Now that I have the M&P....what do I do

[CandleMama6]

Ok,

I ordered bunches of M&P at the last co-op and have no idea what to do with it now. I am new to soap and other than looking at these nice blocks, I am clueless. :embarasse

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions that you more seasoned soapers could offer.

[Candybee]

I think the very first thing you should do with your M&P base is to cut off a chunk of it and wash with it. Get to know how it lathers and feels on your skin before you put any additives in it.

This will tell you a lot about your base and help you when you do start adding stuff and trying out different recipes.

What do you already have in the way of additives? Olive oil? Coconut oil? Castor oil?

Do you have oatmeal and honey? Try adding a tsp of each to 1 lb of base for and oatmeal and honey soap. I suggest using a honey, vanilla, cream, coconut, or peach scent if you like. Those go well with that combo. Use 2-3 tsp FO per lb.

To make the soap creamy try adding goat milk or coconut milk at 1 tbs per lb.

Oils and butters will make the soap more moisturizing and emollient. Castor oil will make the soap moisturizing and give you the creamiest lather. I start out using 1-3 tsp of oils/butters to 1 lb. Some bases are very excepting of oils and butters while others lose their lathering ability with small amounts. So thats why I suggest starting out using 1 tsp per lb. before trying larger amounts.

When I first started making M&P I read that the general rule for using additives is no more than 2 tbs of additives or combo of additives per lb. of base. Its not a rule written in stone as not all bases are the same. But its a good rule to start out with when testing what your base will accept and then creating your own recipes.

There are lots of tips and some recipes if you do some searching in this forum. We also did a thread a while back on additives. If you go to the archives there is a wonderful M&P recipe thread in the B&B section. I think its on around page 3. It has pages of just M&P recipes.

Have fun!