Soap recipes intended to become Melt and Pour?

[LizzardBlizzard]

I'm looking to make a large batch of uncolored/unscented soap that will be used for Melt and Pour purposes later. I wanted to ask essentially for recipes or tips on what will make my soap really Melt and Pour friendly. Thanks!

 

[DeeAnna]

Not sure what you mean by melt and pour friendly -- maybe you can explain more what you mean?

M&P soap is a special type of soap that contains solvents such as sugars, glycols, etc. These solvents allow the soap to easily be melted with gentle heating.

Regular soap is not M&P because it does not contain those solvents. It does not melt easily by just heating the soap by itself. Water-based liquid typically has to be added during heating for the soap to become fluid. And the soap usually has to be grated or cut into small pieces or it takes forever to melt.

Maybe you're thinking of rebatch soap rather than melt and pour soap?

A rebatch is regular soap that's grated up and then heated with water-based liquid until it becomes a paste. Then you can add color, scent, and other ingredients. A rebatched soap is not generally as pretty as melt and pour can be. And it's more work to get it melted.

 

[LizzardBlizzard]

Not sure what you mean by melt and pour friendly -- maybe you can explain more what you mean?

M&P soap is a special type of soap that contains solvents such as sugars, glycols, etc. These solvents allow the soap to easily be melted with gentle heating.

Regular soap is not M&P because it does not contain those solvents. It does not melt easily by just heating the soap by itself. Water-based liquid typically has to be added during heating for the soap to become fluid. And the soap usually has to be grated or cut into small pieces or it takes forever to melt.

Maybe you're thinking of rebatch soap rather than melt and pour soap?

A rebatch is regular soap that's grated up and then heated with water-based liquid until it becomes a paste. Then you can add color, scent, and other ingredients. A rebatched soap is not generally as pretty as melt and pour can be. And it's more work to get it melted.

I'm sorry I wasn't clear, I think I'm looking for a recipe I can make myself that includes solvents so that the soap can be easily remelted later. I don't know if that's something anyone here has really gotten into, but I'm aware that it might need to have special care as being cooked on a stovetop, or using more specialized ingredients such as alcohol.

 

[Kcryss]

Have you tried Youtube? I did a quick search for melt and pour soap base recipe and found this:

 

[LizzardBlizzard]

Have you tried Youtube? I did a quick search for melt and pour soap base recipe and found this:

YouTube to the rescue, right? It definitely looks promising (she even does a great demo at the end!) have you by chance used this recipe before? It's okay if you haven't, just wondering

 

[DeeAnna]

From what I've observed, most of the people who want to make their own M&P base try the idea a few times and then give up. IMO, it's surprisingly difficult to make a truly successful M&P base -- one that is a nice, functional soap for bathing, one that doesn't weep, and also one that is easy to melt. And if translucency is a goal, one that is translucent enough.

Not to say you shouldn't try this for yourself, just understand it's not a "slam dunk" product to make.

 

[lsg]

Here is a video from Good Earth Spa:

 

[not_ally]

IMO, it's surprisingly difficult to make a truly successful M&P base

I've also gotten this impression. Especially regarding clarity, I almost only use clear if I'm using melt and pour and I've never seen a DIY one that's as clear as the brand that I like (SFIC). I'm sure there are people who can make it that clear, but I think they are a small minority. Also I think I've heard that cost savings are minimal, so while it can be fun to experiment with, most people just buy commercial bases.

 

[Kcryss]

YouTube to the rescue, right? It definitely looks promising (she even does a great demo at the end!) have you by chance used this recipe before? It's okay if you haven't, just wondering

Youtube is always my goto when I want to learn how to do something. Then I'm obsessive and watch many video's on whatever the subject happens to be at the time. lol
No, I've never made Melt and Pour from scratch.

 

[LizzardBlizzard]

From what I've observed, most of the people who want to make their own M&P base try the idea a few times and then give up. IMO, it's surprisingly difficult to make a truly successful M&P base -- one that is a nice, functional soap for bathing, one that doesn't weep, and also one that is easy to melt. And if translucency is a goal, one that is translucent enough.

Not to say you shouldn't try this for yourself, just understand it's not a "slam dunk" product to make.

I was reading up on making translucent soap and it does seem like a rather difficult soap to really master. I was thinking maybe I should try making M&P first and work my way up to translucent, and I don't think I anticipated it would be similarly difficult, so thank you for the word of caution I'll start with small batches and make sure keep notes to track performance over time!

I've also gotten this impression. Especially regarding clarity, I almost only use clear if I'm using melt and pour and I've never seen a DIY one that's as clear as the brand that I like (SFIC). I'm sure there are people who can make it that clear, but I think they are a small minority. Also I think I've heard that cost savings are minimal, so while it can be fun to experiment with, most people just buy commercial bases.

I've also heard similar things regarding making your own translucent soap! I'll probably end up buying a commercial base for soaps I'd like to make now and then do my mad scientist experiments with making my own in the background. For science!

 

[DeeAnna]

...maybe I should try making M&P first and work my way up to translucent...

Melt and pour is a type of transparent (translucent) soap -- the basic method to make M&P is pretty similar to the method for making non-M&P.

All types of transparent soap requires the use of solvents (glycols, sugars, alcohols, etc.) to reduce the melting temperature and increase the transparency.

If you're making a M&P type, you're making transparent soap using solvents that won't evaporate if the soap is reheated -- glycerin, sugar syrup, etc.

Non-M&P soap uses a wider range of solvents, including flammable alcohols such as ethanol and isopropanol. These alcohols will evaporate if the soap is melted again which means the soap won't be transparent any longer. Although this type of transparent soap can't be remelted, the advantage of using alcohols is better transparency.

The very first type of transparent Pears soap (1789) was a non-M&P type soap using ethanol as the solvent. That created an incredible fire and explosion hazard at the factory. The ethanol was allowed to slowly evaporate at low temperature in special rooms to preserve the transparent appearance. A lot of the ethanol was reclaimed to be reused in the soap making process.

The different types of solvents used is the essential difference between M&P soap and non-M&P transparent soap.

 

[TimeToRelax]

Here is a video from Good Earth Spa:

I'm so happy I found this video. Thank you very very much. I subscribed and like in YouTube.