Over the past few years, I have asked, and been asked, a lot of questions about soap and soap making. Following are the top questions and answers that I think you will find the most helpful.
Some of these questions are asked from the perspective of people who want to better understand what they are buying with homemade a soap. Other questions have been asked by people thinking about getting into the soap business or who are already in it and just need a little more information.
Whatever your reason for visiting here today, I want to help you get the answers you need. That said, if you have a question that has not been answered here, please use the contact form on the right of the screen. Ask me anything you like. I will be happy to respond to you personally as soon as I am able.
Are handmade soaps better than store-bought?
Whether or not handmade soaps are better than those purchased at the local grocery store, is a matter of opinion. In my opinion, a well-made homemade bar of soap is always preferred. There are multiple reasons for this, however the most important is what is actually used for cleaning.
By that I mean that homemade soap goes through a natural saponification process resulting in natural glycerin. Glycerin is an excellent naturally formed product perfectly suited to clean skin and hair. Many of the major soap manufacturers replace the valuable glycerin with inexpensive detergents.
Again, this all comes down to personal preference. But for my money, I would much rather use naturally formed glycerin on my skin than subject it to cheap chemicals.
Are handmade soaps safe?
When properly made, with quality ingredients, handmade soaps are safe. By that I mean that it really depends on the soap maker, the ingredients used, and the person using the soap.
If the handmade soap meets the FDA guidelines to qualify as “true soap” then it is considered natural and does not contain artificial detergents. However, even if the soap maker follows the correct guidelines there is always a possibility of having some bad ingredients in the mix. This is true of every manufacturer of every item that is either ingested or comes into contact with your skin.
Heads’ Up
The possibility of imperfect ingredients is NOT limited to handmade goods. Major food and cosmetic producing corporations have recalls when a problem is discovered. It is the same with homemade soap. Therefore, good soap makers keep careful batch logs including the date of purchase of every item that goes into every batch of soap.
And finally, any soap’s safety in use ultimately comes down to the person using it. They should be certain to read all of the ingredients to ensure they are not allergic to anything. If they have any sort of reaction, they should stop using it immediately.
This is why I personally insist that every bar of soap that I produce is labeled with every single ingredient that goes into the pot even though legally it can be labeled simply has soap.
Is the handmade soap business profitable?
A handmade soap business can be quite profitable. This largely depends, however, on how well the business is run.
Today there is a lot of competition for homemade soap. But, at the same time, there is also more demand than ever before. There are many health-conscious people who want to buy high quality detergent-free soap. They do the research and discover that homemade soaps, that qualify as “true soap” do not contain any artificial detergents. Better yet, they may find the soap contains high quality oils and other ingredients.
If you want to get into the homemade soap business, there are several posts on this website that can help you immediately. If you want to get into the homemade soap business, there are many articles on this site that can help you right away.
Here are three SoapStartup.com articles that are a perfect start to your homemade soap business:
- Clean Up with an Instant Soap Business
- Start a homemade soap business in hours (not days or weeks) without having to make a single bar of soap. This is a great way to get your feet wet – AND begin building an expandable soap business – without the risk!
- Handmade Soap Making | Professional Primer
- Get the inside scoop from professional soap makers who have been in business for years.
- 5 Genius Ways to Make Your Handmade Soap Standout
- Get the inside advantage on how to make your soaps stand above the competition. There are some real gems here as presented by professional marketers. I spend 23 years in the industry before starting my own soap business, so marketing is also a passion.
Is handmade soap antibacterial?
Handmade soap without any special antibacterial additives, is not antibacterial by nature.
In order for any soap to be antibacterial it needs to contain specific ingredients that target and kill bacteria. Handmade soap in general is meant to perform a mechanical function. It helps attract the dirt on your skin and allows it to be rinsed off with water.
One of the most common chemical additives to make soap antibacterial, is Triclosan. This chemical is regulated by the FDA as a pesticide. This and other antibacterial chemicals have major concerns associated. If you would like the FDA’s take on the matter, read this article on the FDA.gov website. Antibacterial Soap? You Can Skip It, Use Plain Soap and Water
Other common antibacterial chemicals include:
- Benzalkonium Chloride
- Benzethonium Chloride
- Chloroxylenol
- Triclocarban
Antibacterial ingredient source
How long can handmade soap be stored?
Handmade soap can be stored for two or more years if done properly.
Immediately below I have included another frequently asked question regarding how to store your soap.
I will quickly note however that the length of time soap can be stored and stay in pristine condition, is largely dependent on how it is stored.
Another important factor is the amount of unsaponified oil left in the bar and the shelf life of that particular oil. Because that oil did not go through the saponification process is considered free-floating and still subject to the properties of oil right out of the container.
How to store handmade soap
The keys to storing soap properly differ by type. Melt and Pour soaps have different needs that cold process or hot process.
Melt and pour soaps should be stored using the following method:
Allow the melt and soap to harden fully within the mold. This will typically take up to a few hours depending on how large the mold is and how much soap is in it. It is best to do this in an environment that is not too hot or humid.
Once fully hardened, remove the soap from the mold and immediately wrap it in packaging as close to airtight as possible. If you have heat shrink-wrap bags those work extremely well. Just be careful not to overheat the soap while fitting the bag with a heat gun or blow dryer. Because melt and pour soap contains added glycerin, it tends to collect humidity from the air. This results in a dew-like substance that has the appearance of sweat.
After the soap has been packaged in as airtight a wrapping as possible, you want to store the bars in a cool dry place with very low humidity. If it’s easier these can be stacked in cardboard boxes and left in a cool dry environment. A trick I learned years ago is to stack my soap into blocks and then placed those blocks in garment bags that can be vacuum sealed with a common home vacuum cleaner.
Cold and hot process-made soaps should be stored as follows:
Store in a cool place. Understanding that what some people consider a cool temperature is far different from what others expect. That said, I am loosely defining cool as being at or below typical room temperature but above refrigeration temperatures. In most air-conditioned homes, realistically this is going to land somewhere between 65 and 72° paragraph eight. I am not saying that is the optimal range, just that that is a good range and where my soap typically rests with great results.
Minimize the moisture in the area. An easy way to do this is to save your silica packets that come from items you have had shipped to you and keep those in the same enclosed area of your soap. Please note however, that these are a hazard for people and pets. So if you use these be certain no children or pets can get to them.
Quick Fix
I started with silica water traps that you can buy at the dollar store. These work incredibly well and a single one dollar box can last a long time.
Eventually I moved on to a large closet with wire racks that was used for storing soap. I placed a small dehumidifier and with the soap and that did a great job. Honestly though, I probably could have just stuck with a couple well-placed silica water traps. These are also known as “silica moisture collectors” and “moisture collector boxes”.
Allow airflow for evaporation of remnant liquid… You will want to remove as much liquid from the bars as possible. This occurs through natural evaporation provided the bar is allowed to dry in an area that is moisture free and provides good airflow. To increase airflow what I do is space my bars about ½ inch apart on a rubber coated wire rack. Then I let a fan gently circulate air around them several times per day – hours per time. I then turn the bars on their different edges each week during the curing process. This ensures that the bar will have an equal opportunity to harden from every angle.
Heat and humidity can lead to something known as the dreaded orange spot, or DOS.
What is “dreaded orange spot”, or DOS?
Dreaded orange spot is an orange spot (or many spots) that occur on soap due to rancid oils, high temperature and humidity, impurities in the lye water and other reasons.
While the DOS is typically considered little more than a visual blemish, if oil has gone rancid a smell often results. Soaps with dreaded orange spot are typically considered okay to use. It really comes down to the decision of the user regarding bar appearance and if any odors are present.
What causes dreaded orange spot – and how can you avoid it?
DOS is caused by many independent, and often unrelated, factors including:
Oils that turn rancid…
To avoid, be sure to use fresh oils. Try to get them from a supplier that turns over stock regularly. If you have the opportunity to purchase it off the shelf, be sure to check the dates and get the one with the longest remaining shelf life. In some instances, stores with very little product turnover may have oils on display that are near their peak use date. This might sound ridiculous, but when looking at potential alternate supplier opportunities I look for dust on the bottles and rings free of dust beneath the bottle, on the shelf. This is typically more often when I stop at a general store or smaller grocery to get that one last bit needed for a batch.
High temperature and humidity…
You want to store your soap in an area that is cool and try. You should also keep your bars on a rack of some sort to ensure airflow all around each of the bars. I keep mine stored in a “curing room” with a small dehumidifier and oscillating fans to gently push the air around.
When I was making soap out of the house, I repurposed an old cabinet and added silica moisture traps to the bottom. I also cut a hole toward the top of one side of the cabinet and another toward the bottom of the opposite side. I then hot glued to old computer fans that my husband had lying around, over the holes. This would allow me to manually turn on and off ventilation on occasion.
I should mention that the lower fan was turned set so if you pulled air out of the cabinet. The upper fan pulled air into the cabinet. I only had cheap rubber-coated wire closet racks from Home Depot, so I spaced the soap apart to maximize airflow. Even this small set up allowed me to cure over 250 bars of soap easily. I also turned the soap on different edges every week to ensure all areas were expose to air evenly.
Using liquid that contains too many minerals or impurities…
It is best to use distilled water and soap making. Although many resources will say that spring water and home purified water works just as well, I am leery to trust that every potentially problematic mineral or spec of contaminant has been removed from it.
As much as I love the convenience of using my simple little water purifiers, to me it is not worth the risk of doing all of that work and waiting six weeks just to see orange spots appear. That is a lot of wasted time, effort, and ingredients.
Excess of unsaponified oils left in the bar from super-fatting…
It’s important to remember what super fatting really is. Super fatting is the act of having additional oils in your finished soap. This means there will be “free oil” remaining in the bar.
This is typically done intentionally because people like the resulting feel of the soap. I tend to super fat most of the time. Just be aware that super fatting over five or 6% increases the odds of developing DOS.
Again, these are the more common reasons for DOS but there can be other contributing factors.
Can you sell handmade soap?
You can absolutely sell your handmade soap. You just need to ensure that you are following all applicable rules and regulations.
Chief among these rules include properly labeling your soap and understanding whether it qualifies as “true soap” or if it is considered detergent based. This gets into a deeper level of discussion. Please take a look at the following blog post on this website. It provides much greater detail on the subject: Do you need FDA approval to sell handmade soap?
Can you sell handmade soap on Amazon?
You can sell your homemade soap on Amazon.com. In 2016 they introduced “Amazon Handmade”, a new program exclusively for people selling handmade goods.
Amazon Handmade is definitely worth checking out if you would like to take advantage of their huge network of existing customers and everyday traffic.
On a related note, I suggest looking into using their Amazon fulfillment option. This allows you to ship one large container of soap to a specific Amazon location and they will take care of divvying it up and getting it to the original where houses to support quick delivery. It costs a bit more to use the service but in my experience, it saves me it also allows me to take time off when I want. I can do this knowing that Amazon will fulfill my orders for me.
Here is a link to Amazon Handmade. It will take you off this website however should open in a new window.
Can you re-melt handmade soap?
You can re-melt handmade soap using a process known as rebatching. Rebatching involves reducing the old soap to small pieces, adding a bit of liquid and applying the proper heat.
We have a detailed article on the site about the process. You can find that here: Rebatch Soap Scraps for Second Chance Soap
In the meantime, however, here are the basic steps. This can be done in a double boiler, a slow cooker (crockpot), or in the microwave. That is completely up to you. I won’t get into all of the details here about how to fix lye-heavy, or oil-heavy batches. The main purpose is to show you how you can really melt handmade soap and turn it into brand-new luxury bars.
Rebatching Soap – Step by Step
This is a straightforward process, however it is easier to understand when broken into groups.
Rebatching Setup
- Gather your soap scraps or bars and set them aside. You may wish to take the time to separate them by type or another attribute. However, this is not necessary. It all depends on how you want your finished product to be.
- Weigh the soap so that you know how many ounces you are working with. This will help determine the size mold that you need. It will also make it easier to figure out how much liquid you will need to accelerate the melting process and add fluidity to the batch.
- Now cut the large chunks of soap into small pieces that will be easier to work with and melt. I use the course cutting side of a cheese creator when I do this typically. This is because it results in long thin pieces of soap, which increases the surface area that the heat has to work with. If you have a rotary style hand crank cheese creator that will work well. If you happen to have a salad shooter those are also great for this task.
- Place the shredded soap in your melting pot of choice. When I am doing large batches I like to use a crockpot or large double boiler on the stovetop. If I am just making enough for a few bars, I typically use the microwave.
- Now add some distilled water or other liquid of choice to act as a wetting agent. You only need enough to wet the soap but not submerge it. Normally starting with one to 2 ounces of liquid per pound of shredded soap is good. If your soap does not become fluid enough while stirring, when it is heated and melting, start adding additional liquid 1 teaspoon at a time.
Melting and Finishing
- You can now begin the heating process. If you are using a crockpot, use a low to medium heat. If you are using a double boiler, I recommend using a mid-level heat setting. You need to get the soap evenly heated. This is so that it melts enough to fill the crevices of whatever mold you choose.
- If you opt for the microwave, be sure to melt the soap in multiple short durations to prevent burning. This will depend on how much soap you are working with and how finally you have shredded it. For one pound of shredded cold process I would start by microwaving it for two minutes after the fluid has been added. Then I would remove it and stir it and continue to microwave in 45 seconds to 1 minute bursts. You can also add more liquid as needed and be sure to stir thoroughly at the end of each heating.
- Once you are able to stir the soap, even if it is thick and gloppy like lumpy oatmeal, it can be placed in a mold for hardening. Again, if you want a more fluid poor you can always add more water. Just remember that the more liquid you add, the longer it will take to cure.
- Those are the basics. Even if you never have the need to fix a bad batch of soap, you can re-batch soap scraps to make wonderful new bars.
How long does handmade soap last?
A good general rule regarding how long a bar of homemade soap will last is as follows… The harder the bar; the longer it lasts. But that is really just the first half of the equation. That the vast majority of liquid has evaporated from it. Once the vast majority of liquid is gone, the bar will last its longest.
Another consideration, however, is how you care for the bar. If, for example, you leave the bar in a soap dish with standing water it will get mushy and not last nearly as long as if the bar were dried and set in an area away from standing water.
Here is a quick little experiment that you can try. Take two bars of handmade soap that come from the same batch. Wave them both to ensure they are as similar as possible. Use one bar as you normally do, including how you start. If you normally leave it in a soap dish with water continue to do so. Once that bar is gone and you start a new one, take a moment to pat the bar try and set it aside in an open air area allowing it to dry. You will likely find this second bar lasts about 30% longer on average.
What is vegan handmade soap?
Vegan handmade soap is handmade soap that does not contain any animal products or byproducts. This means that only vegetable oils were used. They replaced animal fats, such as lard or beef tallow.
However, to be vegan there can also be no animal products such as milk. Goat milk is a popular example. To be considered vegan, goat milk cannot be used.
About 70% of the soaps that I make are vegan. This is because they tend to be customer favorites. I recently learned that some of my customers opt for vegan soap because they or family members have been subjected to illnesses that prevent them from ingesting or absorbing any animal products. I am certainly not making any medical claims or statements. It is interesting to note however the number of people that have stated this.
In Closing
I hope you were able to find the answers you were looking for. If not, please contact me to let me know your questions. I will get back to you personally, as quickly as possible.
Happy soaping!