life, the universe, and donna

There’s a dearth of local Vancouver suppliers all collected in one place for people making soap, bath bombs, candles, etc so I thought I’d write out some of the gems I’ve found so far to help other people. Not everything has perfectly accurate prices/sizes because … well, I wasn’t really paying THAT close attention at first. I’ll update as they come in.

Any other suggestions (preferably ones I can verify) are welcome, I’ll keep this updated for Google purposes.

Common Soap Ingredients:

Lye (sodium hydroxide)
Home Hardware sells “free flowing lye crystals”. I’m assured that this actually is 100% lye, unlike what many other stores sell. It has no aluminum or other products added like drain cleaner does. (Do not make soap out of drain cleaner!)

Olive Pomace Oil
Technically, you can pick this up at Safeway. The large (3L?) tins are about $25. Or, you can go to the Italian grocery store on Hastings & Nanaimo and pick up the exact same thing for $12. I’ll let you decide.

Common Bath Bomb Ingredients

Baking Soda (aka, sodium bicarbonate)
The store brand at Safeway seemed pretty decent to me. $3 for a large box, I think? I didn’t note the price, but I’ll update this when I do.

Citric Acid
I bought some from Gaia Garden. However, it’s about $2/kg more than where I’ll be buying it in the future: Wicks & Wax. However, Gaia is slightly more convenient to get to for me, as Wicks & Wax is out in Burnaby near BCIT, whereas Gaia is right along the 99 at MacDonald & Broadway. Gaia didn’t seem used to selling it in the volumes that I wanted (the baggie they gave me was small & not terribly strong) and mentioned that they don’t always have it in, so you may want to call ahead. $7.40kg at Gaia (20% off if you buy at least a pound at a time). You can also buy it from homebrew supply stores, but they average $7.50/kg as well. Wicks & Wax has it for $5.75/kg, less if you’re buying more. Note: Wicks & Wax also sells baking soda for $3/kg. I’ll doublecheck to see if this is cheaper than what I paid at Safeway.

Witch Hazel
Don’t buy this from Gaia — they carry a witch hazel “tincture” for $20 for a small bottle. Safeway (or likely any other pharmacy — I’ve also found it at Shoppers Drug Mart & London Drugs) has it in the first aid section (it’s also good to put on bruises & sunburns and such) for $3 for a distillation of witch hazel for the same size bottle.

Beeswax Candles

Beeswax
I have two places that I buy beeswax from. I rather like The Honey Bee Centre. This is out in Cloverdale, at 176th & Fraser Highway. It’s nice and convenient for me, because my parents live nearby. However, it’s a bit cheaper and more reliable (don’t bother trying the Honey Bee Centre around Christmas) to buy from Wicks & Wax.

Silicone (and other) Candle Molds
Wicks & Wax is the only local supplier I’ve found of my preferred silicone candle molds. They’re pretty awesome.

General:

Wicks & Wax (Burnaby, also catalogue sales) is also an excellent source for: Soap, candle & bath bomb molds. Melt & pour soap. A wide variety of scents & fragrances. Note that they do not sell essential oils, although many of their fragrances do have natural ingredients, and most of their scents are “mixes” rather than pure scents.

Gaia Garden (Kitsilano & online) has an excellent source of herbs, spices & pure essential oils.

Saje (multiple locations all over BC & Alberta & online) has been a longtime favorite of mine for both straight essential oils & some lovely mixes. They’re a little on the expensive side, but have good variety and their diffuser blends are great. (I’ve used a diffuser blend in a soap, works just fine.)