WHICH IS “REAL SOAP”???

There is a bit of a debate (mostly among cold/hot process soap makers) as to whether melt and pour is “real” soap or not.  Before I weigh in to this debate, let’s discuss the difference between the 2 kinds of soap making.

Melt and pour soap is where a manufacturer has gone through the process of adding lye to the oils and butters and let it cool into bricks.  Then the soap maker can cut off what they need and melt it down  (see what they did with the name there?).  Soap makers still have to add fragrance/essential oils and colorant.  This is great for first time soap makers, children and those who do not want the hassle or expense of mixing ingredients.  Since melt and pour has already cured, it hardens as soon as it cools.  This is great for small molds with finite details and molds with intricate designs.  Some of the most amazing soaps I’ve seen have been melt and pour.  The downside to melt and pour is that you can’t really choose the ingredients since everything is made beforehand by the manufacturer.  That being said, there are so many options for melt and pour soap: honey, aloe, hemp, detergent free, crystal, goat milk, etc.   There is even a way to make your own melt and pour from scratch where you have more of a say as to what goes into it which may be an option for those who like having a choice.  There also can be some limitations as to what designs they can do since it hardens as it cools.  If we were going to use a cooking analogy, melt and pour is like using biscuits from a tube.  You still have to take them out and bake them to get biscuits, but someone else has done the mixing.

Cold/hot process is the process of making soap by scratch (using different means).  The soap makers chooses all the ingredients, adds lye and make designs.  Each soap maker has a recipe or two that they have perfected over time and they experiment with different design techniques.  Cold process is easiest for swirls and different pouring techniques.  The downside to this method is the time requirement necessary to make a bar of soap and the expense of ingredients.  In our cooking analogy, cold process is making biscuits from scratch (and now our kitchen is covered in flour).

So, in answer to the question above, both soaps are “real soap”.  Both the melt and pour and the cold/hot process soaps had to be carefully designed and made.  Both soaps required skill in order to do it correctly.  Both soaps will clean your body and lather and smell pretty (if fragrance was added).

It bothers me that cold process soap makers will look down on and say negative things towards those who work with melt and pour soap.  Each process takes a certain degree of skill to do it correctly.  The ones who have excelled at both processes worked really hard to get to that point.  An awful lot of soap makers, myself included, do both cold process AND melt and pour soaps.

So my hat is off to both melt and pour soapers and cold process soap makers for their hard work, ingenuity, artistry and passion for homemade soap! #homemadesoapisbest