First batches of M&P made

[NamaNama]

Took the plunge and made my first two batches of m&p soap. Used shea butter m&p base, added fo and color. My first batch I think I waited too long to pour and it started to set up but I got three good bars. Didn't use anything in the molds first and had a heck of a time getting them out. The second batch I used petroleum jelly and I still think I waited too long to pour and I used a 3d mold in addition to the rectangle ones. Still had trouble getting them out. My only dislike with the m&p soap is that there is very little lather. Is it the brand of base or can I add anything the next time to get more lather? Would it be better to buy a plain base and then add shea butter?

[prairieannie]

I think it's better to buy plain base and add.. but that's just me. For lather you can try adding castor oil and/or glycerine. If you are adding butters to plain base you probably don't want to go over 2 Tablespoons of butter per pound of base in order to protect your lather and cleansing properties. A good rule of thumb is for whatever hard oils you add, balance with liquid. You can add beex wax to your MP soap to make it harder, and you can add quite a bit of it too, but bees wax isn't very "lathery or bubbly" as you can imagine, so if you are adding that you may want to put your best lathering additives in in full force! Goat's Milk makes a lather that is very creamy and luxurious. It's my favorite liquid additive. It's very good for your skin, and it makes a rich bar of soap. In my mind there is a big difference between lather and bubbles. I prefer a rich creamy lather with some bubbles over just tons of bubbles and thin or non existant lather.

All bases are not created equal. What you buy from Hobby Lobby or Michaels or JoAnn's is not going to be the same base that you can get from Essentials By Catalina, or SFIC. You can fix up a cheap base though.. I've done it

Congratulations on your first batches of soap!!

[Candybee]

What prairireannie said. Some soap bases are much better than others. Thats why I shopped around testing out the small sample 2 lb base blocks. Most M&P soap suppliers have these. Try them out before you go for the 5 or 10 lb blocks.

You shouldn't be using petroleum jelly to get your soap out of a mold. It should just pop out once it is hard. I wait 2-4 hours depending on the size of the mold. A single 4 oz soap should pop out after setting up 2 hours. If it isn't ready it will be very hard to get out of the mold. HTH

[NamaNama]

I bought the base from The Chemistry Store. They were 2 lb blocks. If I am using a 2 lb block do I just add the 2 T. of goats milk before melting. Can I use the canned goats milk. Have seen that at Walmart. Guess I didn't wait long enough before trying to unmold. I have a recipe that uses musk oil and vanilla. Is that regular pure vanilla or an fo? It doesn't say.

[prairieannie]

I add goat's milk after my base is melted. And I do add more than 2T to 2 pounds of base, but like I said, I balance out my liquid and solid additives. If I wanted to add 1/8 of a cup of goat's milk to 2 lbs of base, I would add some shea or mango butter, or some bees wax. You can use canned milk, that's fine.

I have no idea what to tell you on your recipe. I would assume it was FO. But again, I really don't know.