lye.
AlbanMuller French company with a wide range of cosmetic ingredients
Suppliers for Bigger Boys and Girls
These companies have everything you could ever want, but it all starts with a 25 kg minimum. Begging doesn't help.
Biachem Chemical distributors. Nice people - will redirect you to another supplier if they're too big.
Connocks Oils and cosmetic additives. Good links for industry organisations.
SBlack Known for Eo's and cosmetic chemicals.
Kanegrade Food-grade additives like honey powder and ROE.
Inovia Part
of Stanchem, UK. Some bulk cosmetics chemicals
available in smaller quantities. Prices by phone.
Adina, Blagden, Paroxite Three more cosmetic chemical distributors, if you're really determined. Ask Adina about smaller quantities.
Soap Makers
ShetlandSoapCompany
Two shops and mail order from our most northerly
islands
SallyPointer Historic
soaps: washballs, castile and soft soap in tubs.
Soapbops Specialises in goth and pagan-themed soaps.
KettlersCottage Soaps from Dawn's wonderful workshop in Lincolnshire.
Littlecotes
A real shop and web site for soap, bath products, honey - and free
range eggs.
PlushFolly
Soap, lotions, potions and paper and now Soapmaking courses.
HeartsandHomespun Completely natural ingredients only in their soaps. Retail and wholesale.
NaturalSoap
The Handmade Natural Soap
Company, Norfolk. Wholesale
and trade for hotels, B&B, guest houses.
HouseofEleni
Bath and
Body products, including a Gentleman's Range.
Woadworks Interesting and unusual clear soaps.
Caurnie Inventors
of Mega Soap-on-a-Rope
Hebridean
Scottish Island soapmaker.
ThistleSoaps Ann in Scotland gets a web site at last!
MadAboutNature Keilly's Useful and Needful handmade soaps.
JMSoaps Natural soaps from West Yorkshire
HedgewitchesKitchen Magical soaps.
Eynsham
The range includes an uncoloured, unscented castile.
TheSoapCauldron A fun site with innovative products. Check out the foamers!
WildOliveSoaps Soaps, scrubs and a range with French clays from Derbyshire
IsleofSkye Nice
transparent
soaps on a pretty site.
Bellaorchidea Soaps, salts - and handmade roses.
SavonNaturel
France, with an English page. No artificial anything.
SoapCakes One of my local soapmakers here in Essex.
BanhoMania A Portuguese soapmaker who also sells supplies
Purdies Soaps with fantastic names (and lots more) from rural Scotland.
PureThoughts Soaps, soaks and a collection for working hands.
RaindropsonRoses Wholesale soaps and innovative gift sets.
Oakwood Aromatics
Bath goodies from North Yorkshire. Love the cat.
Cioccolatina
Akua
shares her love of shea butter.
Xanna
A place to buy Xanna soaps in
Oz.
Whitstablesoap A shop in Kent and mail order for soap and gift sets.
FreshFaceCosmetics Soaps, Lotions and Wedding favours.
Droyts Old UK mfgr of clear glycerin soap.
Aromanature France. Handmade soaps.
BakewellSoap Lovely site with excellent information and a label-making service.
AlvaNatural Magnetic bands, soaps, toiletries - all made locally. A selection of honeys, too.
Calabash Soaps, body products and gifts. Check out the reed diffuser.
FreshHandmade Can also do wholesale.
Mariah Your local friendly soapmaker in Berwickshire.
SimplySumptuous Traditionally made soaps and bath products in wonderful rich scents.
KansasSoap Go see it - the home page will make you smile.
SimplySpecial Ireland. Soap and trade supplies including SLS and soap scoops.
SavonNaturel2
Another Savon
Natural, but unrelated and in Montreal. Have a look at the Tiare
Gardenia Butter.
Bellingham
Bellingham soap and soap
making
courses.
SolaVoima Our first handmade soapmaker from Finland.
ScottishFine I've
tried some of these in hotels - very nice.
RedGum Australia.
Castile Soaps from Oz's first solar-powered soap factory.
RedStar Specialises in liquid natural soap.
SoapBox
Wonderful whipped body butter and a soap using local
Cornish eucalyptus oil.
Woolfat
Lanolin
soap for hands, olive oil soap for feltmakers, from a spinning supplier.
SoapFlowers Germany.
Gorgeous, but can you imagine the amount of work?????
Soap-Makers Bright
Glycerin soaps with embeds, from Suffolk. (Also known as Watkins.)
Lobstermans
USA.
A nifty little company with a fun take on toiletries.
YoureGorgeous Soaps
made with a variety of butters.
Olivias Germany,
but in English. Homemade soaps and information.
CoconutCoast Hawaii.
Soap and some fabulous exotic floral fragrance oils.
Greenshop Sells
SimplySoap, Faith in Nature, OneVillage HM soaps. Wooden bath brushes
too.
Beanstalk Beanstalk
Organics. Suma soaps and other organic toiletries.
Cowshop Toiletries
with hilarious names. Grumpy Cow and Bullocks for me,
please.