I'm guessing I need to buy larger quantities than what the grocery stores have to offer plus the costs might be cheaper elsewhere. I live in southern Ontario. Any advice would be great. Very excited to make amazing soap!!
Hi Jimmy! What Jersey said, but I would also start out with smallish quantities to start- it'll take you a solid year or two of experimenting to figure out your soap preferences, including what oils/butters, additives, and liquids you use and what cure time you like them at. To do that, you'll need to do a bunch of small batches over time, and oils and butters do not have an indefinite shelf life. And the small batch bit is super important, at this point I can honestly say the vast majority of my batches have been trial batches, and some of those batches have been discarded while others have given rise to better soap. Better to buy smaller quantities of fresher ingredients than to watch bulk items go bad. Once you've established your recipes, buying bulk might make sense.
On a more practical note, I get my coconut oil and avocado oil from Target. I doubt they're the least expensive source, but they're very convenient for me. I get my a lot of my oils and butters from Brambleberry because I love their products, but they do take a month on average to get you things. Amazon can be another resource for oils and butters, but I wouldn't trust them for micas, fragrances, or essential oils.
