The Best Soapmaking Supplier(s) in the Country

A few weeks ago, I asked y'all to vote for your favorite soapmaking suppliers in the country and boy, did you respond! Almost a thousand soapmakers cast their votes! We narrowed down the best soapmaking supplier by product category, plus the best soapmaking suppliers for customer service, quality, shipping, and prices!

 The Best Soapmaking Suppliers in the Country - As Voted By You!

I hope this list serves as a great starting point for finding suppliers for new soapmakers. And if you aren't new to soapmaking, let's hope this list will help you expand your soapy repertoire!

Let's dive in!

Voted Best Supplier for Essential Oils

This is the only category where there was a tie! Oh, boy! 

New Directions Aromatics carries over 200 different essential oils, as well as dozens of other hydrosols, absolutes, and dilutions.

Bramble Berry carries just over 50 different essential oils, but they are definitely the staples that most soapmakers are looking for.

Honorable mentions (suppliers who snagged a good portion of votes, but nowhere near as many as the winners) include Bulk Apothecary, Wholesale Supplies Plus, Liberty Natural, and Lebermuth!

If you are new to using essential oils, I have a slew of articles to get you started, including my top ten recommended essential oils for beginners, how to calculate your usage rate for essential oils, and the answers to common questions about using essential oils in soapmaking.

Plus, if you are ever looking for essential oil blends for your products, check out our Essential Oil Calculator.

Voted Best Supplier for Fragrance Oils

Bramble Berry was voted the best soapmaking supplier for fragrance oils by a landslide! Bramble Berry carries over 250 different fragrance oils. They are always adding new fragrances to their catalog, so it's easy to see why!

Honorable mentions (suppliers who snagged a good portion of votes, but nowhere near as many as the winner) include Nature's Garden, Wholesale Supplies Plus, Rustic Escentuals, and Mad Oils!

While I don't use fragrance oils often, there are a handful of soapmaking tutorials here on Modern Soapmaking that use fragrances. Plus, you can use fragrance oil in any soapmaking recipe you wish! I love using fragrance oils to bring notes to blends that are cost prohibitive in natural fragrances, or impossible to find - like chocolate, coffee, vanilla, fruity notes, and bakery scents!

Voted Best Supplier for Natural Colorants & Botanicals

Bramble Berry does it again - they were voted the best soapmaking supplier for natural colorants and botanicals! They offer dozens of natural colorants in the form of whole botanicals, powders, and other forms. Some of my favorites include Activated Charcoal for grey and black (and to also make other colors darker!) and Madder Root for a beautiful red or pink!

Honorable mentions (suppliers who snagged a good portion of votes, but nowhere near as many as the winner) include Mountain Rose Herbs and Wholesale Supplies Plus!

Like essential oils, I love using natural colorants for a wide variety of colors! Natural colorants offer a full rainbow of colors, in muted earthy hues, which is perfect for an all-natural soapmaker. If you are new to using botanicals and herbs in soapmaking, Jo created a beautiful series about coloring soap naturally here on Modern Soapmaking.

Voted Best Supplier for Micas & Pigments

Voted in as the best soapmaking supplier for cosmetic micas and other pigments, Mad Oils offers a full spectrum of cosmetic grade micas for your bright soapy creations! Mad Oils is super diligent about testing their micas for cold process soap stability. I love that they package their micas in jars, and that they only offer vegan-friendly colorant options - no carmine!

Honorable mentions (suppliers who snagged a good portion of votes) include Nurture Soap Supply (it was oh-so-close!), Bramble Berry, and Micas and More!

Voted Best Supplier for Oils & Butters

Without oils and butters, we wouldn't be able to make soap! It's fabulous to see one of my favorite suppliers was voted the best soapmaking supplier in this category: Columbus Foods/Soaper's Choice! Soaper's Choice offers all the staple soapmaking oils and butters in bulk sizes and attainable prices. And if you have ever given them a call, Mike does a brilliant job in helping soapmakers formulate better!

Honorable mentions (suppliers who snagged a good portion of votes but didn't beat out the winner) include Bramble Berry and Wholesale Supplies Plus!

Changing up your recipe to reach your all time best might require switching around your oils and butters, but it's important to understand that all oils and butters are made up of fatty acids that influence how they perform in soap.

If you don't have a certain oil to use in a soap recipe and don't want to wait around for an order from a supplier, I've also written about how to replace oils in a soap recipe successfully.

Voted Best Supplier for Lye

Voted the best soapmaking supplier for lye (no lye, no soap!) was Essential Depot. With a variety of size options and both kinds of lye (sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide), they've got you covered.

A super popular vote in our survey was soapmakers who find their lye locally at chemical supply companies and hardware stores. Other honorable mentions include Boyer Corporation, Duda Diesel, and The Lye Guy. So, if you are having a hard time finding lye locally, you know where to look online!

Voted Best Supplier for Soap Molds

Bramble Berry snagged the most votes for being the best soapmaking supplier for soap molds. They offer tons of molds, from silicone to wood to plastic. My favorite molds from Bramble Berry include my 18-bar Slab mold and my silicone loaf molds!

Honorable mentions (suppliers who snagged a good portion of votes but didn't beat out the winner) include Nurture Soap Supply, Amazon.com, and Wholesale Supplies Plus!

Another popular vote? Making your own molds! If you want to build up your mold inventory without an enormous cash outlay, building your own molds is the way to go.

Voted Best Supplier for Soap Cutters

By a landslide, Bud at Bud's Woodshop won the top dog spot as the best supplier for soap cutters. His craftsmanship and variety of options (plus affordable prices) definitely helped him land this spot! I have one of his loaf splitters and I adore it.

Honorable mentions (suppliers who snagged a good portion of votes) include Bramble Berry and For Craft's Sake!

Like molds, a lot of soapmakers let me know that they also build their own cutters. Wow! Soapmakers sure are resourceful!

Voted Best Supplier for Soap Stamps

Dave at LaserCutz was voted the best source for soap stamps, even though he's in the United Kingdom, the shipping rates and stamp prices are affordable! Dave can also be found on Etsy!

Alex at Custom Soap Stamps and Bramble Berry came in as honorable mentions in this category.

If you are new to using soap stamps, they're the perfect way to add a unique touch to your soapy creations. In this tutorial, I provide a walkthrough on using my own custom soap stamp from Lasercutz. You can also add a dash of mica to your soap stamping to create an impression with a little pizazz.

Best Supplier for Soap Packaging

Wholesale Supplies Plus was voted the best supplier for packaging, from soap boxes to organza bags to shrinkwrap, they have it all. And they have a ton of packaging options for non-soap products!

Honorable mentions (suppliers who snagged a good portion of votes) include Your Box Solution, Paper Mart, Nashville Wraps!

If you're looking for more options on the packaging front, my huge guide on how to ship handmade soap for your soap company also dishes on tons of places to get packaging, shipping materials, and more!

Soapmaking Supplier Voted Best Customer Service, Best Quality, and Best Shipping Practices

Bramble Berry nailed three out of four categories for best practices!

It makes complete sense that Bramble Berry was voted best soapmaking supplier in customer service, since they offer a variety of ways to get in touch, from social media to online chat to email. Plus, Bramble Berry's network of help sites offer a variety of tutorials, soapmaking information, and more!

Bramble Berry was also voted best quality for a soapmaking supplier. You can always rely on products being well-tested by the team.

And Bramble Berry was voted best shipping practices, with their daily updates on the top of their website so you know when to expect your order, to the special packing foam they use (no packing peanuts!)

 Soapmaking Supplier Voted Best Prices

Wholesale Supplies Plus was voted best soapmaking supplier for their prices!

They have a new WSPbulk website where they offer large quantities of ingredients for the growing soapmaker, which helps you get your costs down as you grow. And Wholesale Supplies Plus offers monthly deals on various product categories and a generous rewards program. It's no wonder, they offer a lot of bang for your buck!

The Best Soapmaking Supplier in the Country

With hundreds of votes, Bramble Berry snagged the coveted spot as the best soapmaking supplier in the country, thanks to your votes! So if you are new to soapmaking, you know you can't go wrong with Bramble Berry!

Want to learn more about Anne-Marie, the founder of Bramble Berry? I've interviewed her here on Modern Soapmaking, and loved hearing a little behind the scenes!