cold process, hot process, melt and pour: what do they mean?

 In the world of soap making, there's 3 main types: melt and pour, cold process and hot process, each has their own benefits and their downsides and I'm here to tell you all about them and what you would like to get out of them.

Melt and pour, the easiest form of soap to make, it's exactly what it sounds like, it's when you melt a block of remade soap, customize the soap with scents and colors, and then you pour it into a mold. This type of soap is good if you want to make a lot of soap in a short amount of time as this type does not have to cure and it hardens up in a few hours. The downside is you can't customize it too much because the soap is already put together and it's less natural, but you can get some cute designs and make decent soaps with melt and pour(see above). Another positive is that this is the safest to do with children as it doesn't require the use of lye, a product that can cause severe burns at the very least, just have to supervise because you will be melting and pouring hot soap.

Cold process, the most popular form of soap making, has a very misleading term. It's referred to as cold process because there is no additional heat added in the process, but it can get very hot still, thanks to lye. Lye is a caustic alkaline salt that causes the saponification. In order for it to not crystallize in soap, it needs a carrier, which is often distilled water.Room temperature can be at 60 degree Fahrenheit, as soon as lye is added to water, it gets near 200 degrees, so yes there is heat and this water can cause burns to the skin and eyes, burn through clothing and fatal if ingested. The upsides to this one is you get to customize the oils for different skin nourishing properties, it doesn't get glycerin dew on the outside, but the downside is is that it takes 4 to 6 weeks to cure so that it can harden into a bar that will last longer in the shower.

Hot process, is similar to cold process. The difference is is that you're adding a heat source like a pan and stove, slow-cooker or oven. By adding the heat source, it lessens the time of curing from 4-6 weeks to about 1-2 weeks instead. This process doesn't allow too much as far as downsides but I believe you can't really add designs and you have to be careful of what is added.

Introduction

hello everyone,

As a beginner when it comes to making soaps and homemade skin care products, I felt that I could give you all beginner tips to making your own crafts and where you can buy the items you need to get started. we will start from the very basic ideas and get more advanced as this blog goes along. We will learn cold processed, hot processed and melt and pour soaps, if you don't know those meanings, we will get into the definitions later. we will get into making lotions, body butters, lip balm, bath bombs and the different material you can use in your products. So, when you're ready, let's get started!