# cold process soap verses melt and pour?



## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Okay, did my first market yesterday and there was only one other soap vendor there and hers were the melt and pour variety, and she seemed to be doing pretty well selling them. She seemed to know just about everyone and so I'm sure that made a difference. I heard her telling people how they were ALL natural etc. Anyway, she came down to look at my stuff and asked me if I put lye in my soap. Of course I told her yes...I used lye. It seemed that she was implying that my soaps were more dangerous than hers because I used lye, and maybe not "natural" due to the lye. 

Regardless, I'd like to be a little more educated on just how melt and pour bases are made...I've never used them. I do have a white brick of the base somewhere I got free in a box. That's the only time I've ever even seen it.

Can the bases be "ALL Natural"? Don't they contain chemicals AND LYE? Or, do they fall off a soap tree somewhere in south america?

THANKS!


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I think the bases are made using lye. But then other things are added to make it meltable and to help it harden. If you look at the ingredients list you'll see 'stuff' besides oils. I don't see how it could be considered more 'natural' than soap made simply with oils, butters, liquids and lye.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I thought all soaps had to be made using lye...or some kind of chemical that turns oil into soap! I'll see if I can get a list of ingredients...mainly I'm looking for the lye part...just don't want folks thinking that soap can be made without a chemical process. I need more education I can see....


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

If the ingredient list says 'saponified' or things like sodium cocoate, sodium ... then lye was used. The ones that I found with a quick google search either had those terms or sodium hydroxide actually listed.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Glycerin is a byproduct of making soap, someone did all the work for her an then she simply melts and pours the product. If you have ever rebatched our soap and made melt and pour soap, there is certainly something fake about melt and pour for it to pour like water, when rebatched our soap pours like vaseline  So for me CP and HP soap are real, hers is a byproduct of ours, with only the glycerin left with alcohol added. Hands down if you get your soap into her customers hands they will use yours, melt and pour is super drying. I have made alot of it, it's he only safe soap to use in demos I do for mentally challenged folks or children, even then it's really to hot for them to pour, even hand over hand.

Oh and lets not do a scarry craft  Knitting needles could put your eye out, shoot Lee's kiln for her pottery gets hotter than the sun, lye burns...... Vicki


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> ...Oh and lets not do a scarry craft  Knitting needles could put your eye out, shoot Lee's kiln for her pottery gets hotter than the sun, lye burns


:rofl

good to know its the Times and not just the big city life I lead now, compared to the very rural childhood where we used power tools and knives as soon as we were older than one hand... sometimes I think it must be the big city and I think I can't take The Fear of Everything anymore, so :lol its good in a perverse way to know that if this mentality has gotten to TX then its everwhere! :biggrin

but I'm confused about the glycerin soap being drying, I thought that's an ingredient put into lotions etc for moisturizing?


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

My hands are a wreck after working with it all day doing multple classes at the worksite. Harsh and drying. Vicki


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## Fiberaddict (Jun 4, 2009)

LLB101 said:


> Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:
> 
> 
> > ...Oh and lets not do a scarry craft  Knitting needles could put your eye out, shoot Lee's kiln for her pottery gets hotter than the sun, lye burns
> ...


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Vickie, I've actually never used a melt and pour bar of soap...but I'll take your word for it! I remember talking to a lady one time that had a really large soap and body care display. Her soaps were large and transparent and looked much different than mine and she was quite talkative and friendly so I felt okay asking her some questions about them. Of course the first thing I asked her was what process she used, and she looked at me funny so I had to ask her if they were "melt and pour" as I didn't really know at that time how to tell the difference for sure. She explained to me that after she finished adding all the herbs and "extra's that she added, that no, they really were not "melt and pour" anymore. 

Okay. 

Anyway, I won't debate with anyone about their products, (I'm really nice and always smile) but I am trying to get more educated about different products and how they are made...even if I don't make them...so when people ask me questions I can give them a good answer. I'm also working on a brochure and want to put in just a few sentences about other types of handmade soaps.


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

how is "melt and pour" even handmade?
at least not with a straight face - how can they say that? 

I remember at some event many years ago they had "soapmaking" and it was just melt and pour. I got in a bunch of trouble of telling them it was dumb and they weren't "making" anything. Maybe I don't know how to make soap yet, but I sure know what "isn't" making soap :rofl


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

In defense of some melt and pour soapers, it is an artform. Look up the flowers made by some individually carving up and over each petal. Vicki


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Totally agree.....many M&Pers have stunning soaps and do things we can't duplicate.


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

"Harsh and drying"V

And with people such as Lindsey, M&P soaps are alot like the store boughten soaps which cause rashes and hair folicle infections. Why I will always have dairy goats, to make my girl soap :biggrin.
Tam


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I was watching TV last night, one of those shows where a fancy realtor is helping people with more money than God buy a vacation home in a beautiful location. There was a couple of men looking for a place in spain or mexico or somewhere, and they were walking down the street and went by a soap display. It was BEATUTIFUL . The soaps were mostly the melt and pour variety, but they were truely an artform. Wonderful imbedds and shapes, stacks of naked soap, etc. The camera lingered on them for a minute or so, just long enough to get a good look. I can see why people would enjoy doing that, and also why people would buy them...even if they didn't use them. They are really nice to look at.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Anita if it was naked it probably wasn't M&P, it is glycerin which sweats when not wrapped. Vicki


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## jimandpj (Mar 11, 2008)

Glycerin is a humectant which means it attracts and holds moisture. As a small part of your soap (which it naturally is as a byproduct of the saponification process) it helps moisturize your skin. Too much glycerin (as in glycerin melt and pour) and it can draw moisture out of your skin since it is a humectant. 

At least that's my understanding of what is chemically occurring with glycerin soaps.

And I agree that pretty melt and pour soaps can be an art form and make great displays in bathrooms. But I wouldn't want to use it on my skin.

PJ


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Well, I really was just assuming the pretty soaps were melt and pour. They were clear and colored, and you could see through them and all the pretty things in them. Whatever they were, they were nice!


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