Soapmaking 101-The Different Types of Handmade Soaps

The 4 basic types of soap that you can make at home:

Melt & Pour
Re-batched or Milled Soap
Cold Process
Hot Process


Melt & Pour

This type of soap is ussually bought pre-made into large blocks. It is often clear and made out of glycerine, though it can contain many other things as well.
This is ussually considered the easiest form of soapmaking because you simply melt the block down , add any scents, colors , or herbs that you choose and pour into a mold. When it is hard it can be unmolded and is ready to use. The ease of use with melt and pout allows you to make rather intricate and beautiful works of art out of your soap.

Re-Batching or Milled Soap

This is ussually a cold processed soap that is made into "noodles", melted, and remolded. This method is slightly difficult, but produces a harder bar of soap as well as a truer scent and color in the final product.

Cold-Processed

This is by far my favorite type of soapmaking. It is how I started and it just seems so simple and elegant to me.
In order to make soap with this method you must measure and mix accurately . The mixture of oils and the mixture of lye and water need to be mixed at the right temperature. At this point saponification starts to occur and the soap and oil mixture will "trace" or become pudding like. It is then molded and insulated and saponification continues to occur. In 24 hours you can ussually unmold and soon after cut into bars. This product then needs to cure for4- 6 weeks or so to complete the saponification process, become hard and no longer have any lye in the bars of soap.

Hot processed

Hot processed soap is made similarly to cold processed soap, except that it is actually cooked during the saponification process. This reduces or eliminated the need for the product to cure after mixing, however, it also seems a bit more dangerous to me. With so many little ones around my house, its really not something I want to try. If you do choose to try it Ive heard that you can use the oven to do this rather successfully.



Dont Forget to check out all of our soapmaking ingredients at www.avalonsoapworks.com
and check back here often for recipes, tips, and instructions on how to make great handmade items yourself!!