Melt and Pour or Cold/Hot Process
- Thread starter SallyA
- Start date
angbaby4974
New Member
I like cold process, no, I LOVE cold process. However I also like melt & pour for the simplicity of it. And sometimes the degree of creativity you can accomplish with melt & pour. I'm not all about trying to make my own clear glycerin soap just because I want a certain "look". And I like to mix the two together as well. As long as you have a good, no, a GREAT M&P base (not the crap they sell at Michael's & Hobby Lobby) then you will still end up with great soap.
wanderingherb
Moderator
Having been a soap maker learned from my grandmother, I actually enjoy the process. Melt and pour is usually glycerin, this is a by-product of soap. Lye is still used.
Lye can be tricky, but use common sense. Read all about it. Its very hard to get a high quality lye. The best results are achieved (IMHO) through 98 to 100 % purity.
When I am doing any type of herbal soap or using essential oils, I do what is called re-batching. So I make the soap, let it sit for a couple of days or up to a week (I constantly check the ph level), grind it up, and re-melt it, then stir and cool it down to about 80 - 75 or lower, depending on the essential oil. If you are above the flash point, the scent is there but the quality of the E.O. are basically lost. Or, this is in my opinion, the belief I cater to. So when making soap, the lye brings the oils to extremely high temps. Why bother with an essential oil?
Then you place in mold, and apply constant pressure for three more days. Constantly upping the pressure to basically squeeze all the air out. This makes a much firmer bar when doing a "re-batch"
It took years to figure this out! But the final product is well worth it.
Wanderingherb
Lye can be tricky, but use common sense. Read all about it. Its very hard to get a high quality lye. The best results are achieved (IMHO) through 98 to 100 % purity.
When I am doing any type of herbal soap or using essential oils, I do what is called re-batching. So I make the soap, let it sit for a couple of days or up to a week (I constantly check the ph level), grind it up, and re-melt it, then stir and cool it down to about 80 - 75 or lower, depending on the essential oil. If you are above the flash point, the scent is there but the quality of the E.O. are basically lost. Or, this is in my opinion, the belief I cater to. So when making soap, the lye brings the oils to extremely high temps. Why bother with an essential oil?
Then you place in mold, and apply constant pressure for three more days. Constantly upping the pressure to basically squeeze all the air out. This makes a much firmer bar when doing a "re-batch"
It took years to figure this out! But the final product is well worth it.
Wanderingherb
Peterman Brook Herb Farm
New Member
Cold Process v. Melt & Pour
I am with Herb Jane and agree that making and using cold process soap is loads more fun than melt and pour. It just feels to me like you do when you make a really good batch of soup! I love it when I see people make it for the first time and how their eyes look when they see how the lye and water combined with oils makes this big creamy kettle full of good stuff.
I am with Herb Jane and agree that making and using cold process soap is loads more fun than melt and pour. It just feels to me like you do when you make a really good batch of soup! I love it when I see people make it for the first time and how their eyes look when they see how the lye and water combined with oils makes this big creamy kettle full of good stuff.
M&P is pre-made soap which you can make decorative. Cold process soapmaking is actually making soap from scratch. You can control the qualities of the soap. By the way, soap does not contain lye. Lye is the catalyst that initiates the chemical reaction which converts oils and fats into a new substance: soap.Melt and pour is probably the method I would choose unless there is a benefit to adding lye and using the other one. What would the advantages be to Cold/Hot Processing? Are the soaps better?