Lavender soap has a fresh delicate floral fragrance that offers a calming effect to your bath or shower turning it into a treat. Some lavender soap has both lavender essential oil and lavender buds. As the buds rub against your skin, they release a burst of the wonderful scent of lavender providing more relaxing affect.
Before we discuss the suppliers, I will briefly talk about the different soap making processes. If you want to learn more detail about the different processes, there are several books and websites for that. Basically, there are two different methods, also called processes; the cold process method or hot process method.
Cold Process soap (also called “CP” soap) is made by combining fatty acids and an alkali together. For solid soap, sodium hydroxide (lye) (be extremely careful when using lye) is typically the alkali. The fatty acids are usually in the form of oil and range from beef tallow to olive oil to hemp oil. In the cold process the chemical reactions (stages) between the acid and the lye take place at room temperature. The chemical reaction continues for many days after the soap is poured into molds. The cold process is the simplest and the one most often used by small artisans and hobbyists that produce hand made decorative soaps. Cold process soap usually uses more fatty acid that is needed to consume the alkali and acts as moisturizing agent. Because of cold process having excess acids left in, the soap is not as firm and may get mushy if left wet.
Hot process soap is where the acids and lye are boiled at least once. Simply stated: you put all ingredients a pot, heat it to a boil and stir frequently until the soap goes through the chemical reaction stages. A variation is to let the reaction take place at near boiling temperatures. In the hot process method most if not all of the chemical reaction is completed before the soap is poured into molds. Near boiling variation is simple and quick and is the one used in small factories. The full boil method is used primarily in industrial production. Hot process soap is firmer and more resistant to mushiness.
The type of oil used affects the characteristics of the soap. Some commonly used vegetable oils are palm oil, coconut oil, and olive oil. Seed oils typically result in softer but milder soaps. Olive oil is said to have extra mildness, while coconut oil and palm kernel oil yield hardness and good lathering properties.
Another term you may hear a lot when buying soap is milling. Milling is basically shredded soap put back together again using high pressure presses, thus removing any air trapped in the shredded soap. Triple-milled soap is soap that has gone through this process three times. Milling results in more evenly distributed color and fragrance, makes the texture smoother, and harder and longer-lasting bar of soap. French Milling uses a combined heat and cold process where the roller temperatures are alternately controlled with hot and cold water. This milling method produces a milder soap.
Wholesale Lavender soap can be found through many suppliers. I suggest trying to get samples from several different soap suppliers and then select the ones you like best. Soap and Sundries and Simple Scents Australia were the two soap suppliers that we used for our lavender soaps.
Soap and Sundries
Soaps and Sundries is located in Pennsylvania and is a family ran small business. All of their soap uses goat’s milk and shea butter. They have both scented and unscented 4 ounce bars. They also offer loaves for those you want to make larger bars. The soap is rich and creamy. You can buy anywhere from one bar to a thousand. Their lavender soap contains lavender buds. We sold a lot of their lavender soap. They are very is easy to work with.
Simple Scents Australia
Simple Scents Australia, also known as Australia Natural Soapworks, is based out of Australia, but has distributors in the United States. They offer pure natural soaps in a wide variety of scents wrapped or unwrapped. You get your choice of three weights: .9 ounce guest bar, 3.5 ounce bar, or 7 ounce bar. Their soaps are triple-milled so they are firmer and last longer. They use organic shea butter, palm oils, glycerin and other natural ingredients in all soaps. No animal fat is used.
They sell both retail and wholesale. If you buy wholesale the first order has a $150 minimum and any re-orders have a $75 minimum. They require you to submit an application to obtain a wholesale account. They have free shipping costs for retail purchases over $30 and $7.50 for orders $15.00 to $29.99. They offer a full refund if you are not satisfied with their product.
Other wholesale soap suppliers include:
The Soap Guy
Cedar Brook Wholesale Lavender
Country Scents
