Siren12 Posted September 22, 2016 Share Posted September 22, 2016 Soo.... I want to start making soap but dont know where to start. I have looked at supplies on Candle Science just because 1) I get my candle supplies from them and 2) I knew that they just started to carry soap supplies. I just looked and noticed that they only carry "melt and pour" soap supplies. Does the Melt and pour mean that they already did all of the necessary steps with the Lye? How did you start making soap? I was thinking that eventually i would want to sell soap with my candles, I feel like it would be cheating if I didnt do everything from scratch. Am i way off base with this? Help- Soap intimidates me for some reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chefmom Posted September 22, 2016 Share Posted September 22, 2016 Basic melt and pour soaps are pretty easy to make. A few cute molds, some fragrances and a couple of colors and you can make some cute novelty soaps. When my kids were little we did m&p soaps as little gifts and things they could help make because it's just a matter of cutting the blocks and over a hot water bath (I don't own a microwave) until melted. Naturally you can go into lots of different pouring techniques and make some very unique soaps, but the complicated part is simply the organization of keeping your colors separate and yet still melted while swirling and doing more complex techniques. M&P in use is up to the user. I have sensitive skin and live in the country with hard water. Melt and pour doesn't like my water and takes forever to lather and my skin really doesn't like any kind of melt and pour soap. I had some leftover from a project (gift basket) and I had the leftover bits as hand soaps. I stopped using them, preferring my own soaps, and my daughter started using them for facial soaps. She actually liked the fact that her skin was tight and dry after use (at that time anyway) and she wanted me to make more. So I bought some sample sized pieces and made her some soaps. After testing she preferred the basic clear glycerin that Peaks carries (I think it's SFIC, but don't' quote me). She said any of the white solid bases...plain, shea butter, cocoa butter and goat milk versions just didn't lather and she could only get some lather from water too hot for her hands. After all that testing she finally came over to the dark side and found some of my homemade soaps did suit what she wanted in a soap. Making soap, and safely using lye can be scary in the beginning. Especially after reading about safety and such. Just like learning to use a Chef's knife or the first time you deep fat fry on the stove, you need to learn the safety. I only mix mine outside, I make sure that when it's time to mix the lye or to add it to the oils the pets are in their relaxing nap stage of the day. I prefer to make it when no kids or husband's are at home. When they are at home I'm constantly reminding them that a lye container is here, or not to touch something etc. In the beginning keep it simple and it becomes as commonplace as picking up that big knife and carving up a watermelon or getting something sauteing on the stove. If you are already making candles you know all about burning safely and especially heating wax safely and good ventilation when pouring etc, using lye just adds to safety knowledge in my opinion. And there is lots of us around to help you through, no matter what you choose to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted September 22, 2016 Share Posted September 22, 2016 Gosh! Check the classies here on this forum. Pretty sure I just saw a great deal on loads of M&P supplies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted September 22, 2016 Share Posted September 22, 2016 (edited) 3 hours ago, Siren12 said: Soo.... I want to start making soap but dont know where to start. I have looked at supplies on Candle Science just because 1) I get my candle supplies from them and 2) I knew that they just started to carry soap supplies. I just looked and noticed that they only carry "melt and pour" soap supplies. Does the Melt and pour mean that they already did all of the necessary steps with the Lye? How did you start making soap? I was thinking that eventually i would want to sell soap with my candles, I feel like it would be cheating if I didnt do everything from scratch. Am i way off base with this? Help- Soap intimidates me for some reason. M&P is soap you buy in a ready made soap base. Yes it is already made so you don't have to use lye. You simply heat it to melt it, then add your fragrance, colors, etc. Then you pour it into a mold and let it cool. Its a great way to start working with soap and its ready to use as soon as it hardens. There are pros and cons to using M&P. The pros are its easy to make soap fast especially if you make other products and have limited time and don't want to buy a load of soaping supplies. There is minimal skill needed to start out and practically no learning curve. it has a lot of versatility such adding embeds or making colorful soapies. Other pros are many M&P suppliers now carry a variety of bases from clear, goat milk, honey, oatmeal, shea butter, mango butter, etc. Cons are you don't have any control over what the base is made out of so you need to shop around and find one you like. Another is swirling can be challenging in M&P compared to CP soap. But with M&P versatility I have seen some incredible soaps that people make with. Other cons are you have to keep the soap away from the humidity as it will sweat and draw moisture to itself which can make it look funny. Keeping it packaged or in a climate controlled environment will help with this, or simply use low sweat bases. I made M&P soap for a few years until I was ready to learn to do CP. It made switching over to cold processed soapmaking super easy for me because I was already using lots of oils, butters, and additives that I understood the properties of. Plus I had collected several soap molds and equipment so I took to it fairly quickly. But there is a much greater learning curve for making soap from scratch and working with lye. You need to do your research and be prepared for your first batch and practice working safely with lye. So I started doing some research on the forums and I already knew about some good soaping websites so I used those to teach myself the skills I needed to start out. One of my favorite sites that got me started doing CP soapmaking is Miller's Handmade Soap Page at www.millersoap.com. It has everything you need to get started plus some beginner recipes. I also made Soapcalc my go to source for a good soap calculator and to answer questions regarding soap and oil properties and how to manage creating my own recipes. Edited September 22, 2016 by Candybee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siren12 Posted September 22, 2016 Author Share Posted September 22, 2016 Thank you all so much!!!! Great information. I reallt had no idea on where to start I truely dont have too much time right now to work on making my own base. I will research and try a M&P to see how it goes. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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