Henley Natural

The first step in purchasing essential oils for natural soap making is to find an essential oil supplier. The best way to do this is to do a google search on “essential oils”. You will receive a results page of several soap making supply companies from all across the US or your country. One strategy I employ when making my soap supply purchases is to find a company that is located close to where I live, preferably in my state. I live in Florida so I would do a Google search such as “essential oils florida”. Then I look through the list to see if there are any suppliers in Florida that are in or near my town. The advantage to purchasing supplies from a supplier close to your location is two-fold. You will receive your purchases quicker and the shipping costs will be lower. There are also the added benefits of knowing that you are helping your local economy by purchasing from a local vendor and a shorter shipping distance mean less fossil fuels are burned in getting your product to you.

The second step in purchasing essential oils is to compare soap supply costs from two or more suppliers. To do this go to Google docs and create a spread sheet called “Essential Oils Costs”. You will need a Google account to sign into Google docs in order to create a new spread sheet. Creating a Google account and using Google docs is free and your spread sheet can easily be shared with friends or neighbors. See Google docs for more help creating accounts and spread sheets. You can also use another spread sheet application such as Microsoft Excel if you prefer.

With your new Google docs spread sheet created, start listing the essential oils you are interested in purchasing. I like to compare the prices of essential oils I purchase from two companies so I will have two sets of columns, one set for each company. By listing all the essential oils with their prices in this manner, you are better able to see if one company’s prices are far greater that the other. Certain times of the year the prices of a particular essential oil, for example, Patchouli, can go sky high. One soap supply company may have the sky high price while the other company may have the lower price. Add up all the prices to get the total costs for each company. If the prices are comparable then I will purchase all my essential oils from just one company. But sometimes I divide my purchases between the two companies if certain essential oils have sky high prices that I want to avoid. Be aware that purchasing from two different companies will double your shipping costs, so it is important to determine if your savings will be significant.

Photo: Steve Henley

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