What are different types of handmade soaps available?

You must have come across hundreds and thousands of handmade, homemade, natural, organic (lol) soap ads on facebook or instagram.

Have you ever wondered what is the difference or what makes them natural?

Let's explore...

Basically there are 3 types of soaps that are sold as handmade

1. Melt and Pour

2. Cold Process

3. Hot Process

1. Melt and Pour:

As the name suggests, this soap is made by melting a readily available soap base, adding fragrance, color etc and pouring into a mould to give it a fancy shape.

Pros:

- simple to make

- fragrance sticks well and hence they are very fragrant when compared to other types

- no dealing with sodium hydroxide or lye

- can make in different fancy designs and shapes

Cons:

- generally all ingredients of the base are not disclosed by seller

- soap base majorly is made with surfactants like SLS, SLES etc

- some bases which are not made with natural ingredients can be bad for skin

- unscented version may not smell as good

- may not suit all skin types

How to recognize them:

- generally they are very shiny and very smooth to touch

- very fragrant

- Soap base listed in ingredient list

2. Cold Process Soap:

This is the soap made from scratch. Made by combining oils like olive, coconut, palm, castor, etc and butters like shea, kokum, mango etc., with sodium hydroxide solution. The fatty acids in oils react with the strong base sodium hydroxide to form Soap+Glycerin+Water. This process is done at room temperature and hence called as Cold Process method

Cold process method is an ancient and genuine method of making soap.

Pros:

- when made at home or by hand, it is not possible to remove glycerin and hence glycerin is retained in soap unlike commercial ones. This makes the soap very nourishing for skin

- made with purest of ingredients and hence it is the purest form of cleanser available on earth

- can be made available in different varieties made with skin friendly additives like clays, sandalwood powder, activated charcoal, different varieties of milks, fruit purees etc

- smells good even if unscented version is made

- can be made in different designs and shapes making them great gifts

- suits all skin types and safe for kids too

- it is like wine, gets better with age - means a soap which is 3 months old performs much better than a soap made a month back

Cons:

- need to handle lye carefully

- long waiting times. Every soap that is made needs to be in the mould for at least 24 hours and has to dry (to evaporate water and for soap crystal to develop) for at least 30 days before use (at my&ma naturals we dry our CP soaps at least for 45 days, 100% coconut oil soaps for at least 60 days, 100% olive oils soaps for at least 180 days)

How to recognize a cold process soap?

- check the ingredients. It should have oils and sodium hydroxide. Some soapers may not list the complete ingredients, in which case, it might be difficult to conclude

- it will not be as smooth and shiny as melt and pour soap

- It may not be as fragrant as melt and pour soap

3. Hot Process Soap:

This is also a soap made from scratch. Made by combining oils like olive, coconut, palm, castor, etc and butters like shea, kokum, mango etc., with sodium hydroxide solution. The fatty acids in oils react with the strong base sodium hydroxide to form Soap+Glycerin+Water. This process is done at higher temperatures by heating the soap mixture till the entire saponification process is completed. Hence called as Hot Process method

Pros:

- Same as cold process soap

Cons:

- same as cold process soap except that the waiting time might be slightly lesser than cold process soap

- has a rustic look, which i personally don't like

- involves long cooking time

How to recognize a hot process soap?

- check the ingredients. It should have oils and sodium hydroxide. Some soapers may not list the complete ingredients, in which case, it might be difficult to conclude

- it will not be as good looking as cold process soap or melt and pour soap

This article is published in public interest. Be aware before you buy