About a year ago, I got on this kick about bar soap. Not the kind you buy at the grocery store like Dial or Caress, but handmade soaps. I don’t know why, but I just kind of fell in love with it and just the act of using soap vs. bodywash has become more enjoyable to me. The creativity – the scents, the colors, the details, and the additives…I know I wanted to try doing to myself.

I started researching everything about it. I learned about cold processed vs. hot processed vs. melt and pour and it didn’t take me for long to realize, the way to go was melt and pour, especially as beginner. I was so happy to know I could try this without having to handle lye and all that goes with that.

First, I want to say that I’m not much of a crafter. I did make cards for a few years but gave it up when the taking out and putting back of everything became exhausting. And with the soap-making, I really wanted to start off very economical, so I chose to purchase 1 pound of goat’s milk soap on Amazon from a company called EDSRDRUS for $8.99. That was not smart! I soon found out it was actually pricey for soap base. Also, it said it was fragrance-free; however, although very nice, it definitely had a fragrance. I also bought a set of 3 molds for $9.99, a laser thermometer for $9.49 and a 2 oz bottle of Bramble Berry Cashmere fragrance oil as well from Amazon. Buying 2 oz of fragrance oil was also not smart! 2oz is a lot. Also, any tools you use must be only for soap making and not just cleaned and used for cooking. This is very important according to soap makers, so I bought a Pyrex measuring cup and a heat-safe plastic one as well. I didn’t need to buy a soap cutter because the soap came pre-cut.

What I learned:

Here’s how it went and what I learned: I can only speak for myself…It’s not good to make soap at the end of a long day. I should have done it on a Saturday with plenty of rest and ample time to do it. I mean, it didn’t come out horrible, but I know how it have been better. I decided to double boil instead of microwave and I had no clue how long that was going to take, and I should’ve started that process much earlier to allow for melting time. Once it was melted and cooled down to the right temp for adding fragrance, it was after pouring into two molds when I realized I had completely forgotten the fragrance altogether. Luckily, I was still able to add some to what I had, however, I forgot that I had 1/2 less melted soap now and I didn’t readjust the measurements for the fragrance. The first two soaps turned out way too strong for my taste. Another thing I did that I won’t be doing again is using ground up oatmeal instead of colloidal. Or at the very least, I need to make sure that I grind it up much better. Another thing I did wrong was not putting my molds on a completely flat surface to set. I put them on my baker’s rack and the soaps molded to the spokes on the top shelf and as subtle as they were, I was kind of bummed.

So the result of my first four bars of melt and pour handmade soap was as follows:

1. Two bars had a great scent (even though they were suppoosed to be fragrance free) but they had too coarse of an additive and some ridges.
2. Two bars were overly- fragranced and also had ridges, but the additive was fine.

I mean, what did I expect for my very first time at trying something new, right? I’m using one of the soaps now and will try to use the strong one after that. As for the other two soaps, I actually gave them away as part of a gift at work. I don’t really know the girl that got them (we picked names), and I have no idea what she actually thinks of them. Not everyone is going to like everything I do or make. I have to be okay with that.

All this took place the last week of October and I’ve purchased some more supplies since then. I’m determined to get it right. I’ve since purchased some more soap base, being 2 lbs. directly from Bramble Berry and 2 lbs. from Velona on Amazon. I know real soap makers don’t buy their supplies on Amazon, but I’m not ready for all that investment yet. Suppliers want to sell you a ton of product in bull (make sense) OR their shipping fees are outrageous. I also got another set of molds-Christmas themed for gift giving, a set of soap cutters, mica powders, shrink wrap for wrapping and I even had some labels made from Canva. I can’t wait to dig into my second try!