Thrifted Soapmaking Supplies For Your Hobby or Small Business
Are you interested in starting a handmade soap or body care hobby or small business, but are worried about the startup costs?
It doesn’t have to be expensive, and you can usually start with many simple kitchen and home supplies. The thrift store can be a great option to source affordable, eco-friendly, and gently used items to get you started on a budget.
You can find an abundance of items that can be repurposed such as spatulas, glass jars, metal bowls, and more. They just need to be checked for quality, and fully sanitized before use.
Important To Remember: The end of life practice for items used in soapmaking should be to dispose of them or give them to another soap maker to use for soapmaking only, instead of redonating. This is due to potential toxic contamination of these tools with lye. For example, if you bought a spatula to use to stir your lye water but you don’t need it anymore, try to find another soaper to use it only for lye based projects, or toss it in the trash instead of donating it or using it for a different purpose, such as food preparation or even stirring lotions.
Finding these donated items is a win for you and the planet. It creates a circular system of sustainability, and a low barrier to entry for a very fulfilling hobby or lucrative business. It’s a wonderful thing that you and your wallet can feel good about!
Thrifted items I use in my home. The vintage purple glass pan is perfect for creating a double boiler for oils/butters.
I have created a list of items that I have sourced from thrift stores that I use in my own home for my small business. All of these items were found at a local non-profit thrift shops, and for a song! You can also try sourcing these items at yard sales, estate sales, buy nothing groups, or Facebook sales groups.
Metal and glass bowls for mixing, or double boilers. Bonus: no microplastics or chemicals found here!
Small bowls can be used to pre-prep additives, such as essential oil blends, clays, and botanicals, to have them at the ready, like body care Meis En Place (the practice of preparing your ingredients ahead of your cooking).
Immersion blender: for blending soap batter or emulsified lotions. (It’s best to not use the same blender for soap AND lotion).
Hand mixers for making whipped body butters.
Standmixer for making large batches of body butters or other blended projects.
Microwaves for melting or heating materials.
Crockpots for hot process soap, rebatching soap, or melting ingedients.
Portable burners for heating ingredients in an area that is away from the kitchen stove.
Steel and glass pans for heating oils, melting butters, and double boilers.
Food scales, and small digital scales for weighing ingredients.
Digital food thermometers for checking the temperature of candle wax or lotions, below the surface temperature.
Spatulas. Long and short ones, for big and small projects. Brightly colored ones can be easily identified, and used exclusively for soaping.
Cookie sheets to hold products or soap for curing.
Wooden skewers. I use these to mix up my candle wax while adding fragrance.
Plastic and glass food storage containers can be used to store ingredients or as small soap molds, when lined with parchment paper.
Silicone muffin or ice cube molds can be used for soap/soap embeds, wax melts, bath melt/shower steamers, dishsoap, and more.
Small bowls or ramekins can be used for dish soap that is made right in the bowl.
Unused coffee filters to wrap lotion bars, shampoo bars, or to act as filters for straining botanical infusions.
Kitchen cheesecloth for straining herbal infusions.
Twine for various tying/drying herbs/labeling, etc.
Tea strainers (for using/testing your bath soak creations)
Silicone mats to use inside of pans for double boilers or when heating ingredients, to protect the bottom of the jars and prevent scorching.
Mesh strainers to stain herbal infusions, or to strain your lye when pouring it in the soap batter, or to strain tub tea. Don’t use your lye strainer for other things!
Coffee grinders to be used as herb or botanical grinders.
Small appliances are a steal at a second hand shop.
Wicker, plastic and metal bins and baskets to organize everything from supplies, products, shipping materials, labels, etc.
Old glass jars. This can be old canning jars with metal lids, or even old food or pantry storage jars. Large ones can be repurposed for storing bulk dried botanicals or powders. Medium to small ones can be used for creating herbal infusions, measuring out essential oil blends or lye water solution, or storing products such as body or face oil.
Decorative glass bottles with lids or corks can be used for storing body or face oil for personal use, or bath soaks.
Plastic pouring pitchers or food prep containers are great for large batches of soap, scrub, lotion, etc.
Silverwear and other various implements to create soap top designs, if you would rather not lose your Grandma's silverware forever!
Used kitchen towels to clean up spills without having to use paper towels.
Hot pads for moving or setting hot pans or bowls on. I use a hot pad on my large scale when adding fragrance to my candle wax.
Candle vessels or decorative containers that can be reused for new candle making projects. I find beautiful crystal dishes, vintage amber glass, hobnail jars, brass vessels, etc. Steer clear of wood or any flammable materials, or poor quality glass that could run the risk of shattering.
Ribbons, gift boxes, labels, stamps, gauze bags, etc, to be used as packaging for products that are being sold or given as gifts.
Washi tape for labeling jars in a hurry. Bonus points for easy removal and cleanup.
Label maker to keep ingredients organized. Bonus points if it is vintage and makes cool labels!
Storage furniture such as racks, paper organizers, bookshelves, or display shelves, to store, organize and display ingredients and products.
Desks, folding tables, desk chairs, task lighting, etc for a workspace or home office.
You can find unique candle vessels at the thrift store, to create custom decor for your personal style!
I am sure that this list is not exhaustive, and I would love to hear what you use that is second hand. Please share with me and others in the comments below!