Is doing M&P Cheating? Like a Box Cake Mix?

[dixiedragon]

I don't think that your average buyer is going to "get" the difference between homemade M&P and CP soap, or even really care. As a customer, I would buy a bar of soap made from home-made M&P base, because to me that is "cooler" than a bar made from factory-made M&P base.

 

[pamielynn]

Can I ask why you'd want to make your own M&P? This is to anyone who does it. Your end customer wouldn't be melting it down when they get it home, right? I'm not really sure of the point unless you are selling the base to someone who is then going to make their "own" product.

This is NOT meant to be a snarky question at all. I really am curious, because it doesn't seem like an easy project.

 

[not_ally]

Pamielynn, I don't make my own mp, so take this w/a grain of salt, but when I make MP soaps - from SFIC and usually for giftees - I assume they are going to just use the soaps as is, not remelt. If I were to make my own mp it would probably be so I could control the ingredient mix better/completely and keep around slabs of it for when I wanted to use it like I do with my SFIC base. Sorry if am mis-answering your question, though. Stay dry out there, I hear it is pouring down ...

 

[CookbookChef]

I make my own, although I never remelt it. I call the soaps transparent homemade soap. I will admit they do not have the incredible artistry like the M&P we were discussing. They could but I don't have the patience for that so they are simple designs and molds.

oh wow cool Doryme ;-)

 

[CookbookChef]

Can I ask why you'd want to make your own M&P? This is to anyone who does it. Your end customer wouldn't be melting it down when they get it home, right? I'm not really sure of the point unless you are selling the base to someone who is then going to make their "own" product.

This is NOT meant to be a snarky question at all. I really am curious, because it doesn't seem like an easy project.

For Real here when I say this but if I were to ever use MP soap for creating Art Soap to sell, cause I know you can do some fancy things with it, I would first choose to buy from a seller who custom makes it at home or a personal shop. I just do not like store bought MP....my preference, and yes, I would choose an Artisan to make me a base to use. I love that idea

 

[Dorymae]

Can I ask why you'd want to make your own M&P? This is to anyone who does it. Your end customer wouldn't be melting it down when they get it home, right? I'm not really sure of the point unless you are selling the base to someone who is then going to make their "own" product.

This is NOT meant to be a snarky question at all. I really am curious, because it doesn't seem like an easy project.

The reason is the same reason you make your own CP soap or liquid soap. Only when you make it yourself can you control the ingredients that go into it.

It really is not hard to do . . .well it is no harder than making CP or liquid soap. The process is a little different, but it really is not hard.

Think of it this way - if you don't care what is in commercial soap you would just buy that. If you don't care what is in a M&P base then you just buy that. However if you want to be able to have a transparent soap that includes aloe, silk, and rice bran oil you will be hard pressed to find it in a base.

 

[Dana89]

I have been thinking of making it myself with all the soap scraps I have. There is no telling what color it will come out, but I cant make a decent rebatch soap, and I have tried over and over. It looks easier that rebatching on you tube, just throw all your scraps, Glycerin, alcohol and stearic acid in a pot. Some use a sugar/water solution as well. I need to watch few more and get a recipe but I have a lot of scraps I need to do something with and this seems better than making laundry detergent.

 

[Dorymae]

I have been thinking of making it myself with all the soap scraps I have. There is no telling what color it will come out, but I cant make a decent rebatch soap, and I have tried over and over. It looks easier that rebatching on you tube, just throw all your scraps, Glycerin, alcohol and stearic acid in a pot. Some use a sugar/water solution as well. I need to watch few more and get a recipe but I have a lot of scraps I need to do something with and this seems better than making laundry detergent.

Wait! What? I've never heard of making transparent soap or M&P from soap scraps. I wonder if it is easier than making it from scratch. Can you post a video of that? I need to look into this!

 

[Dana89]

https://youtu.be/8AV7QRn-bCo

This is one of the vids I have seen, but there is a better one. I will need to look for it.

 

[CookbookChef]

Wait! What? I've never heard of making transparent soap or M&P from soap scraps. I wonder if it is easier than making it from scratch. Can you post a video of that? I need to look into this!

No...I just watched the video that Dana posted. It is NOT making CLEAR soap....no, it is making a REBATCH soap....just using a method and the method is this: Re-batching Using Clear Transparent Soap Method

So, you are not making Transparent Soap, you are just using its METHOD to make a REBATCH soap.....if you watch the short video you will see what I mean.
But thanks Dana for posting that video, it sure has given me a NEW way to do Rebatch

 

[cmzaha]

Can I ask why you'd want to make your own M&P? This is to anyone who does it. Your end customer wouldn't be melting it down when they get it home, right? I'm not really sure of the point unless you are selling the base to someone who is then going to make their "own" product.

This is NOT meant to be a snarky question at all. I really am curious, because it doesn't seem like an easy project.

I find it a lot of fun to make and I can control my ingredients. Also we wanted a special facial bar to add to our line of soaps, so I designed an avocado m&p which is re-meltable. For most of our m&p my daughter uses some of the Stephenson bases from Catalina, which is quite nice. Although we do like mine better but it is not as clear. Problem is it is to expensive for me to supply her with the amount she uses, since she goes through almost a pallet of m&p a year. I may be able to make the base but I totally "suck" when it comes to make fancy m&p

 

[Dana89]

Cookbook Chef-

So, you are not making Transparent Soap, you are just using its METHOD to make a REBATCH soap.....if you watch the short video you will see what I mean.
But thanks Dana for posting that video, it sure has given me a NEW way to do Rebatch

YW, if you try this method would you let me know how it turns out?

 

[Chrishaglerr]

I feel like it all depends on how you make your melt and pour soaps. Anyone can just melt some, add color, then pour into a mold. The soaps that I make and sell actually contain the same amount, if not more different kinds of beneficial oils and butter than CP. I hear a lot of talk of how it's useless to add oils such as Rose Hip oil or Dragons blood resin to it because it'll just "wash off of the skin". The m&p soaps I produce actually help my customers get rid of their eczema and fight off infections such as staph and ring worm.

All in all, I think M&P is worth what you make of it. Actually, M&P AND cp is worth what you make of it. I just believe a lot of M&P diapers are afraid to break the rules and explore as cp soapers do. The whole "1 tablespoon of oils per pound of M&P because adding more will cut the lather GREATLY" isn't true at all. I add wayy more than that and my lather actually improves (keeping it natural as well).

Don't mean to offend anyone as I think everyone on here is awesome and I appreciate all of you I just feel like soap making is what you make of it. Hope this helped some people.

 

[not_ally]

Ok, I have to ask, what is an "MP diaper"? I thought it might be a spell-check thing, but for the life of me I can't figure it out

 

[Chrishaglerr]

Ok, I have to ask, what is an "MP diaper"? I thought it might be a spell-check thing, but for the life of me I can't figure it out

M&P "soapers" lmao darn spell check! I hope no one is selling MP diapers

 

[not_ally]

Gotcha! That was funny, though. Spellcheck is a one of those blessing/curse things

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

They wash the babies as they poo! Very handy indeed.

 

[LBussy]

Okay I'll be the guy that says it.

The soaps that I make and sell actually contain the same amount, if not more different kinds of beneficial oils and butter than CP.

This is just wrong. Can you make a M&P that's 100% cocoa butter? You can with CP.

The m&p soaps I produce actually help my customers get rid of their eczema and fight off infections such as staph and ring worm.

This is past wrong, it's false advertising and most of the people here I know try to stay away from these claims. When you make them you make your soap a drug - do you follow the regulations for drugs? Has this been independently tested as a drug would be?

The whole "1 tablespoon of oils per pound of M&P because adding more will cut the lather GREATLY" isn't true at all. I add wayy more than that and my lather actually improves (keeping it natural as well).

There's no definition for "natural", and I'm sorry to say that adding oils to M&P soaps does diminish the lather. Whether it's enough to matter is definitely up for debate but the same is true of CP. Oil does not have the surface tension to hold bubbles; it will dampen the lather of any soap. Soap is meant to solubilize oils, so as long as you have enough surfactant to dissolve and suspend the oils you're fine, but you are using up those finite properties.

Don't mean to offend anyone as I think everyone on here is awesome and I appreciate all of you I just feel like soap making is what you make of it. Hope this helped some people.

I agree with all of this - but please, don't try to sell us a box of foo. I respect all soapers, M&P, CP, HP, CPOP, IHOP, whatever. I hold all soapers to the same standards though. If what you say is untrue, you should expect to be called out on it - here especially. If you don't realize what you say is untrue or potentially dangerous (in a litigious or health way) then you will get corrected.

 

[jblaney]

I was waiting for this.

 

[not_ally]

Chris, don't feel set upon, but probably many people have had misgivings when reading your posts, just not replied. It is slightly alarming to read them, b/c the conventional wisdom you are contradicting is the result of thousands of hours of experience, thousands of batches, careful experimentation by extremely good and experienced soapers, and someone who has never made MP might read your posts and think it is OK to claim that it (or any other soap) can cure skin conditions/infections.

I don't care so much about whether they have fails from adding too much oil/losing lather, etc., but I think most even minimally experienced soapers are pretty concerned when they see health claims. It really is problematic for the hand-made soap craft as a whole, and is likely to elicit very strong responses. See, eg, this thread:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=55054

ETA: I just looked at your website, and I liked it! Great tone for your target audience. Also, I think you do a pretty good job about not over-claiming re health effects, although I might be careful w/the word "known" w/r/t some of those additives.