# milled soap



## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

How do you answer folks who want hand milled soap or think it is superior to one process CP soap.


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

Make it for them and charge for the extra time :lol Since it is so superior, then they should expect a higher price


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## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

Ha! That's how I started out making soap. I don't know what all the fuss is about it. I think it is a much inferior product. I was never successful with the handmilled stuff. It is just rebatched soap to me.

Sheryl


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

It's ugly, but it is really nice soap. I also would charge more. Vicki


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

Lol, I guess you found it inferior cause you were no good at it.  I have always hand milled additives, and have made some really nice soaps (not ugly?). But I wouldn't say it was superior to the basic cp soap I started with. Seems like with hand milling people either love or hate the process. I like being able to take one batch of basic soap and make a few bars of this and a few of that. It is hard for me to see it as a business plan though unless you are making fussy little decorative soaps.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

swgoats said:


> I have always hand milled additives, and have made some really nice soaps (not ugly?).


 I thought hand milling and rebatching were the same. I am not sure what you mean by rebatching additives.

Doesn't rebatching/milled mean it is shredded, stuff added and reshaped? Sometimes this is done with heat (crock pot or stove). When ever I have rebatched I have the ugliest end product that is brown and ugly because of the gm turning dark.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

How about some photos of your rebatched soaps......double milled or whatever you want to market them as? No way is rebatch as pretty as our CP swirled, embedded, soaps. Trying to smash oatmeal that is 3 days old into a mold, no matter how hard you try is never going to be as pretty as something that is poured at gravy.

When you put enough liquid into rebatched shreds to be able to pour it, the soap turns out spongy, it then curls up on the sides...we have all BTDT.

I sell mine in my $1 bin, it is very nice soap and it is in most of the bathrooms in my house, but pretty it isn't. Where do you think "pretty as homemade soap" came from. :rofl Vicki


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

I *personally* see a difference between hand milling and rebatching. Rebatching is a technique for salvaging soap that didn't come out the first go round with cp.

When I make hand milled soap, I first make a very good batch of basic cp soap without any additives - no scents, colors, herbs, etc - just oil and lye. I let it cure. Then come back later and shred it - better not to let it cure too long or it becomes a pitb to shred. But sponification should be done. I don't use a soap that still feels caustic. Then I melt down the soap gently with a small amount of liquid. For goat milk soap, I use goat milk. Same principles apply, the least amount of heating of the milk you can do the better. You can use the frozen cubes of milk to keep it cooler. The biggest mistake is adding too much liquid. The soap will shrink and warp as it dries if you have used too much water. After I have the soap melted, I quickly add additives - colorant, fragrance, herbs, etc. - then pour into molds and pop them in the freezer to cool them quickly. After they have cooled, I pop them out of the molds, and leave them to dry a week or so. The result is a nice smooth hard bar of soap that lasts a long time. As you can see, for large scale production, it would be awful fussy.


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

I'll take some photos next go round Vicki. We are out right now. But no, mashing three day old oatmeal into a mold is not my process


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?rlz=1C1TSNO_enUS464US464&q=french+provence+milled+soap&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=5397605101570692738&sa=X&ei=lF21T42vOMf06AGXn7XXDw&ved=0COYBEPMCMAY

This is one of the brands that is being marketed locally as hand milled soap.

I need a way to explain that my product is better.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/23897-What-is-French-Milled-Soap-exactly


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

That link says the soap is french milled. French milled is not hand milled. They use equipment. It isn't somebody grating soap with a cheese grater. South of France is a brand of French milled soap I buy, but it is not homemade soap. Someone is trying to pass that soap off as handmade? That is an unfair comparison.

When I haven't been soaping, I buy a big bar of South of France, and it will last me a good six months. (I take *my* soap to and from the shower, and no body is allowed to touch my soap. Hubby is a terrible soap waster.) It's a nice long lasting soap, but some handmade soaps are much more moisturizing, have more fragrance, eye appeal, etc.


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

Your soap is hand crafted in America. You would think that would be a market appeal...


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## Guest (May 17, 2012)

Angie,
There is no difference what so ever between rebatched soap and hand milled... they are both the same.. it is grated soap that is remelted and poured.. What difference does it make if it was a batch that did not turn out as expected.. 
Soap is soap and grated and remelted is grated and remelted no matter what name it is given... Its remelted soap, PERIOD...
And when you are making rebatched/handmilled how much you heat the milk does not make a difference whatsoever either..why would it, you have to heat it enough to get the soap shreds to melt? Sap has already taken place on the soap before it was shredded so I am completely at loss to that statement..
I just a made a great batch of rebatched soap the other day...Or maybe it was handmilled soap, I don't know for sure.. 
either way it was soap shreds..


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## swgoats (May 21, 2010)

The complaint was that rebatched turns brown from the goat milk in the cp soap. Remelting cp goat milk soap is different from melting plain soap and adding goat milk at the final stage.

Personally I see a difference between melting quality *cured* basic soap, adding additives in the final stage, and melting a partially sponified, screwed up batch of soap with additives already in it. The only similarity is in shredding and melting the soap. There are many fine details that will affect the final product.

It's kind of like saying, cheese is cheese, it's all just curd. :nooo

Alright, I'm going to make a batch. You'll have to give me a few weeks though. It isn't a fast process. I don't have any basic soap, so I have to start at the very beginning.


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