When I was first learning to make handmade soap, I was intimidated by working with lye so I started with melt and pour soap base. I am so glad I did. Melt and pour, or glycerin soap as it’s also known, is a dream come true for beginning and experienced soapers alike.
Here are just a few of the advantages of melt and pour soap:
- There is no need to work with lye
- You can make gorgeous soap in minutes
- There is no wait – The soap is usable right away
- No expensive tools are needed
- It can be melted and re-melted until you get what you want
- Variety of soap types and “flavors”
There are even more advantages to using MP soap base, but these are among the favorites of most people. Let’s take a look at what this means for you…
No Lye
Lye is a caustic soda that is used in all forms of soap making. It is a very strong alkaline base that instantly reaches near-boiling temperatures as soon as it is combined with liquid such as water and becomes a “lye solution.” When that lye solution is combined with fats and oils a process known as saponification occurs. Saponification is just a technical way of saying “making of soap.”
As an added concern, lye gives of noxious fumes that can sting your eyes and affect you in even worse ways when inhaled. As you can imagine, it is scary to work with when it’s a new concept. Thais is what makes melt & pour soap such a treat to work with.
Although lye is used to make melt and pour soap – just like all soaps – it gets completely used up in the saponification process. Again, just like it does in all soap making. This means that handling melt and pour soap base is no more risky than handling a bar of soap at your sink. The lye is completely gone.
Things tend to get a bit tricky when people get hung up on technicalities so I’ll just mention it briefly…
Melt and Pour soap does NOT contain lye. It is however made by using lye. The lye gets used up in the soap making process.
Make Beautiful Soap in Minutes
Melt and pour soap is used just like its name implies; you melt it down to a liquid then pour it into a mold of your choice. But that’s just the beginning. Here comes the really fun part!
You can add colors, essential oils, fragrances, exfoliates, mica powders, embeds, botanicals and more.
Soap Colorants
These come in liquid and powder form, both artificial and natural. By mixing colors and types you can achieve just about any shade imaginable depending on if your soap uses a clear or opaque base. For an incredible look, consider adding some shimmering mica powder to a fully transparent MP base.
Essential Oils
Herbalists and aroma therapists alike use essential oils on a regular basis in their work. In the early 2000’s these took on a new life with the more health conscious public at large. No longer limited to specialty shops, essential oils of nearly every type can be found in Wholefoods markets and all over the web.
Clays
Natural clays can act as exfoliates, thickening agents, and color enhancers in soap. Often found in beauty masks, clays such as Kaolin, Bentonite and Rose clay are said to do wonders for the skin – when used properly.
Fragrances
A fragrance can be any additive to soap intended to enhance scent. These range from natural oil extracts, essential oils to artificial perfumes and musk scents. When adding any fragrance, be sure to pay attention to its flash temperature. This is the temperature at which the scent will be affected.
For example, if you heat the soap to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, and add a scented oil that has a flashpoint of 170 F, the majority of the scent may be lost or altered.
Pro Tip: Most MP soap bases have a melting point between 125 and 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Extremely high temperatures are generally only achieved by leaving it in the microwave for too long, on too a high a setting, or overcooking on the stove top.
The best way to heat melt and pour base is slowly using short bursts of time and then stirring thoroughly until the sold chunks of soap melt into the liquid.
Exfoliates (a.k.a. Exfoliants)
Exfoliates can be anything you wish to use to wear away dead skin cells and other debris clinging to the skin. To make your soap unique, experiment with using different types in varying quantities. Here are some of the favorites among glycerin soap makers (a.k.a. ‘soapers’).
- Clays
- Baking soda
- Shredded luffa
- Sand (usually very fine)
- Coffee grounds
- Diatomaceous earth (DE)
- Ground oats (oatmeal)
- Ground pumice (pumice powder)
Embeds
An ‘embed’ can be anything you want to place inside of your soap. When using a clear soap base it is popular to embed figurines cast from opaque MP soap or even just curls or chips of soap. With clear or opaque base, many people embed small plastic toys as a way to get children to want to use the soap.
Pro Tip: If you embed already hardened soap, be sure to spray it with rubbing alcohol so the new soap sticks to it and forms a solid bond without air bubbles.
This will keep the soap from falling apart (at the embed point) once the majority of the bar has been worn down.
Botanicals
Botanicals can be any type of petal or bud. Often used as a topper exfoliate and for natural scent, dried lavender is one of the more popular. The trick here is to keep your botanicals dry so they do not break down and rot. The best way to do this is to gently press them into the top of the soap, so only partially embedded. The base should be just deep enough to avoid having them fall out when gently touched.
Specialty Molds
MP soap is a thin liquid when melted. It is roughly the consistency of whole milk. This means you can pour it into the most detailed mold imaginable and get more than simple bar shapes. Using silicone molds you can achieve the tiniest details down to the fur pattern on a three-dimensional cat figurine.
Instant Gratification
One of the fan favorites of melt and pour soap base is that the bar is fully cured and 100% safe to use within a few hours of pouring it into the mold. Once it has hardened, it is ready to use. This is especially a big deal when you consider that soap made via the traditional cold-process method takes four to eight weeks to cure for optimal use.
Cheap and Readily Available Tools
You can make glycerin soap masterpieces with little more than a microwave oven, a bowl and some imagination. It’s very easy. If you want to be fully decked out with a nice setup for making intricate soaps involving precise measurements, here is a great list to begin with:
- Safety glasses/gear!
- Microwave oven or stovetop
- Microwave-safe bowl or double-boiler
- Silicone Spatula
- Measuring spoon set
- Digital kitchen scale (the more accurate – the better)
- Digital laser-type thermometer
- Spray bottle (to be filled with isopropyl rubbing alcohol)
- A spoon, stirring stick, whisk or similar
- A mold of some type (heat resistant to at least 250 degrees F)
If you are missing any of the above, most non-electronic items can be picked up at a local dollar store. In fact, visit their holiday displays for seasonal silicone ice cube trays. These are ideal for making hand soaps!
Starting Over
If at first you don’t succeed – just re-melt the soap and try again. That’s right! Melt and pour soap can be re-melted several times if needed. Depending on the brand and type you might add a little rubbing alcohol or liquid glycerin after a few trials and errors. But just about any type can be re-melted at least twice before you get to that point.
Fantastic Variety
Melt and pour soap comes in many types and “flavors.” By flavor, I don’t mean tastes – although considering you can get it in goat milk, buttermilk, coffee and even beer & wine actually tasting it might be tempting.
Flavors
Some of the more popular ‘flavors’ include:
- Goat milk
- Shea butter
- Three butter
- Hemp
- Honey
- Coconut oil
- Coffee
- Beer
- Wine
- Buttermilk
Melt & Pour Soap Type
As far as types, there are two overarching categories with subcategories that can fit within each.
Main MP Soap Types
- Natural – No artificial detergents; Includes Organic
- Synthetic – Uses artificial detergents
MP Soap Type Subcategories
- Cold Process Like (CPL)
- Extra Hard
- No-Sweat
- Shave
- Shampoo
- Foaming Bath Whip
- Essential Oil Infused
- Clear
- Opaque
There are many more, but this gives you a good idea of the possibilities.
Where to Get Melt and Pour Soap Base
Here is a link to the MP Soaps page of one of the more popular melt and pour soap suppliers in the US that does affordable international shipping: Wholesale Supply Plus.
They also offer a lot of great fee melt and pour soap recipes at this link.
Of course, you can also purchase your soap base locally at most craft and hobby shops as well as online through Amazon or other MP manufacturers, including SFIC.
Make Your Soap Stand Out!
If you want some fun ideas on how to make your soap stand out from the rest, give this article a look. It is on this website and have some wonderful ideas contributed by experts. Of special interest for melt and pour soap is the piece on embedding photos that disintegrate once they make contact with water. This is holiday best seller at any craft fair or custom order on Etsy.
5 Genius Ways to Make Your Handmade Soap Stand Out
Happy soaping!