Like most people just getting into soap making, I started with melt and pour soap bases. After my first few batches I found myself asking the same question most people ask – how can I increase the lather?
Because melt and pour soap has already completed its saponification process the options to increase soap lather are limited. There are a few options that include adding small amounts of liquid glycerin, coconut oil, sugar, and castor oil. A guaranteed method is to purchase high-lather glycerin soap base. It has detergents added to make big bubbles and enhance lather.
Use High-Lather Melt and Pour Soap
Most melt and pour manufacturers have a line of high-lather soap bases that you can purchase. The only caveat is they typically contain artificial detergents that enhance bubble size.
Such products are sometimes called “premium soap bases” and will have an identifier such as this to describe lathering properties:
Detergent: 10-15% (Luxury Bubbles).
Following is a link to one such manufacturer’s page listing premium melt & pour soap bases.
Increased Lather Through Application Method
If you want to help people get the most lather out of existing bars of soap, suggest they apply the soap to a washcloth or luffa instead of directly from the bar to their skin.
The friction created while rubbing the soap into the cloth or luffa will help generate a lather with larger bubbles.
Try this you self when washing your hands with any soap. Wash once with the soap directly and a second time with a washcloth. The difference in lather is amazing!
Increased Lather Through Additives
Each of the above-mentioned additive methods work to a different degree but also change the properties of the soap, along with its shelf life. Because the melt and pour base has already fully saponified anything you add never becomes “soap”. It simply becomes part of the bar.
For fats and oils to become soap they must go through something called the saponification process. This is a natural bio-chemical reaction between in which the lye solution and fats combine to make salts of fatty acids. This converts the fats and eliminates the lye. Anything added AFTER this process is not soap. It is a bar additive.
While you can try any of these methods to add lather to melt and pour soap, please understand they will add only minor noticeable differences – if any – to the typical user. Some, however, will enhance the creaminess of the lather so it is noticeable by most people. Any of the oil updates will usually accomplish this.
Increase Lather with Sugar
One of the most common tricks you will find to increase lather is to add sugar, or red wine that is high in sugar. This does work if the sugar is added in small amounts such as one teaspoon per pound of soap. However, you should note that adding sugar can also reduce the shelf life from one to two years, to three to six months. It is worth it if you plan to use the soap soon or want to make a light sugar scrub bar with sugar as the exfoliant.
By the way, the sugar granules can help produce larger bubbles due to the friction created when the soap is being applied.
More Glycerin for More Lather
Melt and pour soap is also called “glycerin soap” because it has additional vegetable glycerin to make it easier to work with. This is combined with alcohols to help the soap stabilize for remelting and to add fluidity for pouring and capturing details in intricate molds.
You can add even more glycerin to MP soap to increase lather. This, however, should be in very small amounts of since it already has so much. One to one and a half teaspoons per pound of soap base is plenty.
Add Lather with Coconut Oil
Adding two to three tablespoons of coconut oil per pound of melt and pour soap base can help increase the creaminess of the lather. The bubbles are tiny, but act to help combine and build a foundation for the bubbles that are already part of the natural lather process.
The results will vary based on the type of glycerin soap base you are using. If it is a coconut oil base, there will be little visible improvement. If, however, it is goat milk or shea butter, I have found the added creaminess to enhance the lathering properties noticeably.
Castor Oil for Lather Volume
Adding 1 tablespoon of castor oil per pound of glycerin soap base can help add volume to the lather. It does not make larger bubbles. It simply “puffs up” the available lather a tiny bit. But it really is a minor change that may people would not notice.
The oil never converts to soap. It stays oil. That means if people add too much they might get orange spots on their soap (DOS or Dreaded Orange Spots if the oil eventually turns).
Add in Clays
Adding clays such as kaolin, bentonite, and rose clay can help build lather but it is kind of a trick. It has to do with the added friction of the clay particulates interacting with the surface tension of the bubbles. Still though, it helps produce a creamy lather and bentonite especially adds “slip” to shaving soap. This helps reduce razor burn.
Combine Shaving MP Soap Bases
Another option that I use as a quick fix is to add in small amounts of “Stephenson’s Melt and Pour Shaving Soap Base”. It lathers like crazy and is translucent, so it blends well with any clear or opaque melt and pour soap base. But it is EXTREMELY slippery. I only add about 10% of this with 90% of the other MP base to keep the bar from slipping out of users’ hands.
If you choose to add some shave soap to your MP batch, keep in mind that it is a “whip” that generates lather via a shave brush or washcloth. The lather when used in a traditional bar of soap is not instantaneous, but once the lathering process begins it takes off quickly.
In Closing
These are my top tips for adding lather to melt and pour soap. Again, to get the best results you should consider buying high-lather soap – if you are okay with the detergents. If not, adding in some Stephens’s shave soap base is a good alternative.
Here is another article that you may like about the advantages of melt and pour soap. It is also on this website. It is short but has some good information for any budding melt and pour soap making enthusiast.
Good luck and happy soaping!