| Method |
Overview |
Ease |
"Naturalness" |
Retail
Price |
Disad-
vantages |
Cold Process
|
Fats and oils are blended with lye, stirred to trace and poured into molds and
covered. |
Several hours to make, several weeks to cure. |
The soapcrafter has complete control over the ingredients and can make a very
natural, healing bar of soap. |
Typically retails at $1.00 per ounce. |
You have to work with lye (difficult around small children and pets),
batches can fail. |
Hot Process
|
As above, but soap is kept on heat through full saponification. |
As above but shorter cure time as saponification is completed more quickly. |
As above. |
As above. |
As above. |
Hand Milled
|
Soapmaker starts with pre-made soap. Soap is ground into small pieces and
melted in a liquid such as water or milk. |
Working with Lye not required. Several hours to make, a couple weeks to cure. |
As above. |
Not commonly found in stores for resale. |
Difficult to get consistent results. |
Melt and Pour
|
Soapmaker starts with a pre-made block of soap. Soap is melted over a double
boiler and scents and colors are added. Soap is poured into molds. |
No handling of lye. Can be done in one hour, ready to use right away. Kids can
do this with supervision. |
Transparent soap is made easily remeltable by the addition of common chemicals.
These chemicals are not strictly "natural". Review the ingredients list with
your supplier. |
Depending on design concept, can be quite inexpensive at $.50 per ounce to more
costly at $2.00 per ounce. |
Less "natural" than other options. |
