Can I make my own Melt and pour?

[Catherine H]

Hey guys, I read that cold pressed soap doesn't hold onto fragrance very well, but melt and pour does. Can I make a batch of CP soap, then after curing it, make a melt and pour with that same soap, and add my colors and fragrance at that point, so as to retain the scent?

 

[AliOop]

Hi Catherine,

Welcome to the forum! I believe you are asking about cold processed soap; not cold-pressed soap. When you re-melt cold-processed soap, that is called "rebatching."

Rebatched CP soap is entirely different than melt-and-pour soap. M&P is a pre-processed soap base specifically created to be meltable. It will produce a very smooth bar, whereas rebatched CP usually looks somewhat rustic, more like HP soap.

Now that we have the terminology straight, please know that CP soap can maintain its fragrance just fine. If you are reading from a source that makes a blanket statement saying otherwise, I'd question that source as being one upon which you want to rely. Yes, some scents, such as citrus EOs, do tend to fade more quickly. But most FOs designed for CP soap are quite stable and long-lasting, and many EOs last just fine, too. That being said, I do find that I need far less fragrance in my M&P bars than I do in my CP bars.

I recommend reading some of the threads here about different FOs and EOs to get a sense of which ones tend to "stick" the best. You can also learn the basics of CP, HP, and M&P, and then decide which one will be best for what you want to achieve.

Happy soaping!

 

[Catherine H]

Thanks AliOop! Yes Cold Processed! haha - the Rustic look sounds really interesting too!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Complementary to the question of scent retention (for which @AliOop for sure is more qualified than me), I'd like to address your other question. You kind of rowed back by yourself when you called it an XY question wrt scenting. But yes, it is totally possible to make M&P soap by yourself!
Just like store-bought M&P base, any self-made soap can be dissolved in a blend of special “solvents”, (a scary name for polyols like glycerol, propylene glycol, sorbitol, or plain table sugar), to give a (more or less) transparent, remeltable soap. However, to make good M&P base by oneself needs a recipe that is well-suited for this task. Usually one that would give a terribly hard soap bar by itself, otherwise the soap will stay gummy at room temperature, and dissolve too fast at the sink.

Welcome to SMF, by the way!

 

[Catherine H]

Thanks ResolvableOwl!!! This hobby is brand new and super interesting to me!!!

 

[lsg]

Here is a great tutorial: