Different Soap Types

[PhillipJ]

Hello.

Brand new here, and never made soap, and I have a few questions.

Is melt & pour soap just a basic batch of soap made for the convienance of just adding your own colors and scents?

Is milled soap & rebatch the same thing? Like in the finished product of melt & pour.

My plan is to make one big batch of basic soap in one mold. Then split it up and add different ingredients for different use. Say 1/2 abrasive hand soap and the other 1/2 bath soap.

I have some 24 grit aluminum oxide laying around. That and some borax in a good strong lye soap should meet my needs.

Will adding more lye than the recipe calls for help it clean better, or just screw up the batch?

Thanks for looking!

 

[Guest]

Is melt & pour soap just a basic batch of soap made for the convienance of just adding your own colors and scents?
Melt and pour is a pre-made soap base that you do exactly as it states. You melt it down, add your scent and colors and anything else you want to add, pour it into a mold and use. Many will argue this till the cows come home, but I personally believe it's NOT the same as handmade cold process or hot process soap and should be called handcrafted. But that's another topic all together.



Is milled soap & rebatch the same thing? Like in the finished product of melt & pour.
Milled soap and rebatch is sorta the same thing. But milled soap is a melt and pour soap that has things added to it. Milled soap sounds better than melt and pour. Rebatching is a cold process soap that has either cured or not, melted back down and things added to it such as scent or other additives.



My plan is to make one big batch of basic soap in one mold. Then split it up and add different ingredients for different use. Say 1/2 abrasive hand soap and the other 1/2 bath soap.
I would suggest learing how to make 1 pound batches. I make mine in my blender and it's quite simple. And you can use pretty much anything as a mold. One of my favorites is a white plastic drawer organizer from wal-mart. 2 for like .98 cents. Then I use freezer paper and make boxes to use in that mold to pour my soap into. Send me a PM if you want more details on how to safely make 1 pound batches. I make them all the time and that's all i make. But I prefer the hot process method, but you can also do the cold process as well. That way you can get your different types.

I have some 24 grit aluminum oxide laying around. That and some borax in a good strong lye soap should meet my needs.
Ummmm not sure what you would want either for in soap. But do keep in mind that not all oils are created equal, and each provides different benefits to soap. And to many soft oils will also give you soft soap.


Will adding more lye than the recipe calls for help it clean better, or just screw up the batch?
More lye is a big NO-NO because you could actually burn your skin. Before you make any recipe with lye be sure to run it through a lye calculator.

You sound very new to soap making and I might suggest google as your best friend right now to read up on how to make soap safely.


~kris

 

[soapbuddy]

24 grit aluminum oxide will take your hide off - NOT ADVISABLE
Borax in a VERY small amount added to cold process soap might help with the soap scum.
Good strong lye soap will take your hide off - NOT ADVISABLE

For a good basic recipe I would suggest http://www.millersoap.com

PS. When soap is correctly made there is no lye left. It's called saponification.

 

[PhillipJ]

Thanks all the the replys. I am sure to have fun messing with this soap stuff.

I agree that buying melt & pour would be sorta cheating. From what I know, it looks like cold process will be my 1st attempt.

If all goes well, I might check out making my own lye from table salt. But, that's a ways off.

 

[soapbuddy]

Thanks all the the replys. I am sure to have fun messing with this soap stuff.

I agree that buying melt & pour would be sorta cheating. From what I know, it looks like cold process will be my 1st attempt.

If all goes well, I might check out making my own lye from table salt. But, that's a ways off.

You cannot make your own lye from table salt. However, you can make potash from ashes, water and salt. This is also called potassium hydroxide and it will make a very soft soap that will never harden.

Irena

 

[Tabitha]

Phillip I second what Irena said, do go the Miller's website this is your soap making bible.

Take Faithy to heart too about running EVERY recipe you plan to make through a caluculator so you do not injur yourself or someone else.

As Faithy said, M&P and CP are not the same, they are completely different crafts/products, it is like comparing coconuts to apples. There are people on this forum that do only CP, some that do only M&P and some that do both. Please be careful of the words you choose, they can be hurtful.

 

[dragonfly princess]

I don't believe that M&P soapmaking is cheating. Please do a little more research before you make such generalizations.

 

[lsg]

Faithy, I make my soap in a blender also. Contrary to some opinions, I consider that no more dangerous than using a stick blender. Ofcourse one should use reasonable safety precautions when dealing with any caustic substance. For the hobby soaper it is an easy and fast way to make soap. You can make soap in small batches and not get overloaded with soap.
Cole Brothers has a great website on making blender soap, with instructions and pictures.
http://www.colebrothers.com/soap/blender.html

My suggestion is to make several small batches with different ingredients in each. Blender soaps make just about six to eight bars of 4 oz. each. That way you can experiment and not be out a lot in oils and fats, if you are not pleased with the results. I am new enough that I usually just pick a recipe and follow it. I also run any new recipe through a lye calculator. Majestic Mountain Sage has a good, free lye calculator.
I started out using melt and pour molds from the craft store; but now I am using Wilton silicone muffing pans. These come in different shapes and release soap beautifully. For hobby soapers, two molds will more than take care of one batch.

 

[PhillipJ]

Guess I have to apologize for saying sorta cheating. "For me" it would be sorta cheating. Not all folks.

Sure that there are many who like to craft soaps and may not have all the neccesities available, or mess with harsh chemicals.

Please don't be offended by any of my comments. I'm just a senile old man that doesn't know any better.

For me, soap don't need to be pretty. It just has to work good. Getting tired of washing my hands in laquer thinner and gasoline.

And now, does one have to calculate lye from a tried & proven recipe? Or is that for an untried recipe.

 

[pepperi27]

Hello.

Brand new here, and never made soap, and I have a few questions.

Is melt & pour soap just a basic batch of soap made for the convienance of just adding your own colors and scents?
~MP is just that add your pretty colors, make pretty designs, and add scent. Thats it.

Is milled soap & rebatch the same thing? Like in the finished product of melt & pour.
~Milled and rebatch are the same thing but the end result is nothing like mp. I make rebatch all the time and the finished product is dry and doesn't need to be wrapped in saran wrap.

My plan is to make one big batch of basic soap in one mold. Then split it up and add different ingredients for different use. Say 1/2 abrasive hand soap and the other 1/2 bath soap.

I have some 24 grit aluminum oxide laying around. That and some borax in a good strong lye soap should meet my needs.

Will adding more lye than the recipe calls for help it clean better, or just screw up the batch?
~Lye is only used in cp soap and should be used with extreme caution. Please make sure you read up more on this information before attempting to make Cold Processed soap.

~Oh and welcome!

Thanks for looking!

 

[Tabitha]

Guess I have to apologize for saying sorta cheating. "For me" it would be sorta cheating. Not all folks.

No problem Phillip, you are new to soap foums, but you will soon see this is an age old debate that pops up every fews days & always ends in anger so we try to avoid it here, there is no universaly correct answer.

 

[Guest]

I make Cold Process only.. so I can answer your questions based on that only. I tried MP soap 6 years ago LOL ... didnt enjoy it too much, so I did further research and began with CP soap. I also do HP (hot process) soap, as well as RTCP (room temperature cold process) soap.

I agree with Tab... everyone has different opinions on Handmade & Handcrafted. As well as listing Lye (Sodium Hydroxide) on labels on a finish product. These debates can go on forever LOL

 

[Soapmaker Man]

Like my friend Smelli, I only make CP, and mainly RTCP at that. I do solely goat milk CP. Like Tab and Smelli stated, we try to avoid catorgizing what true home made soap is defined as, but every type can indeed be a work of art in one way or another! Like Smelli, I can't answer any M&P questions, but if it pertains to CP, RTCP, Goat Milk CP, I will try to help as much as I can. There are several fabulous soap makers here on this forum that do M&P or CP. One of us will help you in any endeavor you desire!

Paul.... :wink:

 

[PhillipJ]

I will need some help. And I think I found the right website.

Tonight I started making soap. May have screwed it up allready. Was rendering down some suet and seemed to have burned it a little. I should have ground it instead of small chunks. The water got away on me faster than expected. The liquid grease is brown and smells sorta burned. Recipe is for white soap.

Cold Process
74 oz tallow
32 oz olive oil
3 oz cocoa butter
14 oz. lye
41 oz water

Question is will it still work out to white and smell ok? Or toss it & start over? Wanted white with colored swirls but may settle for brown if the smell goes away. I Just filtered it and am putting it in the fridge now.

 

[Guest]

I'm working on my email to you right now.........


but running your oils through the calcator i came up with this,

Cocoa Butter 3.00 ounces - 2.8 %
Olive Oil 32.00 ounces - 29.4 %
Tallow, Beef 74.00 ounces - 67.9 %
Lye: 14.24 ounces
Water: 43.60 ounces


I don't think you will have much lather to it because you don't have the coconut oil in it. But if you want to add coconut oil you can figure out how much to add and run it through the calculator again to check for water and lye amounts. But i'm not sure on the white part since i've never used rendered tallow before..... YET !!!!! But I have used lard that I bought in the store. And the smell...... i'm not to sure, I do know that rendering it give a really nasty odor......

But maybe someone else has the answer on that question.......


Ok back to your email......

~kris

 

[Tabitha]

What fragrance are you useing & from what supplier? Fragrance can effect the color of your soap too. If it contains any anount of vanilla there is a good chance it will darken your soap and maybe even turn it the color of mud. Many fragrances that are sweet, that you wouldn't even think about containing vanilla do. Cotton candy, lemon meringue, most bakery scents & some berries and fruits and even rootbeer may turn your soap dark. The tricky thing is starwberry from 1 supplier may turn your soap dark brown, from another supplier strawberry may be a pale tan or it may be a straight white. You never know untill you try unless you ask around & can find someone else who has already tested it.

I am not familiar w/ animal products in soap, sorry I can not help there.

 

[Guest]

If it contains any anount of vanilla there is a good chance it will darken your soap and maybe even turn it the color of mud.

Oh yeah vanilla can really affect the color of soap big time......

are two examples of how different the vanilla can be and how it's hidden in certain scents.

But somehow i'm guessing Phillip isn't going to add scent, but I could be wrong.

 

[PhillipJ]

Would be either cotton candy or cherry almond, from The Chemistry Connection on Ebay.

This seems to be getting tricky. I like it. They don't tell that in my book.

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Would be either cotton candy or cherry almond, from The Chemistry Connection on Ebay.

This seems to be getting tricky. I like it. They don't tell that in my book.

Thanks.

LOL yep i'm wrong.............. It's not as tricky as it sounds.......

 

[PhillipJ]

Bramble berry's calculator said this?
Why are 3 recipes different?

Lye Calculator Results
Oil(s) Selected Amount
(oz) SV Lye
(oz)
Cocoa Butter 3 0.1370 0.411
Olive Oil 32 0.1340 4.288
Tallow 74 0.1410 10.434
Totals 109 15.133
5% Superfatted Recommended Lye Amount 14.376
Ounces of water recommended 35.970