The Ultimate Soapmaking Supply List
* I'm working on this list over time, so check back often to see the updates! Eventually everything will be in here!
The one question I get the most is: where do you buy that thing? That's why I put together a list of every single thing we have and regularly buy at Muddy Mint and where we get it. I'll provide direct links so you can get the exact same thing. In the case of tools and ingredients that are no longer available, I'll include a link to what I would buy if I had to buy that item again today.
Note: Some of the links below are affiliate links. I only used affiliate links for the companies we have an affiliate relationship with, but it doesn't change my recommendations at all! Affiliate links help us to continue providing free content by giving us a small percentage of the sale in exchange for recommending a product. You will pay the same whether you use the link or not, so just think of it as a little thank you tip! I never recommend products that I don't use myself - I'm very strict about this, so that you can be confident in your purchasing decisions.
Tools & Equipment
Let's start at the beginning: tools & equipment. These are the items that you will use in your studio over and over again to make your soap, so you want them to be high quality and stand the test of time. When you're first starting out, it's hard to know what to get and not waste money. I bought so many random soap molds and cheap plastic containers when I was first starting out and you're far better off getting high quality equipment from the beginning. Luckily you don't need much to make soap!
A good digital scale: This is vital for soapmaking as everything is measured by weight when you make soap. The main criteria that I have for a digital scale is that it doesn't turn off automatically! I talk about this a lot in my videos, but there are countless times when you're making soap that you start weighing something and then you have to go open another container or you get distracted and when you come back to your scale, it has turned off. It really is the worst! If you already have a scale, see if you can turn this "feature" off. Of course, you have to be conscious of not using up the battery, but at least you won't run into issues when making soap. You also want a scale that can measure in 0.05 ounce or 1-gram increments. Finally, a larger capacity scale can grow with you. The KD-8000 Scale by My Weigh is the scale most soapmakers use, as it can do all this and it has a protective cover over the buttons which keeps lye and soap batter off of the electronics and makes it very easy to clean. If you can afford it, I would start off with this scale for all your soapmaking. You only need one and it will last forever. I still have the same one I bought in 2016 and have since purchased a second one. I use it for shipping packages as well!
An infrared thermometer: Temperature is key in soapmaking. When making soap, you want to know the temperature of your lye-water and the temperature of your oils before you mix them together. If you've ever watched our YouTube videos, you'll see just how often I check the temperature. You don't have time to fiddle with a complicated thermometer. You just want to point and get a quick and accurate temperature reading. This Etekcity Infrared Themometer is the one I always use. I have two and again, I was smart enough to buy one of these at the start of my soapmaking journey and it has lasted forever. I honestly don't think I've even changed the batteries in this thing!
High Quality Stick Blender: The immersion blender (or stick blender in soaper speak!) you use is super important in your soapmaking. A low-quality stick blender will create all kinds of problems in your soapmaking, like not blending the ingredients well and incorporating bubbles in your batter. When I first started out, I used a Cuisinart Smart Stick and it's what I still recommend today. I recently bought a brand new one to test it for our upcoming soapmaking course and it worked just as well as I remember. It's the perfect purchase for a new soapmaker as it's small enough to handle, doesn't suction to the bottom of your container (I hate this!), and works without issues. You don't want to be fighting your stick blender when you make soap! My first smart stick lasted over 5 years with very heavy use, so it's a great investment too. In fact, it never died - it just started incorporating bubbles in my batter after years of heavy use and I need to upgrade anyway. I actually use the cup it comes with for my soapmaking too! I use it to hold dry lye (not lye-water, as it's not the right kind of plastic).
Lots of Spatulas: Spatulas are used for all kinds of purposes in soapmaking from mixing lye to texturing soap batter. This might sound weird, but I'm very particular about the spatulas I use when I make soap and I have a specific recommendation. Your spatulas need to be silicone to tolerate heat and I like the ones that are flat all the way across and don't have any curves as that just invites soap batter that you can't scrape off. I have about 12-15 of these specific spatulas and am never without one. In my videos, you can see that I have an entire container filled with spatulas so I can grab a fresh one at any time! :)
Silicone Loaf Mold: Nurture Soap (now called Nurture Handmade) is my go-to place for loaf molds. These molds are very recognizable with their bright green silicone liners. They are well-loved by many soapmakers and for good reason: simply put, they work great. The soap unmolds from the liner very easily and they are high quality and last a long time. The wood is sturdy, and the liners don't tear or bend. I've seen people holding their silicone liners open with clips and I've never had to do this with these molds. I love mine. For a beginner, I recommend the 2.5-Lb Basic Loaf Mold, but if you want to go right to making five-pound batches, I recommend the 5-Lb Basic Loaf Mold. I have twelve of the 5-lb loaf molds and used them for at least 5 years of daily soapmaking and they still work great! You can try the premium molds, if you're interested, but I've never used them and I don't think it's necessary. Sometimes less is more. If you're brand new and just want to get something from Amazon, I recommend this mold. I've used it and while it doesn't feel as sturdy as the Nurture Soap mold, it worked great and I see many soapmakers using this mold.
Soap Cutter: If you're using a loaf mold (rather than individual cavity molds), you'll need to cut your soap into bars. I started with a kitchen knife, moved to a straight and wavy soap cutter with a homemade miter box, and eventually bought a single bar wood cutter from Bud's Woodshop on Etsy. If you're serious at all about soapmaking and think you might start a business, I'd highly recommend getting a good single bar cutter. Skip the multi-bar cutter for now, as you may not know exactly what size you want your bars in the long run. Even though I now only use a multi-bar cutter to cut my soap, my single bar cutter gets used all the time for samples, half and quarter bars, and soap ends. Whether you want a single or multi bar cutter, I highly recommend Bud's. His cutters are fabulous, and he's been doing this for a long time. He no longer makes wood cutters, but I've had the opportunity to use one of his metal cutters and it was awesome! If you are interested in a multi-bar cutter, I recommend this one, which cuts your bars at 1-1/8". That's the size we used in our business. He also makes some that cut your bars at 1" or 1-1/4".
Safety Glasses: Safety glasses are THE most important piece of safety equipment in your soap studio. When making soap, you work with lye which is caustic. The resulting soap batter is caustic as well, so in addition to gloves (and wearing long sleeves and long pants and an apron), you'll want to protect your eyes. It's easy to get lye off your clothes or skin, but it's an entirely different matter if you get lye in your eyes - that will likely require a trip to the emergency room and potentially cause blindness, so DO NOT SKIP THIS! These ones by 3M are my favorite, but you should buy the ones that you will actually wear. It's good if they have a gasket around the lenses to protect lye from splashing into your eye from below. Remember that you still want something over your eyes even if you wear glasses. Glasses will not prevent lye from splashing in from below. While they're better than nothing, consider adding goggles that go over your glasses to your safety gear.