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Jalz

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Hello

I have tried to make my first melt and pour soap.
1. Shea butter base with dried lavender - the soap is lovely but after using it in the shower, the lavender flowers seem to have left brown stains. Is that normal?
Do we use preservatives in a melt and pour soap?

2. Honey and oatmeal - I mixed oatmeal in a clear base and honey on top. However, the honey did not stick to the soap base. How can I get the honey to stick on and show as a separate layer?
 
It is normal for lavender buds to turn brown in soap. I can't answer your question about honey, but for clarification did you pour honey (not in a soap base) on top of the soap, or was it honey mixed into soap or a honey M&P base?

You don't need to add a preservative.
 
It is normal for lavender buds to turn brown in soap. I can't answer your question about honey, but for clarification did you pour honey (not in a soap base) on top of the soap, or was it honey mixed into soap or a honey M&P base?

You don't need to add a preservative.

Thanks for your response. I poured the honey into the mould and then soap base on top
 
Hello

I have tried to make my first melt and pour soap.
1. Shea butter base with dried lavender - the soap is lovely but after using it in the shower, the lavender flowers seem to have left brown stains. Is that normal?
Do we use preservatives in a melt and pour soap?

2. Honey and oatmeal - I mixed oatmeal in a clear base and honey on top. However, the honey did not stick to the soap base. How can I get the honey to stick on and show as a separate layer?
You can mix up to 1tsp of honey into you base.
 
Hi, I did my first melt and pour soap and not very impressed. I would like to start making soap with the full process. Could it be made in my cake room or I should only do it in a kitchen?
Thanks
 
Hi, I did my first melt and pour soap and not very impressed. I would like to start making soap with the full process. Could it be made in my cake room or I should only do it in a kitchen?
Thanks

You can make CP soap in pretty much any room you like I make mine in my front spare bedroom on an old desk just make sure you protect the surfaces ect
 
You can make CP soap in pretty much any room you like I make mine in my front spare bedroom on an old desk just make sure you protect the surfaces ect

Thanks Chris, why do you say protect the surface? If I make it on a stainless steel table do I have to protect it too? Can I use same table I make my cakes on or it will stay on the table?
 
Thanks Chris, why do you say protect the surface? If I make it on a stainless steel table do I have to protect it too? Can I use same table I make my cakes on or it will stay on the table?

I said protect the surface because I dont know what it's made of how new it is ect if it's a fancy table defo protect if it's something that doesnt matter if it gets the surface damaged that's fine! If your wanting to make cakes there too would defon suggest to put something over the work surface! Cp soap while making it is highly corrosive and not the sort of thing you would want to accidentally transfer into a cake mixture so just best avoiding that being a risk! I use my old desk so dont care because all I use it for is crafting so melts ect and soaps! Iv never used a metal surface to make soaps on so not certain but i would just put an old table cloth on to be sure!
 
I said protect the surface because I dont know what it's made of how new it is ect if it's a fancy table defo protect if it's something that doesnt matter if it gets the surface damaged that's fine! If your wanting to make cakes there too would defon suggest to put something over the work surface! Cp soap while making it is highly corrosive and not the sort of thing you would want to accidentally transfer into a cake mixture so just best avoiding that being a risk! I use my old desk so dont care because all I use it for is crafting so melts ect and soaps! Iv never used a metal surface to make soaps on so not certain but i would just put an old table cloth on to be sure!

Thanks a lot Chris for your help, can’t wait to try it. Have you tried the hot process? Did you like it? I know that you can use the soap 24 h after making it with that process, so seems interesting. But read that the soap bars are not as nice then with the CP.
 
Thanks a lot Chris for your help, can’t wait to try it. Have you tried the hot process? Did you like it? I know that you can use the soap 24 h after making it with that process, so seems interesting. But read that the soap bars are not as nice then with the CP.[/QUOTE]

Unless You would like to know what it's like to use an immature soap, It's HIGHLY advised that you don't use HP soap after 24 hours of making it. For starters, that soap is not cured so it will not have most of the characteristics of using a handcrafted soap that is fully cured. HP soaps can also take a longer time to cure since you generally use more water but after a good 12 weeks, that soap might be somewhere between awesome and nice.

I said protect the surface because I dont know what it's made of how new it is ect if it's a fancy table defo protect if it's something that doesnt matter if it gets the surface damaged that's fine! If your wanting to make cakes there too would defon suggest to put something over the work surface! Cp soap while making it is highly corrosive and not the sort of thing you would want to accidentally transfer into a cake mixture so just best avoiding that being a risk! I use my old desk so dont care because all I use it for is crafting so melts ect and soaps! Iv never used a metal surface to make soaps on so not certain but i would just put an old table cloth on to be sure!

Please don't use that cake surfacet unless you are going to cover it with newspaper or a plastic covering. NaOH and KOH are corrosive in nature and may react with that table's surface (better to be safe than sorry). You may not want that for your cakes either, if the surface was damaged, I mean. That
 

So if I understand you correctly, the CP is better and cures faster than the HP? How come the book I read was saying that the HP soap was ready faster, as soon as the 24h after making it? I’m really mixed on witch one is better to do and faster to use. Thanks for your help, I’m tying to know as much as possible before starting making soap.
 
So if I understand you correctly, the CP is better and cures faster than the HP? How come the book I read was saying that the HP soap was ready faster, as soon as the 24h after making it? I’m really mixed on witch one is better to do and faster to use. Thanks for your help, I’m tying to know as much as possible before starting making soap.
While HP is ready as far as saponification goes it is not at it's best until cured. The reason we say it can take longer to cure is the higher water/liquid used in hp. CP poured at a very light trace and not allowed to gel can take up to 72 hrs to complete saponification to finish and no zap. CP will still take at least 4 weeks to cure. The longer the cure the better the lather, a slight drop in ph, and better longevity of your soap. You can read more about curing here: https://classicbells.com/soap/cure.asp
 
While HP is ready as far as saponification goes it is not at it's best until cured. The reason we say it can take longer to cure is the higher water/liquid used in hp. CP poured at a very light trace and not allowed to gel can take up to 72 hrs to complete saponification to finish and no zap. CP will still take at least 4 weeks to cure. The longer the cure the better the lather, a slight drop in ph, and better longevity of your soap. You can read more about curing here: https://classicbells.com/soap/cure.asp
Thank you very much for answering ALL my questions, like I said I want to know as much as possible before starting to make sure I don’t make big mistakes. I already read the book “Natural soapmaking book for beginners” by Kelly Cable and ordered 3 more from Chapters that I’m waiting for. Your help is really appreciated.
 
Don't be discouraged from HP soaps. It may take a little longer to cure but there are times when it is extremely handy to have that technique down, especially when (if) you find a problematic soap-friendly scent (any FO that can cause really fast acceleration, for example) that you want to incorporate into a batch. You can also whip your HP soap so they can float (rubber ducky soapies). So just keep it as a soapy adventure.
 
Don't be discouraged from HP soaps. It may take a little longer to cure but there are times when it is extremely handy to have that technique down, especially when (if) you find a problematic soap-friendly scent (any FO that can cause really fast acceleration, for example) that you want to incorporate into a batch. You can also whip your HP soap so they can float (rubber ducky soapies). So just keep it as a soapy adventure.

I didnt know this about the floating soap. Or that it's easier to deal with naughty fo than with cp soap I have some of those so might try hp soap at some point!

As an example of people misunderstanding about cure time ect earlier this year I went to a beekeeping meeting because there was a woman who sold beeswax soaps and other cosmetics doing a talk I almost screamed at her what a stupid person she is when she said her scientist friend knows a way so they dont have to sit on a shelf ect for weeks ie curing! So she basically sells her soaps and they could of been made a day or less ago :mad::mad: probably not illegal but if someone gets a bad bar of soap from her they will likely tar all homemade soaps are terrible and lose me a sale, so at that point I went from willing to think about trying her stuff to swearing never to attend another meeting with her doing a talk and selling her stuff because I know I'll say something to her and get myself in trouble with the club because no doubt they will think she has far more knowledge than I do :rolleyes: she definatly does about beekeeping yes but soap I'm not so sure she knows as much as shes making out she does!
 
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